How To Draw A Fairy - Fairy Drawing

Fairy drawing is something that I'm not used to and through this second post I feel I'm slowly getting there to draw a fairy, because you may remember my half arsed approach last time here - Drawing Fairies and now you can compare that one to this effort and there is slight improvements.

Although I did feel that the arms appeared too large and the feet, but it's an inspirational look at drawing a fairy and maybe the next time it will be much better, so without further self criticism, here is how to draw a fairy....

The first steps of any drawing has to be about a figure sketch that doesn't say a lot, as it needs to describe the shape of the fairies figure, but not reveal everything straight away, a simple way of doing this is to break down the figure into simple shapes, much like I've done before in my other drawing tutorials.

You can see below, that the fairy could be almost anything, but at least you know it will eventually become a fairy.

Fairy Sketch Step 1....

The next stage of our fairy drawing I suppose would be to bring out the figure more and refine it into something more tangible as a fairy figure form, also we can add some of the rough details like sketching in the dress and a few lines for the hair and basic features which will change in the next drawing stage.

Sometimes it might be worth trying to trace using a lightbox to see if you can capture the general figure and practice a few other figure positions at this drawing stage before it becomes final.

Drawing a fairy Step 2.....

One of the interesting aspects of this fairy drawing is that it's largely better than other fairies I've drawn, so it really does help to keep on practicing at every chance that you get because you do get better, maybe it's not noticeable until you compare your drawings, but art does improve over time, I assure you!

The third sketch is the best as we can throw out most of the rough pencil lines now and dispense with them as we have a good idea where we are going now or at least you should. Notice the curls on the fairies hair and more detail and refined design elements come into play now, this is when you know that your fairy drawing is going to be better than you thought.

Fairy drawing Step 3....

The final stage of the fairy drawing for me was about adding those finishing touches, such as eyes and more subtle details on the fairies dress with the flowers, although still not entirely happy with the fairies legs and arms, it still is an idea, a germ of inspiration for your own fairy drawings.

I inked the last fairy sketch with a fine line gel ink pen, which is always nice to ink with as the ink flows better and doesn't clog up when you are adding ink to your drawings, Biros are a good example of a pen that clogs, although I sketch often with a black biro I never use them for inking anymore.

When drawing your own fairies, try and get inspiration from fashion magazines, as this is what I will do for the next fairy drawing tutorial, as each tutorial passes I want to surpass the last one. And the possibilities of drawing a fairy that looks like a fashion model is very exciting to try and work out, it's a challenge, so watch this space....

Final inked fairy drawing Step 4....

Fairy Art Copyright © waynetully.com

Easy To Draw Fantasy Fairies

Drawing fantasy fairies can be easy if you follow these steps to drawing them. We all know Fairies are them small winged girls that fly about the place and sprinkle fairy dust around and in fact I never used to be a fan of drawing Fairies until I saw the work of Amy Brown and Sara Butcher, it was then that I thought, yes, I'll have a go at sketching them and trying to draw them, at first it was hard, but when you start to learn something new that you haven't drawn, then it will be difficult until you pick it up with practice.

When starting to draw a fairy, I like to get an idea of the figure first, because in my early attempts I did try to run before I could walk sort of thing with drawing fairies I would draw the wings first and then try and draw the fairy from the top to the bottom,an often it didn't work out very well, so I always with any drawing create a foundation of which to work from.

And this basic foundation drawing covers the rough figure of the fairy as pictured below.....and it doesn't have to be accurate or even perfect, as you can change things later, because I sure will!

And now we can refine that first fairy drawing by taking it and placing it on a light box or just place a piece of tracing paper over it, now as an artist you should be thinking in ways to improve the figure of the fairy, not re-trace the figure underneath, I use a pencil at first and then once I've got a good sketch going on I start to quick ink the figure, so I can scan it in my computer and clean up the drawing at a later stage.

Now the fairy figure looks a lot better, although the hands are wrong and this can be sorted out in the next stage of our drawing....as I just wanted to get the figure right and also notice how it is different from the original fairy sketch, I changed the legs and the way the fairy is flying and as an artist, this is what you do, you problem solve, you work out how to best draw something and that is all you can do, to refine the drawing.... take a look!....

Now the next part does involve a bit more work on the light box or transfering the idea and refining it further on tracing paper, but this is a solid method for showing you how fantasy artists refine ideas and make them look sparkling and magical and there maybe things that need to change still and that's ok, Rome wasn't built overnight in 30 seconds, so we try and make the figure better and also other details like the hands and the foot, because the other foot is behind the fairy, although I could have a few toes poking out, but it may look like a ding dong and this ain't no fairy in drag!

The third drawing seems much better as you go along and keep refining it, but there does come a time when you should stop and so I have stopped and just inked up a quick version of a fairy below....

So just have fun with fairies (?) drawing them I mean!!

Also see the post - Daily Sketching - Fairies