How to draw a cute dragonfly clipart

Create a cute dragonfly clipart made from basic elements and then see how adding shadows and textures can easily be done using simple techniques! These colorful insects are quite interesting to illustrate. Filled with bright colors and featuring thin and delicate wings, these great animals are visually very stimulating.

In this lesson, I will show you how to draw a simple version of this character. Then, you will learn how to add shadows and details to make this illustration even more appealing. But first, let's learn more about this colorful insect ...

1. The mouth is large and made from a pointed curved line.
2. Antennas are curly and filled with a light dark color.
3. Eyes and pupils are made from small circles.
4. The head is round and the chin is sharp and pointed.
5. All six legs are attached to the higher part of the body.
6. This higher part of the body is made from a rectangle with round corners.
7. The bottom part is long and covered with small lines.
8. The tip of the body is slightly round.
9. For the middle part of the body, you can use the same shape as the top part.
10. Wings are long, thin and filled with a subtle blue color.

Nice work! It's now time to proceed with the first part of this tutorial: drawing the character using basic shapes.

step 1 - A few basic shapes to start with

Let's create a basic template to draw the character. First, the head can be made from a small circle. The body consists of three thin rectangles, the last one being much taller. Finally, irregular shapes (similar to long and thin rectangles) are used to illustrate the body of this cute dragonfly clipart.

step 2 - drawing our cartoon dragonfly

Now that we have a few shapes to help us, let's draw this fun cartoon dragonfly. Notice the shape of the head (large, round and sharp on the bottom) as well as the shape of the wings. Once you are satisfied with the results, you can erase all orange shapes drawn previously.

step 3 - adding more features

Inside this illustration of a dragonfly, sketch the eyes and the pupils using circles. The mouth is made from a long curved line. Antennas are also made from a single line that is pointed and curly. Finally, you can draw small lines on the bottom of the body.

step 4 - applying plain colors

It's hard to create a cute dragonfly clipart without using bright and fun colors. For the body and the head, you can select a bright green color. The wings are done using a light blue color. Lines on the body can also be filled with a dark green color. 

Excellent work drawing this cute dragonfly clipart!

You can see the result below: a colorful cartoon dragonfly made from simple and basic elements. Only four steps are required to create this character, but we are not done yet! Let's add more shadows and textures to give more depth and volume to this illustration.

step 5 - Using gradient fills

If you are using a vector software, then gradient fills are a great time-saver. You can easily create the effect visible below on all parts of the character in just a few seconds. See how the wings, the body and the head are now featuring a more 3D look? Of course, you can achieve the same result using pencils or paint too! :)

step 6 - reflections are also quite important

I also like to create bright areas on this cute dragonfly clipart to create reflections. Simply draw new shapes, color these new elements in white and then use transparency to create the desired effect. It's simple and very effective!

Step 7 - shadows are relevant too!

To create more depth, it's also a good idea to draw small shadows in a few places to make this cute dragonfly clipart easier to read. These shadows must be subtle and partially transparent. You can add some below the head, on the various parts of the body and on the wings (close to the body).

Step 8 - More textures and we are done!

The final step could be to add more textures inside the wings of this cartoon dragonfly. Simply use small pointed lines and when you are done, make sure to add a little bit of transparency. Texture is a nice option to end up with a more realistic illustration.

Good work! Our dragonfly is now completed!

This is the final version once all effects are added. See how this insect seems alive and appealing? Don't forget that you can draw more characters like this one here. Simply practice often and drawing more beautiful dragonflies like this one will become a very easy task! :)

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