How to Draw a Cat

Pas per pas

1. Pas 1

   Draw a circle a little wider than it is tall.

   Almost every animal head starts as one simple shape, and getting it slightly wide rather than perfectly round is what stops a cat reading as a human. Draw it in one motion rather than in short careful passes - a lopsided circle drawn confidently is more use to you than a perfect one built out of twelve nervous strokes, because everything after this gets measured against it.

   Vigila amb Making it small so there is room for the body. The head is the whole drawing here; use the space.

   Comprova It should be noticeably wider than it is tall - about one and a tenth.

2. Pas 2

   Draw a light line straight across the middle of the circle.

   This is the eye line, and it is the single most useful mark in the drawing. Eyes sit almost exactly halfway down a head - on cats and on people - but almost everybody places them much too high, because we think of eyes as being near the top of a face. Putting the line down before the eyes stops you guessing.

   Vigila amb Drawing it a third of the way down instead of halfway. Measure it: top edge to line should equal line to chin.

   Comprova Fold the distance in half by eye. The line should sit on the fold.

3. Pas 3

   Draw a second light line straight down the middle.

   The vertical centre line keeps the two halves of the face agreeing with each other. Without it, one eye drifts wider than the other and the nose ends up off to one side - and because the error creeps in gradually you will not notice until the face is finished and looks subtly wrong.

   Vigila amb Skipping this because the face looks symmetrical already. It will not be by step 8.

   Comprova The two lines should cross at the centre of the circle.

4. Pas 4

   Draw the left ear as a triangle sitting ON the circle.

   The base of the ear belongs on the circle's edge, not floating above it. A cat's ears grow out of the skull, so the triangle should look like it is part of the head rather than balanced on top of it. Start the base inside the outline and let the sides rise from there.

   Vigila amb Perching the ears above the head with a gap underneath. That reads as a hat.

   Comprova The bottom corners of the triangle should both touch or cross the circle.

5. Pas 5

   Draw the right ear to match, leaning the same way outward.

   Compare it to the one you just drew rather than to your idea of an ear: same height, same lean, same distance from the centre line. This is the comparison habit that fixes proportion generally, and a pair of ears is the easiest place to practise it because the error is obvious once you look for it.

   Vigila amb Making the second ear smaller. It usually happens because your hand is more cramped on that side.

   Comprova Both ear tips should be about the same distance above the circle.

6. Pas 6

   Draw the two eyes on the middle line, one eye-width apart.

   The gap between a cat's eyes is about one eye wide. That single measurement does more for the likeness than the shape of the eyes themselves, so place them before you worry about how they look. Sit them ON the line rather than above it.

   Vigila amb Putting the eyes too close together, which makes the face read as a kitten or a person rather than a cat.

   Comprova You should be able to fit one more eye exactly in the gap.

7. Pas 7

   Draw a vertical slit pupil in each eye.

   The slit pupil is the thing that makes it unmistakably a cat rather than a dog or a bear. Keep both slits vertical and the same width - in bright light they are thin, in low light they widen to almost fill the eye, so either is correct as long as the two match.

   Vigila amb Drawing round pupils, or two slits at different angles.

   Comprova Cover one eye with a finger. The other should look the same.

8. Pas 8

   Add a small triangle for the nose, on the centre line.

   The nose sits about halfway between the eye line and the chin, and it points down. Keep it small - a nose drawn too large is the second most common reason a cat face reads as a dog, after a snout that is too long.

   Vigila amb Drawing it level with the bottom of the eyes. It belongs lower, in the gap between eyes and chin.

   Comprova It should sit on the vertical line, with equal space either side.

9. Pas 9

   Draw two curves down and out from the nose, like a wide W.

   This is the mouth, and the shape is two shallow curves rather than one line. Both start at the bottom point of the nose. Keep them shallow - deep curves turn a neutral cat into a grinning one, which is a fine choice but should be a choice.

   Vigila amb Starting the curves from the sides of the nose instead of its bottom point.

   Comprova Both curves should meet exactly at the nose tip.

10. Pas 10

    Draw the muzzle: two soft bumps either side of the mouth.

    The whisker pads are what give a cat its rounded, slightly smug lower face, and beginners almost always leave them out - which is why a drawn cat can have every feature in the right place and still look flat. Keep them low and wide.

    Vigila amb Making them too small, so the face stays flat.

    Comprova They should sit below the nose and overlap the mouth curves.

11. Pas 11

    Draw three whiskers on the left, from beside the nose.

    Whiskers grow from the whisker pads, not from the outline of the face - that is the detail that makes them look attached rather than drawn on. Fan them out at different angles and let them run past the edge of the head. One confident stroke each.

    Vigila amb Starting them at the edge of the face, which makes them look like scratches on the paper.

    Comprova All three should begin inside the muzzle bumps.

12. Pas 12

    Draw three whiskers on the right to match.

    Match the angles rather than the exact lengths - real whiskers are uneven, and identical ones look printed. Again, one stroke each, and let your hand move from the shoulder rather than the fingers so the lines stay straight.

    Vigila amb Drawing these more carefully than the left side, so the two halves have visibly different line quality.

    Comprova Step back. The whiskers should read as a fan, not a comb.

13. Pas 13

    Draw a smaller triangle inside each ear.

    The inner ear sits slightly forward of centre and does not reach the tip. Leaving a margin of outer ear all the way around is what gives the ear thickness - fill it to the edges and the ear goes flat.

    Vigila amb Drawing the inner triangle all the way to the ear tip.

    Comprova There should be a visible border of outer ear on every side.

14. Pas 14

    Add a few short fur marks along each cheek, pointing out.

    Fur is suggested, never drawn hair by hair. A handful of short strokes breaking the outline at the cheeks is enough for the eye to fill in the rest, and it stops the head reading as a hard circle. Point them the way the fur grows - outward and slightly down.

    Vigila amb Adding fur all the way around the head, which turns the silhouette to fuzz.

    Comprova Only the cheeks should be broken up. The top of the head stays smooth.

15. Pas 15

    Go over the lines you want to keep, and lose the two guides.

    This is the step that turns a construction drawing into a finished one, and it is the step most people skip. Press harder on the outline, the ears and the eyes; leave the fur and whiskers light. That difference in line weight is what makes a drawing look deliberate rather than traced, and it costs thirty seconds.

    Vigila amb Going over everything at the same weight, which flattens the drawing back out.

    Comprova The outline and eyes should be clearly darker than the whiskers.