Sketching Animals - How to Draw a Realistic Cat

hi guys .

And welcome to this week's video .

This video is a little different to what I usually do , but let me know what you think .

Today I'm going to show you two different ways to draw a realistic cap , a less good way and a better way .

Of course , this is all subjective and my own personal opinion on what looks more realistic and convincing .

So if you draw using the process that I use on the left side and you are happy with your results , then you can .

You can completely ignore my advice .

The things that I'll point out today are common mistakes or things that detract from a realistic outcome .

And these things I've seen in my own work and from art from other artists looking to improve their realism .

The subject matter of this video is a cat , but a lot of these tips can be applied to other furry mammals .

I'll also just be showing a basic foundation sketch in this video , and if you like , I can do a follow up video where I show how to complete this drawing and show how to draw fur .

The reference photo that I'm using is in the description box below if you're if you're interested in following along .

But I've sped up some of the footage to make the video a reasonable length , but you can click on the link in the top right now if you'd like to see the real time footage of the sketch , so let's get started .

First off , we'll start with the basic head shape .

So the left hand side I'm drawing a very round and smooth blob .

There's no real definition here , just a slightly squashed circle .

But on the right , I'm going to take my time , pay attention to my reference and look at the overall shape in terms of individual curves and blinds .

Notice how I'm using a light hand to pencil this in .

This will make it easier to correct any mistakes .

Next up , I'm going to draw the ears .

I noticed that a while ago I was drawing cat ears much too far apart and also too small , So that's how I'll draw them here .

It's also common to see ears being drawn in as two basic triangles .

My ears on this cat are going to be larger and closer together .

I can see in my reference photo that the ears are about one ear width apart from each other , so I'll consider that when working out their size .

The ears of this cat are also sort of curvy triangles , and the tips come to a smooth point .

Of course , different cats have different features , so look at your reference photo and see what shape your cat's ears are .

The bottom corner of the ears here come down lower than the top edge of the cat's head , and you can see a kind of triangle fur behind the cat's ears .

There are also some little folds on the outer edges of the ears , so don't forget to mark those in paying attention to how far up on the ears they go .

And I'll also draw a curved line at the base of the ear to suggest the anatomy and where you can see the edges of the first .

I'll also pay close attention to the shape of the ear and the right because it's twisted to the side a little bit .

I'm drawing in the eyes next .

There is a lot to consider when drawing eyes and because they really catch your attention .

It's easy to see when they're not quite right .

It's common for us to assume that an eye is just a one size fits all eye shape .

So that's what I'll draw here , a sort of pair of stubby almond shapes .

Another common mistake , I see , is drawing them in too high , too close , together and too large .

So that's what I'll do here .

To some extent , it's normal to draw animal and people features too large when you're starting drawing because it's the details of the face that we look at , um , and perceive to be the most important .

So they have a tendency to fill the page .

Symmetry can be quite a challenge if you don't take your time .

So I often used to draw eyes where one was larger or higher than the other .

But on the other hand , eyes shouldn't be mirror images of each other , either , because that's not true to life here .

I've drawn in highlights and shadows in the exact same places for both , which is also not accurate .

On this sketch , I'll use a rough guide to check the anatomy of the cat from cheekbone to cheekbone .

This cat's face is five eye widths apart .

I'll draw a quick indication of where the middle is on the cat's face , and then I'll work out where those eyes need to go .

This cat is looking head on at the camera , so that makes it fairly easy to spot .

If anything is asymmetrical .

When a cat is looking head on like this , their eyes are usually halfway between the top of their head and the bottom of their upper lip .

Don't be afraid of the large blank areas that occupy the space between the features .

Those distances are important .

I pay very close attention to the actual shape of the eye .

If you find this difficult , I really recommend tracing over the eye on your reference photo a few times so you can get a feel for it .

Really pay attention to how thick the line around the inner corners of the eyes are .

A lot of cats have this , and neglecting this feature can skew your anatomy and make the eyeballs too wide .

The actual iris , the coloured bit of the cat's eye , is almost circular , and there are no harsh points or angles .

I also like to indicate shadows and highlights on the eyes putting a hint of these in early can help you check to see if the eyes are the right shape .

The highlights and reflections on eyes are rarely ever circular in natural lighting , so I'm making sure that they are the right shape and follow the curve of the eyeball .

I've also made sure that the dark lines around the cat's eyes aren't the same width and colour all the way around .

I need to be a little bit of variation here .

Next up is the nose and muzzle .

