How To Draw It

How to Draw > How to draw a wasp

Wasps are a bit hipper than bees. In order to draw one well, though, you'll need to know the differences between wasps and bees.

For starters, wasps can sting multiple times, where a humble bee only gets one shot, and gives its life for it. Bees are also shaggy-looking, and wasps are sleek. Wasps' bodies are also much slimmer and more elongated. Depending on the wasp, they can also be dramatically more colorful than bees.

How to draw a wasp

Step 1) Draw a flat oval shape at an angle. This is going to be the wasp's head.
Step 2) Add a teardrop shape to create the front segment of the wasp's body. This part is technically known as the thorax.
Step 3) Add another teardrop shape to create the abdomen. If you can, make the shape so that it connects to the thorax without you drawing a teardrop. That way you won't have to erase the line of the tear drop that overlaps later. But if this is your first time drawing a wasp, just get the basic shapes down. As you progress, you'll be able to skip steps like this more easily, so you'll have fewer "draft" lines and sketchy lines, and your drawings will look more professional.
Step 4) Add the antennae. Wasps have long antennae. They are straight lines for about 85% of their length, then they bend a bit towards the end of the antennae. Don't add little dots to the end of the antennae - this works with bee drawings sometimes, but it looks weird on a wasp.
Step 5) Now add the legs. Wasps have long legs, and many species have yellow legs. If you're drawing in black and white, that won't mean much, but if you are drawing in color, you may want to make these lines in yellow, or possibly orange. You'd use orange because it gives just a bit more contrast against the white of the page. Yellow lines blend in too much, unless you're using a darker yellow.
Step 6) Adding the wings. One way that wasps and bees are similar is in their wings - both are shaped like long triangles. Wasp wings tend to be longer, though, and they have more curves than bee wings. If you are drawing in color, consider drawing the outlines of the wings in a light brown, not a black.
Step 7) I've added yellow areas to begin the coloring. The legs are yellow, and the wings, and of course the very recognizable yellow stripes on the abdomen are yellow.
Step 8) Here is the finished wasp. I've added some lines in light brown to give the illusion of shadows, and to give some detail to the wing. I also added what looks like hooks to the feet, because wasps have these in real life.