Painting can be a relaxing and exciting activity for those looking for something to spew their creativity on. Painting also acts as a great gift for families and friends, but sometimes it can cause difficulty in the brainstorming and skill process. Because of this, I have compiled 10 different ideas to paint a butterfly for your inspiration. Most of these ideas can be done with multiple types of paint and would also work for other animals and ideas you might have. I hope this list can help sprout your creativity, show your personality and guide you while you learn the popper steps to becoming a better artist.
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Here are ten ways to paint butterflies
#1 Basic
When you want a more realistic look this is the best way to start.
Start by sketching out your butterfly, and filling in the wings with your base colors. Then add more shading if desired. You can also do an ombre effect from the middle to the ends of the wings. Next paint the veins and outline the wings in black. Paint the body in black or dark brown. A background of leaves or flowers can also make your painting look more realistic.
To get the best result, study pictures and reference art before and during painting.
#2 Abstract
This can give your painting an eye-catching quality. It also can be helpful to make mistakes look like they are meant to be there. It’s definitely fun and relaxing to paint this way!
Start by putting paint in the general area of the wings. Then add more details to the wings and around them. You can then add a body or have just the wings.
Make sure not to put too much detail into this painting as it will most likely ruin the abstract look, and try to not make it perfectly symmetrical as that could also hold your painting back from looking the best.
#3 Silhouette
Making just a silhouette of something can look simplistic and clean.
Draw the outline of your butterfly. Next fill in the butterfly or the background with any solid color you would like. You can even make one of the solid colors a pattern.
#4 Chain
This is a very cool effect and very fun to do. For the best effect you should use pouring paint. You can start by covering the canvas in one color of paint or leaving the canvas plain. Then outline a the basic shape with colorful paint. Then lay a chain on the outside of the line of one of the wings. Pull the chain towards the center of the butterfly. The chain should drag the paint with it. For a video tutorial click Here. You can buy pouring paint on my website Here.
#5 Black and white
Painting in black and white can add cool shading and have a modern look.
Sketch out your butterfly and decide on a wing pattern. Then paint your picture in the same way you would with other colors just using white, black, and gray.
#6 Fold in half
This technique is quick and can be enjoyed by younger ages as well.
Make an outline of your butterfly and fold your paper in half. Open the paper back up and paint on half of the paper in your outline using excess paint. Then, fold the paper back in half and gently press the two halves together. Carefully peel the paper back open. You have now made a symmetrical butterfly!
You can’t get very detailed with this technique but it’s easy and very fun.
#7 Dots
There are so many different things you can do with this style. It is very eye-catching and looks amazing.
Sketch out the shape of your butterfly and decide what pattern you want your dots in. Use a pencil eraser, the tip of a pen, the back of your paint brush and anything that you can dot paint with to dip in some paint and put dots on your butterfly. It works best if you put the dots on in a pattern but randomly placing dots can look cool too!
You can put dots on just where the veins of the butterfly are or just the places that don’t have veins. You could also paint it a solid color and then put dots on top of that. There are so many possibilities!
If you enjoy painting dots you can purchase tools meant just for dot painting Here
If you want to learn more about dot painting heres my tutorial
#8 Split down the middle
This can give your painting a very expressive look.
Start by painting one half of the butterfly and the body. Then fill in the approximate shape of the other wing with anything you would like. It can be more butterflies, a landscape, flowers, stars, really anything you can imagine.
#9 Leaves
This is a fun way to bring nature into your painting. It can also be a great outdoor craft.
Find leaves that can be placed to give the basic shape of a butterfly. Paint a leaf and press it paint side down onto your paper/canvas. Peel the leaf off and repeat with the other leaves. When you have finished the wings, paint the body to finish it off. Or you can cover a twig with black paint and press it onto the painting to create the body.
#10 Splatter
Draw your butterflies shape out on a piece of paper then cut it out. Put the cutout on the canvas and splatter paint on your canvas. Let the paint partially dry then peel the paper cutout off.
Or you could draw your shape on your canvas and splatter paint on the butterfly area of it. Or put the paint in the middle of your picture then use a straw to blow the paint outward to fill in your insect.
Thank you for reading!
I hope this helped you! Now you can use these ideas and come up with your own. Some more ideas to look into and think about are: melting (making the butterfly look like it’s melting by dripping paint down the canvas from your butterfly, or maybe painting just the veins and leaving the rest blank. The possibilities are infinite! Thank you so much! Now go and make art!
For quality art supplies go to my website ButterStyle Here
Or for more ideas and tips from me click Here