I spent countless hours as a child drawing and colouring in butterflies as I was completely captivated by the patterns on their wings. As the UK has so many wonderful species of butterfly I was almost spoiled for choice with which one to draw, but settled on one of the best known – the small tortoiseshell.
After I’d begun by drawing out all the lines, I filled in the butterfly’s body and darkest areas of the wing. Then I began to shade the lighter areas of the wings, using a pencil to lightly fill in each segment and then going over that with a small paintbrush to give it a smooth finish, adding and rubbing out little spots where necessary to enhance the texture.
A butterfly’s life cycle is a curious one as they go through the metamorphosis process. They are born as eggs before hatching as caterpillars, then feed on plants such as nettles for around three weeks until fully grown. Not long after this the caterpillars find a secure spot and turn into a chrysalis (which often resembles a withered leaf) before emerging as an adult butterfly around two weeks afterwards!
Fun fact – butterfly wings are actually transparent. They are made up of a protein called chitin, which is covered in thousands of tiny hairs that contain pigments that reflect light in different colours!