Butterfly Painting

Welcome to the Butterfly Painting Instructions page, where you'll learn to create a serene meadowy masterpiece! Immerse yourself in the art of painting as you follow step-by-step guidance to recreate this charming butterfly-themed artwork.

Feel free to adapt these instructions as needed during your painting session. Change up the colours, add extra details, anything you’d like! Have fun exploring different techniques and creating your turtle masterpiece! 🎨

After following our artist set up guide here, you’ll need these paint colours

STEP 1: Mapping and Background

  1. Draw a circle in the centre of the canvas, with a diameter half the width of the canvas

  2. Water down some green paint. We water down our background colour for a few reasons: it’ll dry faster, it’ll look better to paint on top of, and we don’t want our background to stand out - after all, we want our subject to stand out :)

  3. Using your biggest bush, fill in the background with long vertical brushstrokes in green paint

  4. Feel free to experiment with blending. Add some white paint to your green in some areas, and lightly, quickly paint over the green area. You’ll see a gradient begin to form. Click here for more blending tips

  5. Paint the sides and the top of the canvas.

STEP 2: Mapping the Wings

  1. To mark the top of the wing, draw a dot about 5cm inward from the top-right corner.

  2. From this dot, create a curved line around the left side of the circle.

  3. Similarly, curve around the right side and underneath for the top wing.

  4. For the bottom wing, mark a dot about 5cm inward and then curve it to the left and bottom-right of the circle.

  5. Shape the wing like a curvy triangle extending from the butterfly's shoulder to the top of the canvas.

  6. Optionally, mark in the body to visualize it better.

STEP 3: Colour in the Wings

  1. Colour in the front wing in segments of the wing in patches of pink, yellow, and white

  2. Colour in the back wing similarly, but use darker colours to create a sense of depth (I recommend adding a hint of blue to all the same colours you used before)

  3. Once the mosaic is done, blend over the edges to create a glassy-gradient effect over the wing

STEP 4: Colour in the Body

  1. Mark a line for the body and paint small circles to create a segmented effect. I like to use thick paint to emphasise the texture of the body

  2. Using the smallest brush, water-down black paint to paint the legs. Use fast, light brushstrokes to enhance dynamism to make it feel like the butterfly is in flight

STEP 5: Outlines

  1. Using the small brush, first outline the body and the wings in black.

  2. I like to make the right-most line thicker for highlighting later

  3. For the body, draw dynamic loops outward with watered-down black paint

  4. Then, draw in the veins on the wings. I like to start from the body, and draw lines radiating out, then pull them across to create the curvy rectangles. In particular, I like to make these lines organic, so they don’t have to be perfectly straight - the wonkier the better!

STEP 7: Highlights

  1. Use the back of the brush to stamp perfect circles with white paint on the wings.

  2. Feel free to add extra white lines around the painting to create more highlights. I personally like to add fast lines around the outside of my wings to emphasise that the butterfly is in flight!

Thank you for painting with Josie's Paint and Sip! I hope you've enjoyed this creative journey and discovered the artist within you. Remember, art is all about expressing yourself, so embrace imperfections and have fun with every brushstroke. Don't forget to sign your masterpiece—it's your unique creation! Until next time, keep painting and spreading joy through art.

Happy painting!

Glamorously yours,

Josie