How to draw cat face

How to draw cat's face with colored pencilsIn this book you will find one step-by-step tutorial that gives an explanation onhow to draw a close-up cat's face, using colored pencils.. Sta

How to draw cat's face with colored pencils

In this book you will find one step-by-step tutorial that gives an explanation onhow to draw a close-up cat's face, using colored pencils

For this drawing I used Lyra, Faber-Castell and Prismacolor colored penciland wax Prismacolor colorless blender I would recommend a two types ofcolored pencils: for the thinner parts and edges use the harder colored pencilssuch as Faber-Castell or Lyra and for creating a smooth texture use a softcolored pencil such as Prismacolors

Prismacolor pencils are wax based and very soft Polychromos are oil basedand harder The harder, the better for details Which one is better for you issomething you should try out

You can also use a colorless blender, but for blending the drawn areas you canuse even a white colored pencil You don't have to get all the existing nuances

of colored pencils; learn to mix them up and create a color that you don't evenhave Of course, it's easier if you can afford a bigger set of pencils If you are

not much experienced in drawing, you should use a graphite pencil forsketching, because unlike the colored pencils they can be easily erased Isuggest having a blending stump on hand.

This tutorial is about drawing with colored pencils, but I would recommend awhite ink gel pen, which is very useful for drawing over already drawn darkareas We can achieve it with white colored pencil, but it's really difficult, sothis pen is great It costs about $2 and lasts long

Reference photo:

Draw the main lines using the grid-method Try to draw a main lines freehandand use the grid only if the things don't look good and proportional in yoursketch You should draw a make your sketch it as proportional as possible.Take time and patience for drawing the main lines, because they are the base ofyour drawing If you find difficult to create a proportional sketch, you can use agrid-method as many artists do Some of the advanced artists use only two-three lines in their grid, because this is enough for the orientation If you'reusing the grid-method, your sketching can go much faster, not to mention thatthere's much less erasing and the paper stays smooth and clear In the nextimage you can see how it works, I've made one sample of my drawing Draw agrid, with mechanical pencil using a ruler, over the reference photo and draw agrid on a blank paper Keep in mind that if you press hard you will leave animpressed lines on your paper that will show up after applying your coloredpencil on top, so keep the pressure light So,draw the main lines of the squares

of reference photo to the squares of your paper Once you're finished with your

sketch, erase the grid lines.

Your sketch should look like mine (see the next image) I've created only fewmain lines for orientation

Let's start this cat from the darkest parts Using well sharpened black coloredpencil, draw carefully over the main lines Having strengthened the main lines,you can focus on building the black fur Start to draw the short hair between theeyes and continue creating the long hairs, drawing them outwards from thisblack area in the middle of the cat's face Always check the reference photo tolearn about the direction of the hair growth, so you can draw in the samedirection Draw the edges of the ears I won't draw the whole ears, but only asmuch as we can see in the reference photo, because I want to focus on the cat'sface However, you can (you should, for the sake of practice) draw the wholeears, checking the shape of the cat's ears in some other cat's reference photo, ifunsure As you move toward the edges of the paper, apply less pressure as thehair found further from the nose is not that black anymore and we are going to

apply other colors over it in the next steps.

Let's continue drawing the eyes, so that our drawing can start to come to life.Just use the same pencils as I've used and draw carefully and with patience.Don't rush and move to the next step only if you are completely satisfied withyour result

Using Prismacolor Light Cerulean Blue (you can use any other light bluepencil), draw the whole pupils except for the areas next to the lower eyelids

and for the reflections of the light Thoughtfully analyze my next step and you'llnotice that I've drawn around the reflection of the light leaving it white Do thesame and if you make sure that everything looks fine, press hard, layering asyou go in order to achieve the smooth texture Be sure to keep your pencilsharp to get fine edges The eyes require much more effort than the hair, so takeyour time for these areas and draw them slowly.

In the next step I've used Lyra 2820044 (dark blue) pencil, because this pencil

is harder than Prismacolor, yet creamy and has a high pigment concentration.Using this pencil, I draw (over the previously drawn blue) the stellate pattern

in the iris and the shadowed parts of the irises next under the upper eyelids.

Using grey, draw the lower and upper eyelids filling up the remained blankareas between the eyes and black fur

Using the same pencil, draw the nose You can whether use the same greypencil for the whole area of the nose, applying different pressure as you drawthe shadows and highlights or use the light and dark grey pencils for creatingthese parts of the nose.

Carefully blend the top of the nose, using white pencil You can use waxcolorless blender or blending stump for this Continue to build the fur, usinggrey pencil, drawing the lines over the ends of the drawn black hair.

Using light grey pencil, draw the short shiny black hair between the eyes Thispart is actually hardly visible, that's why I've put it in a red circle in the nextimage.

In the next step I'm finishing the fur, using dark brown pencil and wax colorlessblender So, using well sharpened dark brown colored pencil, draw the rest ofthe hair that surround the black hair Start to draw over the ends of the blackhair (this way softening it) and draw the long brown hair outwards from thecenter of the cat's face I also used a light grey pencil for softening the hair.

Once again, check for the direction of the hair growth in the reference photo.Draw the ears, using the same brown pencil and go over the drawn black areas

as well This way you'll soften the ears and they will appear lifelike Alsodraw the hairs that grow on the edges of the ears, using this brown pencil.Since we want the fur to look really soft, we have to blend it For this I'm usingwax Prismacolor colorless blender following the previously drawn brown

hair, drawing over the hairs and beyond their tops If you don't have thisblender, you can use white colored pencil, but only over the tops of the brownhairs.

Last, add a whiskers, using white ink gel pen

Watch me drawing this cat here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MngHaEg1wsc

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If you enjoyed this tutorial, maybe you would like to learn more from my other

books

Look for How to draw Pets: with colored pencils

www.amazon.com/dp/B00VSLU9AG/

Learn to draw realistic portraits with colored pencils

www.amazon.com/dp/B00TBYHE0K/

Author's Bio:

My name is Jasmina Susak I was born on March 06 1976 in Serbia I moved

to Hungary in 2001 where I currently live I am a traditional self-taught artistwith more than 10 years experience in drawing

I had been drawing using only graphite pencils for about 10 years and in 2011 Itried a colored pencil for the very first time, because everyone told me that Ishould've tried with colors It was a really good feeling to start to draw with

colored pencils after so many years of black and white illustrations and I couldfast fit to drawing in colors, because I’d already had a lot of experience indrawing at that time so I was able to apply it in colored pencils Since then I'vebeen drawing using colored pencils only.

I work as a freelance visual artist

Watch my time lapse drawings: