Great Cat Art

It's time for another art feature! Since this is cat week, today's focus is great cat art! Enjoy!

Title Unknown (Cats in Snow)- Louis Wain

Bartholomew- Geoff Tristram

Title Unknown (Cat in Snow)- Makoto Muramatsu

Noodle- Leanne Wildermuth

Title Unknown (Vintage Victorian Cats)- Wilson Hepple

How to Draw Cat Bodies in Poses

This is the last part of this how to draw cats tutorial series. Last time I covered how to draw cat paws, and before that I gave a tutorial on how to draw cat faces/heads. I also made some how to draw cats video tutorials. Today I'm going to cover how to combine cat heads and paws with cat bodies to create cat poses. Let's get to it!

How to Draw Cat Bodies in Poses

Art Type: Traditional or Digital
I'm Using: Photoshop CS4 and an Intuos 4

I used references to guide these drawings. I suggest using references as well, especially if you're drawing an animal that you haven't practiced with much, or if you want a realistic style.

You can click the images below to see them larger.

How to Draw a Cat Sitting

1. Draw the basic shapes to form the head, chest, torso, and rear. Keep in mind that cats are longer than they are tall. They are also very graceful, so are best drawn with curving lines in mind.
2. Add the guide lines to the face and add the ears, muzzle, and eye.
3. Add the legs and tail. You can't see the hind leg on the other side of the body.
4. Either half erase your guide drawing, or draw on a new layer if working digitally. Detail the face.
5. Detail the body. Don't forget the little lines on the paw facing us that show where the claws retract.  Erase the guide drawing.

How to Draw a Cat Lying Down

1. Draw the basic shapes to form the head, chest, torso, and rear. Remember that cats are longer than they are tall.
2. Add the guide lines to the face and add the ears, muzzle, and eyes.
3. Add the legs and tail. Draw through the shapes to make placing the legs on the other side of the body easier.
4. Either half erase your guide drawing, or draw on a new layer if working digitally. Detail the face.
5. Detail the body. Don't forget the little lines on the paws facing us that show where the claws retract.  Erase the guide drawing.

How to Draw a Cat Standing

1. Draw the basic shapes to form the head, chest, torso, and rear. Remember that cats are longer than they are tall.
2. Add the guide lines to the face and add the ears, muzzle, and eyes. This breed of cat (Siamese) has a muzzle that is slightly longer than usual.
3. Add the legs and tail. Draw through the shapes to make placing the legs on the other side of the body easier. Don't forget the dew claw on the raised front leg.
4. Either half erase your guide drawing, or draw on a new layer if working digitally. Detail the face.
5. Detail the body. Erase the guide drawing.

So that's it for the how to draw cats tutorials! I'll wrap the week up tomorrow by featuring some great cat art.

How to Draw Cat Paws

Last time I covered how to draw cat faces/heads. I also made some how to draw cats video tutorials. Today I'm going to give a tutorial on something much more simple: cat paws. Unlike dog paws, which can come in a variety of shapes, cat paws are pretty much all the same.

How to Draw Cat Paws Tutorial

Art Type: Traditional or Digital
I'm Using: Photoshop CS4 and an Intuos 4

I used references to guide these drawings. I suggest using references as well, especially if you're drawing an animal that you haven't practiced with much, or if you want a realistic style.

You can click the image below to see it larger.

1. Draw the basic shapes. The paw is best represented by a shape like an oval.
2. Add the guide lines to divide the paw into toes. Make the line in the middle go all the way down, so you can be sure the paw is pointing the right way. If the claws are extended, single lines help to guide you when drawing them in detail in the next step.
3. Either half erase your guide drawing, or draw on a new layer if working digitally. Add the details. The trick to making cat paws look "right" is using curves and keeping the shapes soft and smooth, like real cat paws. When the claws are retracted, there are little areas on the paws where there is no fur, leading to those holes and lines in the front of the paws. Note that the claws are positioned more toward the inside edges of the toes, not in the middles. Don't draw the claws too long. These are cats, not tigers. Erase the guide drawing and you're done!

I know this was pretty short, but as you can see, cat paws aren't complicated. Next time I'll discuss a more involved drawing subject: cat bodies and poses.

How to Draw Cats- Faces / Heads

Now that I've got the dog site up and running, I thought it would be fun to cover something totally opposite to dogs: cats! This week is cat week. I'm going to cover how to draw cat heads/faces, paws, and bodies, then wrap the week up with a best of cat art post.