I found that it's easy to overestimate how long the nose needs to be , so I'll draw in the top part of the nose a bit too long here , and I'll heavily outline it as well .

It's something that I see a lot in all sorts of drawings , of animals and people to try and define this future and for the nose itself .

I draw a triangle and I'll heavily outline it , something I see often because it's a sort of exaggeration of that detail that we see in the reference and the nostrils are two black circles .

So on this side I use the reference to check , but the top of the nose is about one eye height below the bottom of the eye .

When drawing caps , I'll often draw in those tear stains to help place the rest of the features , as well as give an indication of markings for a rough sketch .

I think loosely blocking in these give a better sense of dimension on the nose and muzzle instead of just outlining it and the nose .

Although it is a rough triangle , the top corners fold down a little bit .

I won't give a hard outline to the entire nose .

Sure , there is more pigmentation at the bottom and the top , but the sides are pale by comparison , and the nostrils are more like little crescents .

It's important to get the lines of the nose to be very slightly curved , as this helps to define the anatomy and give some depth .

So on the left here , As for the round cheek part of the muzzle , I'm drawing these in heavily curved and are also really heavily marked in that mouth , similar to how we drew the eyes in earlier .

This method of drawing comes from drawing what we think we see rather than what's actually in the picture we're using as reference .

We imagine cats to have this cute little sideways three as a mouth , so that's how we might draw it .

As a beginner , I also find myself drawing the fil trim , the line between the lips and nose a little too long .

In reality , it's a bit shorter than I personally perceive it .

In comparison on the right , I'm only lightly marking in the muzzle .

The edges reach out to about halfway into the eyes , and the overall shape is more softly curved .

I barely draw the mouse in .

I'll only give a slight hint of where the darkest areas are , where the shadows lay and the chin is slightly curved but also slightly flattened towards the base .

It's really important to follow your your reference photo in this area in order to , in order to correctly place the highlights and shadows , because this will give the muscle form and make their mouth look like a convincing part of anatomy rather than just a line that's painted onto the cat's fur .

So now let's tidy up these drawings and add some light shading in and a suggestion of fur .

Like I said in the beginning , I won't go too in depth here because there's a lot to talk about .

So when I'm doing an an initial sketch for an animal portrait , I like to block in where shadows and highlights go , as well as mark in recognisable patterns that the animal might have .

So here I've noticed that this tabby cat has some stripes on his forehead , so I'll go ahead and block these in now .

I won't pay too much attention to the positioning , though , Um , and the same goes for the cheek stripes .

On the right hand side , though , I look at each marking as an individual shape as well as a space of between markings .

So I'll carefully place those eyebrow markings in , and I'll also give a suggestion of fur length and direction .

When I start working the fur later on , this will help to remind me where the fur direction changes .

Keeping the strokes in line with fur direction will also make it easier to cover up the sketch when I'm colouring in notice .

How these markings aren't just straight to consistent lines , though , and they also aren't just vertical .

I consider their angle carefully .

The same goes for the stripes down the the sides of his face and cheeks .

Make sure that these are a little bit curved and that there's a suggestion of F direction , and this will give this simple sketch a little bit of form .

I will also do some light shading where the cat's fur is darker , either because the fur is a different colour or because it's in shadow .

Now .

I'm not trying to draw in every ST strand of fur here , but I'm paying attention to fur direction and length .

I find this particularly important around the muzzle and cheeks , where there are lots of curves in the anatomy .

I find that value is more important than detail when drawing in fur , and the difference in shades helps to give the face form and make it recognisable .

I don't usually draw whiskers in at this early stage of a drawing , but for demonstration purposes I'll do it now anyway .

So I'm drawing those Muggle spots in in no particular pattern , and then I'll quickly pencil in some hard lines to depict the whiskers .

I've drawn them in very heavily and all sort of in the same direction , so they look kind of stiff looking .

But on the right hand side , the muscle spots are following the contours of the muscle , and they sort of arrange themselves in lines .

The whiskers then sprout from these spots , and they come out curved and slightly tapered .

So I'll look at my reference photo carefully to judge the angle of each whisker , and the ones at the bottom tend to be slightly thinner , shorter and more curved than the ones on the side .

Don't forget the whiskers on the eyebrows and high up the cheeks , so I think that about summarises it .

As I said at the start , Although a cat was drawn here , the ideas that are discussed apply to a lot of different animals .

So , um , that being said , if there's another animal that you'd like me to draw this way , Um , in this style video , don't forget to leave a comment below , and also tell me if you're interested in seeing a video similar to this for drawing fur .

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Thank you very much for watching , and I'll see you next week .