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.

The Cute Bunny is Finished!

I finished my Cute Bunny model! That's what I'm calling him until I can think of a good name. Anyway, he's all rigged and tested and ready to go! He's really a lot of fun to animate! After all those problems with Bobby, it was nice to make something that didn't fight me every step of the way. Rigify helped a lot with that. I still had to adjust and add on rig pieces, but it really sped the whole process up tons.

Here are some screenshots of the Bunny, with and without his rig and jacket.

Here's a new turntable:

And a walk cycle:

And finally, an example of how his jacket reacts to movement.

You should definitely expect to see more of this guy in the future. I want to try compositing him into a photo, and do some lipsync with him. I'd also like to be able to animate him with his jacket. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, render-wise, as I've set up a tiny sort of render farm! It's just this computer (my stronger 64-bit Windows 7) and my last computer (an out-of-the-box 32-bit Windows Vista). I transfer files between them with a USB stick, because I can't get the Vista online. The Vista renders slower, but it's still nice to be able to share render loads with another computer.

Anyway, if you want to animate this little Bunny, too, he is now for sale on Turbosquid.

Until next time!

A Cute, Nameless Bunny

Hi, everyone! I've got a new character that I'm working on that I'm excited to show you. Poor Bobby the Bocat has unfortunately been put to the side again, this time perhaps forever. It seems that working on him in little spurts over two years has allowed me to create all sorts of issues, and since I can't remember how I made him, it makes it very difficult to troubleshoot. If you think you can help, you can read the details of my problem, check out the rig, and try to help through the BlenderArtists thread I started.

Unlike Bobby, the little guy I'm about to show you is completely new, and so far hasn't given me much trouble. Modeling and texturing is done, so next I'll be rigging him. Here's a turntable render of him:

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping the jacket. I'm going to have to think about it for a bit. It's not really the possible technical issues that it gives that I'm worried about, I'm just not sure if he's cuter without it.

Here's what he looks like in Blender. The jacket is wrinkled because I baked a cloth simulation, which came out very nice without going through his mesh or fur.

Here's what he looks like in edit mode (without his jacket). I had Photoshop lighten the image up so you can see his wireframe better.

So he's coming along very well! I hope to soon have some images of him with a rig. I may also soon have images related to an animated short I'd like to make, probably in Maya (I'm using Blender so much, I'm afraid I'll forget how to work in Maya, and I use Maya in college, so that can't happen).

Anyway, until next time!