Cat Sketches

These cat sketches are part of several drawing animal free drawing lessons.

I recommend bristol board with a 2B pencil but use whatever materials you are comfortable with.

This is a drawing tutorial on how to draw a cat. Whenever the opportunity arises to sketch an animal from life I jump in straightaway. A sleeping pet is perfect for practicing your sketching technique.

1. Start with a breakdown into easy manageable shapes. This is the best method when attempting sketches of animals. Here we have the head with a centre line and eye line. I also sketch in the one ear we can see.

2. Sketch in the arching back. Then sketch a line along the bottom. I indicate where the front paws will be. Lastly draw the leg as shown. It is made of arches and simple lines.

3. My guides tell me where to site the eyes, nose and mouth. Use loose lines. The fur is drawn with simple lines as are the scant markings.

4. Still working very loosely I sketch in the rest of the body along with markings. I show some detail on the feet.

5. Now I draw in markings. They are built up with lines and then overlapping lines laid over the top. Work carefully without digging into the paper.

6. I continue until happy with the overall look.

7. I sketch the cushions the animal is asleep on. I could have done this earlier but I wasn't sure until this point how much of the background I wanted to show. Now I feel a balanced view of the soft furnishings will benefit the sketch.

8. I add tone to the cushioning. Note the texture and shading behind the cat. The shading shows the shadow of the cat. Note the highlighted area to the left. This breaks up the tone. This kind of incidental detail will lift your cat sketches every time.

If you enjoy sketching animals be sure to Upload your sketches here

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