Draw a Cat Portrait
A cat portrait is easier to draw than a dog's. There aren't as many facial varieties. All cats have the same shaped ears, eyes and nose. This leaves you room to explore facial shape, fur shading and texture. It's important to capture the cat's personality in your picture. Here are the steps for drawing an accurate cat portrait.
Instructions
1. Choose a photograph of the cat you want to draw. It should be a close-up that leaves no detail obscure so you can get an accurate portrait. Study it in good light for a long time, noticing features such as fur length, shading variations and the shape of the muzzle.
2. Gather your art supplies. Get quality thick paper for your drawing, like lightweight watercolor paper. Buy lead pencils of different hardness for lines and shading, such as 2B, 6B and 6H. Utilize blending tortillions, pointed sticks of tightly wound paper to make shading and blending easier.
3. Trace the main features of the head with tracing paper. You want to get the shape of the ears, lower face and neck down as well as any directional cues, like a side profile.
4. Concentrate on large areas of shading. Start with the lighter tones with your 6H pencil. Then fill in darker areas with the softer pencils, 2B and 6B.
5. Work on the midtones. Use the blending tortillion to soften darker lines and even out the tones. When there's light and dark fur side by side, use the eraser and blending tool to soften the borders in between so it looks natural.
6. Take time to perfect details in your cat portrait once you've got the shading done. Pay particular attention when drawing the whiskers, mouth shape and fur texture.
