Cats are walking, meowing, furry works of of art. It’s no wonder they’ve been inspiring humans to draw and paint them for thousands of years. In honor of Feline February, I’m sharing my top three techniques for capturing a cat’s form and essence.
Before you draw, make marks to note where the top, sides, and bottom of the cat belong on the page. Accuracy isn’t important here, they’re simply for making sure you don’t leave out the tail or ear tip. You can erase over them later.
Most of the time, the cat’s body will be the biggest shape. Their head just sits on top, looking at you like “give me food.”
Bonus tip: If you’re right-hand dominant, sketch the LEFT eye first. If you’re left-hand dominant, draw the right eye first.
Share your top cat-drawing tip in the comments!
P.S. While we’re on the topic of cats, I did some digging and found this 2-year-old video where I went sketching at the Memphis Humane Society. The kittens are SO cute and naughty, and there’s some pretty good advice for drawing on location with minimal materials.
Here are the photos I drew from, and a few bonus ones!
