Allison Lyon Art

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LIVE 🌸 Watercolor Butterfly Tutorial for Beginners (Step-by-Step)

Welcome to another live watercolor tutorial! Today we'll be painting a Plane (Bindahara Phocides) butterfly! This is butterfly nine of the #lovebutterflychallenge - 15 butterfly paintings in 30 days! Click HERE for challenge details.

♡ Paint with Me ♡

Right click and save my sketch below. Transfer instructions are under the sketch.

Click for Plane Butterfly Photos

How to Transfer Outline onto Your Watercolor Paper

  1. Print outline. Color the entire back with a dark pencil. Lay onto your watercolor paper with the outline facing up. Trace the outline with a pencil.

  2. Print outline. Use transfer paper by laying the transfer paper onto your watercolor paper with your outline on top. Trace the fern outline with a pencil.


A Note on Copyright

I’ve been getting questions on if it’s legal to paint a photo found on Google of a butterfly. The answer is: yes and no. It depends on the photo and how much of the photo you paint. But if you find a photo of a butterfly and just paint the butterfly, it’s legal. This is because photos of butterflies (and many other nature subjects) fall under the “general subject matter” for copyright.

Now, if you paint a photo of a butterfly that is unique - for example a butterfly resting on someone’s hand and you paint not just the butterfly but her hand too and perhaps a ring on her finger - then this will violate copyright since this photograph is unique.

My advice is to just paint the butterfly and if you want to add elements (like flowers) then add those in from another reference photo.

Go HERE for more details about copyright.


♡ SUPPLIES USED ♡

Arteza Transfer Paper â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/transferpaper

Princeton Neptune Brushes â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/neptunebrushes

Round Brush Size 0 â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/watercolorbrush0

Round Brush Size 8 â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/watercolorbrush8

Arches Cold Press Paper â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/archescoldpress

Winsor & Newton Watercolor Pan Set â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/wandnwatercolorset

Overhead Phone Tripod â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/phonetripod


♡♡♡ WATERCOLOR CHALLENGES♡♡♡

10 Day Watercolor Woodland Animal Challenge â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/watercoloranimalchallengeyt

10 Day Watercolor Bird Challenge â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/watercolorbirdchallengeyt

10 Day Watercolor Butterfly Challenge â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/watercolorbutterflychallengeyt



Free Beginner Watercolor Class â–ş https://allisonlyonart.live/freewatercolorclass



DISCLAIMER: This description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.