In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in 6 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.
The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.
Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.
At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.
Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.
How to Draw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1: First, draw the head and antennae. The head should be rounded and very narrow. Draw the antennae pointing away from one another. Where the antennae attach to the head, fill in two black circles for the butterflie's eyes.
Step 2: Next, draw the short body by drawing two lines that slightly bend away from each other at the top.
Step 3: Then, draw the short pointed tail of the butterfly.
Step 4: Draw the left wing of your butterfly. The upper part should be made with smooth lines while the lower part should be drawn with ridges.
Step 5: Draw the right wing as a mirror immage of the left wing.
Step 6: The last step is to create the unique pattern of the Tiger Swallowtail. Make dots on the lower edges of the upper part of both wings and dashes on the edges of the lower parts. Use this image to finish up the rest of the patterns on your butterfly.
Interesting Facts about the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
The Eastern tiger swallowtail is a butterfly. They live in forests, river valleys, or cities in Eastern North America. Male Eastern tiger swallowtails are yellow with dark tiger stripes, while females can either be yellow like the males or be black with dark stripes. This butterfly has a wingspan of 2.5 to 4.5 inches. Adults eat the nectar of flowers from a variety of plants. The Eastern tiger swallowtail’s lifecycle is made of four parts: egg, larva (caterpillars), pupa (chrysalis), and adult. The caterpillars can be found on various plants including wild cherry, sweetbay, birch, ash, cottonwood, willow, and basswood. Fully grown caterpillars attach themselves to a twig or leaf and shed their outer layer of skin revealing a hard skin known as a chrysalis. An adult butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis.
Did you know?
- Butterflies are insects that have four wings.
- The Eastern tiger swallowtail has taste receptors on their feet.
- The eggs of an Eastern tiger swallowtail are green in color.
- Caterpillars are brown and white when they are born. A mature caterpillar is green with orange and black false eyespots.
- The Eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillars range from 3 to 5 millimeters in length.
- They tend to be solitary.
Lesson plan note: Create a butterfly:Give each child a coffee filter to color; this will be their butterfly’s wings. Take a pipe-cleaner and wrap it around the coffee filter leaving two pieces sticking up on top to form the butterfly’s antennae. Have each child fly their butterflies around the classroom.
How to Draw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail – Step-by-Step Tutorial