If you haven't taken a look at my "How to Draw Animals" post, you might want to. I also made some how to draw cats video tutorials. You may find some helpful tips in those that you can apply to your cat drawings.

How to Draw Cat Faces/Heads Tutorial

Art Type: Traditional or Digital
I'm Using: Photoshop CS4 and an Intuos 4

I used references to guide these drawings. I suggest using references as well, especially if you're drawing an animal that you haven't practiced with much, or if you want a realistic style.

You can click the images below to see them larger.


How to Draw a Cat Face/Head- Front View

1. Draw an oval (ovals are more accurate representations of cat skulls than circles).
2. Draw the guide lines. The inside edges of the eyes connect to the inside edges of the ears.
3. Either half erase your guide drawing, or draw on a new layer if working digitally. Add oval eyes with a bit of a slant near the inside corners. Don't forget the tear ducts.
4. Add the nose and muzzle. Lines on the side of the muzzle help keep it from looking flat.
5. Add the ears.
6. Add the fur and details like the brow ridges and shading on the eyes. Erase the guide drawing. You can add whiskers if you want, but they are not necessary and can make your drawing look more cluttered if done wrong.

How to Draw a Cat Face/Head- Side View

1. Draw an oval.
2. Add the guide lines. The inside edge of the eye connects to the inside edge of the ear. Don't make the muzzle too long or it will look like a dog.
3. Either half erase your guide drawing, or draw on a new layer if working digitally. Add the eye and tear duct.
4. Add the muzzle. Let it transition gracefully into the forehead, giving the cat a smooth profile.
5. Add the ears. Notice how the other ear is offset due to perspective.
6. Add the fur and details like the brow ridges and shading on the eyes.  Erase the guide drawing.

How to Draw a Cat Face/Head- 3/4 View

1. Draw an oval. 
2. Add the guide lines. At this angle, it is very important to get the horizontal and vertical guide lines right, or your cat may not wind up at the angle you want. The inside edges of the eyes connect to the inside edges of the ears.
3. Add the eyes and draw in the side of the face. You can't see the tear duct on the right eye due to the angle.
4. Add the muzzle. Keep a square shape in mind as you draw it. This will make it wind up looking properly 3-dimensional.
5. Add the ears. Notice the detail on the inner edge of the left ear (your right as you face it). This adds to the realism and is one of the cool shapes you can find in reference photos.
6. Add the fur and details like the brow ridges and shading on the eyes.  Erase the guide drawing.

I hope this was helpful! Tomorrow I'll cover how to draw cat paws.

How to Draw Animals

Hi, everyone! Today I'm going to talk about how to draw animals. This will be something of a general overview, because I plan on doing many more posts that focus on more specific things, like paws, eyes, etc. (I also don't plan to get into shading today). I'm planning next week to do a series of posts about how to draw dogs and other canines.

If you're a new artist, or just want to find some fun new tools or programs to work with, check out my traditional art supply and digital art program recommendations. Here we go!

How to Draw Animals Tutorial

Art Type: Traditional or Digital
I'm Using: MyPaint and an Intuos 4

Examples of my drawings

I suggest that, even if you love drawing a single type of animal, you occasionally draw other types as well. I usually just draw canines and felines, but I find drawing a giraffe or walrus once in a while to be a fun change. It also helps to keep me a more versatile artist. You should also try to stay away from just drawing animals' faces all the time (this is something I have to constantly remind myself). Art is so much more fun when you can work with full-body poses, and there are a lot of fun shapes in animals' bodies (I particularly love to draw paws). But enough talking, let's get to the how-to.

