For this oil pastel art project we used Pentel Arts Oil Pastels. I love these things! They’re cheap and great quality! The only thing you need to keep in mind though, they disappear quickly. So, on this free download I didn’t use the whole paper. I put a box around the butterfly specifically to save materials.
Also, if you haven’t seen our other pastel posts be sure to check them out too!
Ages Ranges For This Project
All ages can do this project, but you’ll see differences in their control of the oil pastels. Don’t worry about them doing it perfect, remember to always have fun first. And always remember that it’s fun to practice art, which means do this activity more than once!
Materials We Used
Oil Pastel Colors For This Project
- Yellow
- Orange
- Light Blue
- Dark Blue
- Black
General Oil Pastel Tip: Typically you want to start with the lighter colors first and end with the darker colors.
Step By Step Monarch Butterfly
1. Start with yellow and color in the internal wing shapes. Use medium pressure while coloring. Don’t worry about going over any of the printed lines.
2. Build a second layer, on top of the yellow, using orange. Use medium pressure when applying this layer.
3. Next build a third layer with yellow. This time use a fairly heavy pressure when applying. This will blend the orange and yellow together, leaving an awesome smooth texture.
4. Now with the light blue and a medium to heavy pressure, color the back ground. We started at the edges of the wings and worked out.
5. Then, with the dark blue build a second layer over the light blue.
6. Start on the outside edge using a heavy pressure, then work towards the wings getting lighter and lighter.
7. This is how the second layer looked, after going around the whole butterfly.
8. Then with the light blue and heavy pressure, go back over the entire background. This will blend the two blues together, making it smoother.
9. This is what it looked like after.
10. Now for black! Fill in the rest of the wings, while leaving the little circles white.
11. Then trace the lines over the orange shapes.
12. Finally, draw the butterfly’s antennas.
Free Monarch Butterfly Download!
Click the image below to download, then right click to save.
