How to Draw Insects

Hello! I am TinyMissAK. This will cover how to draw ants, bees, and grasshoppers, to get you started.

The quick overview of what we will do is studying the insects, so that we know just what they look like. Sketching them: the first thing would be to find shapes and a basic outline. Then lineart, and coloring.

Studying an Insect

I catch a lot of insects, so I know a lot about them. The best thing to do is take an image of an up-close insect to study it instead of looking for them. Another helpful thing to do is put it in Clip Studio Paint and look for shapes in it to help with the sketch.

Another thing to think about is the sex of the insect. If you have background insects, not much detail goes into them, but if you make insect OCs then the sex is important. To sex an ant is easy. Males have wings, and appear much more wasplike. However, female alates also have wings. Females are much larger than males, with a big thorax and abdomen. After nuptial flight they lose these wings, so that’s another thing to think about. But males are usually a different color.

To sex a grasshopper is also pretty easy. For one, no males have wings. If it has wings, it’s a female. But not all females have wings. If you pick up a grasshopper, gently squeeze it. Not that will hurt it, but enough to make its abdomen get pushed forward. If it’s a female, it will have two small stinger like spikes on the end. Males also have these, but they’re on the top of the abdomen and are rounder.

Bees aren’t exactly something you catch and I’ve never really been too interested in them, so I’m not sure how to sex those.

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Sketching the Insect

First, insert an image. Find shapes in the image, to create a basic outline. This is helpful if you’re drawing something new. I’ll demonstrate with an ant.

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Lineart and Coloring

Lineart

After you have a sketch, it’s back to the basics. Create a new layer. With a smaller and more opaque brush, add an outline, etc.

Coloring

When coloring your insect, you can use realistic colors or use random neon colors. I’ll use some realistic colors of the genus Camponotus Americanus (American Carpenter Ant) for my ant. When designing the model and colors of any creature, you should always pay attention to the species.

Conclusion

That’s it for how to draw insects! I hope this was helpful to you. Something interesting you could try to draw is a rare insect. Something prehistoric or just rarely sighted. Speaking of rare insects, I actually found one today! This is a pink grasshopper, found Mar 25, 2024, Monticello, KY.