Realistic watercolor butterfly
There are 2 good reasons you’ll want to paint this realistic watercolor butterfly:
1) Monarch butterflies are amazing.
It’s always joyful to see butterflies flutter around, and get a good look at their pretty patterns when they land.
But there’s so much more to these particular butterflies.
When they first hatch, they complete a 3,000 journey and they find their way through a built-in ‘sat nav’ programmed into their antennae. (I tell you more about this in the video).
It’s discovering things like this that make the world feel so magical.
And by paintings subjects like this, we give ourselves time to slow down and sit with those feelings of wonder, which science has shown can make us happier in the long term.
2) This watercolor butterfly is a great exercise on how to see values (or tones)
If you’re developing your artistic eye, this beautiful butterfly is a great subject to practice with. It has 3 distinct tones, so it’s perfect for tuning in to observe the lightest, darkest and midtones.
Have a watch of this free mini class where I show you how to go about painting this realistic watercolor butterfly:
I hope this video has inspired you and given you confidence on how to paint a butterfly in watercolor.
You can find more free mini classes on how to paint another realistic watercolor butterfly in a blue colour, and other realistic minibeasts including a shiny watercolor ladybug, squishy caterpillar and a cute, small watercolor bee.
And if you’d like to paint a butterfly in a loose style, check out this class.
I’d love to know if you’ve enjoyed this mini class, or felt inspired to paint your own butterfly after watching. Please do leave me a comment below to tell me! Hearing from you helps me to keep creating new classes.
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Love this-also interesting to see how you are constantly evaluating your colors and changing/adding where necessary like the darkening of the shadows. It’s definitely not a “one and done” process which gives us amateurs hope! Sometimes you see an Instagram reel where artist perfectly lays done color with no discernible light outline or a few guidelines-very intimidating. Thanks for this.
Hi Anna, I have not had a chance to do the pear yet or the butterfly, but am excited to do so. I am a writer and photographer by trade and have just launched a new eBook on Amazon. But after a number of years I am excited to get back into botanical drawing and watercolors. So very pleased to have found you.
Take care,
Lynn
Inspiring as usual. Your books continue to delight. Thank you.
Love butterfly’s. Enjoy your style of painting. Would love to see the line drawings a little darker in the school when you are teaching I feel lost without them. A great teacher and Lovely Lady 🌹
Hi ,another wonderful tutorial did the pear few months ago, and in this new video you show your wonderful way of adding so many layer of colours to produce an excefiniah, enjoy very much thank you so much love the end , I though was just magical 💝
Your butterfly is beautiful. Looking forward to learning from you in the future.
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