How to Draw a Cat

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1. Habraac 1

   Sawir wareegga yar oo ka ballaaran ka badan waa dheer.

   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.

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

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

2. Habraac 2

   Draw line iftiinka si toos ah oo dhan dhexda wareegga.

   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.

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

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

3. Habraac 3

   Draw line iftiinka labaad si toos ah hoos u dhexda.

   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.

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

   Ka hubi The two lines should cross at the centre of the circle.

4. Habraac 4

   Draw dhegta bidix sida saddex geesood ah oo fadhiya ON wareegga.

   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.

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

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

5. Habraac 5

   Sawir dhegta midig si ay u midoobaan, isku si u soo jiidasho.

   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.

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

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

6. Habraac 6

   Sawir labada indhaha ee xadka dhexe, mid ka mid ah indhaha-wax yar oo ka fog.

   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.

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

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

7. Habraac 7

   Sawir ah oo xagal-dhexaad ah oo ku yaal indhaha.

   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.

   Ilaalinta Drawing round pupils, or two slits at different angles.

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

8. Habraac 8

   Ku dar saddex-geesood yar oo ah sanka, on line dhexe.

   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.

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

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

9. Habraac 9

   Sawir laba curves hoos iyo ka soo baxay sanka, sida W ballaaran.

   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.

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

   Ka hubi Both curves should meet exactly at the nose tip.

10. Habraac 10

    Sawir muzzle: laba bumps fudud labada dhinac ee afka.

    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.

    Ilaalinta Making them too small, so the face stays flat.

    Ka hubi They should sit below the nose and overlap the mouth curves.

11. Habraac 11

    Sawir saddexda shaandhada bidixda, ka soo horjeedka sanka.

    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.

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

    Ka hubi All three should begin inside the muzzle bumps.

12. Habraac 12

    Sawir saddexda whiskers on xaqa ah in ay la mid yihiin.

    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.

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

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

13. Habraac 13

    Sawir saddex geesoodka yar ee gudaha dhegta kasta.

    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.

    Ilaalinta Drawing the inner triangle all the way to the ear tip.

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

14. Habraac 14

    Ku dar qaar ka mid ah calaamadaha faraha gaaban oo dhan gadh kasta, muujinaya.

    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.

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

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

15. Habraac 15

    Go line aad rabto inaad sii, iyo labadii hoggaamiye ku lumin.

    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.

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

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