Caroline
There is an incredible amount of variety and diversity when it comes to insects. Some are quite large and some are tiny, while others crawl on the ground and others soar through the air.
Even with all this diversity, the dragonfly still manages to stand out from all the rest.
These thin, lanky insects soar through the air with their four wings, and when you look closely at them you can really see just how unique they look.
Learning how to draw a dragonfly is a great way to get started with creating some unique artwork featuring this creature.
If you would like to know the secrets to recreate this interesting insect, then be sure to read on!
This step-by-step guide on how to draw a dragonfly in just 6 easy steps will show you how fun and easy it can be!
Make This Drawing A Bit Easier By Preparing With These Tips
When it comes to creating any kind of drawing, preparation can often be the key to making it so much easier. In this guide, we will be taking you through the process of creating this incredible dragonfly drawing.
Before we begin, we wanted to provide a few more tips for some easy ways that you can prepare for your drawing and make it much easier.
Firstly, you will want to make sure you have everything you will need for your drawing, and even if you think you have everything, you may want to add some more to your drawing arsenal.
Having a good variety of pencils is a great idea for any drawing, as they allow you to sketch and prepare your drawing before committing to pen. Using proper drawing pencils instead of a standard writing pencil is also a good idea.
Then, you can also prepare by looking up more pictures of dragonflies. These could include some photos of dragonflies, or you could look up some diagrams and drawings.
Even though we will have images for you to use in the guide, having additional sources never hurts, and it can help you to portray some of the finer details easier.
Using additional pictures also helps if you would like to make some changes or alterations to your artwork. This could include variations to the dragonfly or perhaps even the background of the image.
Lastly, we would also suggest having a good supply of drawing paper on hand. Getting the drawing perfect on the first try is a nice thought, but it’s better to take as many attempts as you need.
With these tips, you’re ready to embark on this guide and see how it’s done!
How to Draw A Dragonfly – Let’s Get Started!
Step 1
When you take a closer look at a dragonfly, you’ll see that they have many different sections on their bodies, and this can make them a bit tricky to draw.
There’s no need to worry, however, as we will take each section slowly as we work through this guide on how to draw a dragonfly!
In this first step, we will be focused on the head and start of the body of the insect.
For the head, you can draw some rounded shapes with another rounded section between them. Then, use some more curved lines for the start of the body, or thorax.
Once you have drawn all of these aspects, we can take on step 2 of the guide.
Step 2 – Now, draw the rest of the thorax and the legs
To continue this dragonfly drawing, the next thing we will be drawing will be the rest of the thorax.
This will attach to the section that you drew previously, but this section will be one larger shape instead of several smaller ones.
Then, we will be adding some thick, angled lines dropping down from the body for the six legs of the dragonfly.
That’s all you need to do for this part, so when you’re ready we shall proceed to step 3 of the guide.
Step 3 – Draw the abdomen of the dragonfly
The part that we will be drawing in this next step of this guide on how to draw a dragonfly may look like a long tail, but in actual fact it is the abdomen of the insect.
This abdomen will be long and thin, and much like many other parts of the insect, it will be made up of lots of small sections.
To draw it, simply add a row of small, long shapes that connect to one another.
Each section should be roughly the same size and width, and there will be some small little shapes poking off the end of it.
Step 4 – Next, draw the wings for this dragonfly
Dragonflies are very good at zipping around through the air, and they’re able to do this thanks to their four wings.
These are what we shall be adding to your dragonfly drawing in this next step. Each wing is quite long, thin and made up of some rounded lines.
They also all begin from a small area on the back of the dragonfly, as shown in our reference image.
Once you have drawn these outlines for the wings, you’ll notice they seem quite blank. We will take care of the detailing for the wings along with any final touches and details in the next step of the guide!
Step 5 – Add the final details to your dragonfly drawing
Before you add some color to your picture, we will first finish off the final details and touches in this fifth step of our guide on how to draw a dragonfly.
The main aspect that we will focus on will be to draw some detailing on the wings.
The wings of a dragonfly have a rather intricate veiny texture to them, and you can draw it by using a complex set of curved and wavy lines.
Once you have drawn these lines, you can then finish off by adding some extras of your own!
One idea would be to draw a background, and if you went for that idea then what kind of setting would you create for it?
Step 6 – Finish off your dragonfly drawing with color
You’ve made it to the final step of this dragonfly drawing, and now you’re ready for some coloring fun to finish it off!
Dragonflies can come in a huge variety of different colors, so you have a lot of options at your disposal as you color your image.
In our example image, we showed you one way that you could color in this artwork.
We used orange for the body of the dragonfly, and then went with some greys for the wings.
The wings are meant to be a bit transparent, so any parts of the body that are seen through it were colored with a light brown to show this.
When coloring this picture in, we would recommend some watercolor paints for a lovely soft look to the image.
You could go with any colors and mediums you love, however, so have fun with it and see what happens!
5 Tips To Make Your Dragonfly Drawing Even Better!
Let this artwork take off as we make your dragonfly sketch look even better!
When you look close up, dragonflies can come in some incredible colors. This drawing of a dragonfly shows one with an orange color scheme, but there are many other colors you could use.
Even if you stick to realistic colors, you would have many to choose from, but you could use any colors you like. What are some colors you would like to use for this dragonfly?
We showed a cool view of this dragonfly for this artwork, but once you have the hang of the drawing you could show it from some different angles.
This could be made easier by using photos and diagrams online to portray the different angles and views. Using these sources could also make it more realistic.
If you looked up some diagrams, you may have seen some that have labels for the different parts of the dragonfly.
You could add an educational element to your dragonfly drawing by adding some of these labels.
This could be done by adding lines from the various parts of the dragonfly and then adding the various labels. How detailed these labels are would be up to you!
The dragonfly is one of many amazing insects we have in nature. Once you have finished drawing this one, you could add any other insects you love.
This would depend on your preferences, but you would have millions to choose from. They could be flying insects, or maybe some that crawl.
Or, you may want to draw other small creatures for a fun nature scene!
Dragonflies can be found in the strangest of places, so you could create some amazing backgrounds for your dragonfly sketch.
It could be as simple as a yard setting with some plants and flowers. Or you could shake things up by showing this dragonfly flying around a famous landmark.
Would you base a background on somewhere around you or would you prefer some kind of famous location?
Your Dragonfly Drawing is Complete!
This insect may be one of the most unusual ones you can find, but we hope that drawing one was made a much easier experience with the help of this guide on how to draw a dragonfly!
Even though there is a lot of detail packed into this image, by following the smaller steps we have broken it down into you’re sure to master it before you know it!
Then, when you can draw this fascinating insect there’s more fun to be had as you add your own details, ideas and extra elements.
Be sure to also have some fun getting creative with the colors and art mediums you use to finish it off!
When you’re ready for a new drawing to take on, you will find your next drawing guide on our website. We have such a huge selection that there’s something for everyone!
We have many more on the way, so be sure to keep checking in.
Please also go ahead and share your finished dragonfly drawing to our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to see!