1. Get a good reference, not too small or blurry. Remember you can use Ctrl-+ to zoom in and Ctrl- - to zoom out in web browsers. I have a dual-monitor setup, so I always have a reference off to the side. I tend to work pretty directly from reference, but the more you practice an animal (and the more cartoony your style) the less you'll have to glance at references. You should still start out learning from references, though, to learn some basic anatomy and proportioning.
2. Identify the basic shapes of the animal. Some animals' heads are like circles, others are like ovals. Shoulders look like kidney beans. Some muzzles look square, others more cylindrical. Take a good look at your reference and find the shapes.
3. Start drawing with the line of action for full-body drawings (it's usually made up of the spine, head, and tail). This is the direction in which the animal's action/energy appears to be going, like what direction it's jumping in.
4. Add on a skeleton made of basic shapes (you can skip this if you've got some animal drawing experience). Circles/ovals for heads, ovals for ribcages, sticks for arms, and circles for paws will get you started.
5. Check your proportions. That's why you start simple, so you won't go crazy if you have to erase a lot. Make sure the head isn't too small or large, stuff like that.
6. Flesh out the form with more shapes. Tapering shapes for arms, wedges for thighs, etc. You shouldn't have any body parts depicted by sticks now.
7. Check your proportions one more time. You don't want to be an hour into a piece and realize the body is too short.
8. Make your blocking out drawing less opaque. If you're drawing on paper, rub over it with a kneaded eraser to lighten your lines. If you're drawing digitally, just lower the opacity of the layer you're on.
9. Make the detailed drawing. If you're drawing digitally, do this on a new layer. Look for changes in the planes of the animal. Some areas will be obvious, others you will have to learn to see. The more you draw animals, the better you get at finding all their little details. You don't have to go super detailed when making a line drawing. Too many details can make your drawing look too busy, and many subtle things are better represented with shading than with line. Usually you'll add the most subtle details when you shade or color your work.
10. Clean the drawing. If you're working traditionally, erase all those unnecessary guide lines from when you blocked out the drawing. If you're working digitally, hide unnecessary layers. Look for stray lines, and erase when necessary. You don't have to clean it too much. If you wanted to use the piece as line-art, you'd want to ink over it anyway.

I've recorded myself drawing a three different animals. Take a look at the videos (feel free to just scrub through them, you don't have to watch every second of them if you don't want). I've provided some commentary for each of them, and a link to the image I referenced. After reading and watching all of this, try drawing what I drew, keeping in mind the 10 steps above.

How to Draw a Wolf's Face

Reference here

0:11- Blocking in basic head shape.

0:17- Setting my center guides

0:20- Finding the center of the muzzle

0:25- Giving the muzzle 3D form

0:40- Using the corner of the eye to place the ear.

1:15- Defining the face shape

1:29- Re-positioning the eyes

1:36- Switching to the sketch layer

1:54- Note how I "feel out" the line before I add it.

2:59- Note how I'm okay with going farther in or out than where my guide shapes are

3:20- Realizing that the face needs to be poofier than the guide lines have it planned.

6:15- Super basic shading.

How to Draw a Lion's Arms and Paws

Reference here

Similar things can be seen in this video where I show how to draw a young lion's arms and paws. Pay attention to how I don't allow my blocking lines to constrain me. If I feel something needs to be bigger, longer, or shorter, I draw it that way. The more you work like this, the less often your blocking will be incorrect and you can stay within your guides.

How to Draw a Kangaroo

Reference here

But what if you're drawing an animal that you are not very familiar with? Well, you approach it the same way. You can see how in this video, my blocking shapes are much more scribbley. That's because I'm not as sure of myself, so I go over my lines more as I fix them. But I go through the same steps as in the last two videos, and the end looks fine. With more kangaroo practice, it would look even more similar to the reference photo. Also, it doesn't hurt to spend more time with a piece if you need to. All of these videos were pretty short because the program I was using to record them (Windows Expression Encoder 4) only gave me 10 minutes per video, so I had to draw fast.

Today's sketches

Reccomended Reading: "The Art of Animal Character Design." I got this last Christmas and love it! It's the only art book I have that I've read all the way through. At first glance, it seems to be mainly full of pictures with very little text. The truth is that David Colman gives all sorts of wonderful animal drawing and designing tips in a good concise amount of text, letting his art drive home his points. The beginning has some especially helpful tips about animal drawing, including the most difficult type of animal drawing: drawing from moving animals. I highly suggest it.

So that's it! I hope this overview of how to draw animals was helpful! Next week, I'll do a much more detailed series of tutorials all about how to draw canines (one of my favorite subjects). Feel free to leave comments and questions, and to link me to your work!

Until next time!

A Bobcat That was 2 Years in the Making

I've finally finished making Bobby the Bobcat! For a while I thought he'd never be complete. But I've learned that while it may look like I abandon some projects, I always come back to them eventually. This goes for 2D art and CG work. I just can't stand starting something and not finishing it. But I think 2 years is the most I've let anything drag on. I think I let it go on for so long because school made me forget about him and college kept me too busy to work on him. But now that it's summer break I've been able to relearn/remember everything that I forgot about Blender (since I had been using Maya so much in college) and I was finally able to finish him. The confidence boost I got from my cute bunny turning out well also helped.

Here's a render of Bobby:

And a turntable:

And finally, here's his walk cycle:

He's a lot of fun to work with! I can't wait to do some more serious animations with him and with my bunny character!

You can download Bobby and see more images of him (including his wireframe and rig) here.

Until next time!