Pastel Cat

Sketch and colour a cat with pastels

Posted by Cat Morley

About

I loved how easy the PanPastels were to blend. You can dab a tiny bit of colour on your brush and create a really soft gradient as you blend it out - perfect for adding touches of colour to your illustrations.

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You Will Need (6 things)

  • Paper
  • Pencil
  • Pan Pastels
  • Sponge Brush
  • Ink Pens
  • Cat Photo for reference

Steps (25 steps, 60 minutes)

  1. 1

    Get your kitty to pose for a photo. It's easier if you can get them looking straight into the camera and then you can draw them all symmetrical.

  2. 2

    Start by drawing a circle, roughly in the shape of your cats head, right in the middle of the paper.

  3. 3

    Draw a line down the middle of the head and then sketch lines vertically where the eyes nose and mouth will be.

  4. 4

    Mark where the middle of the eyes will be at either side of the face and then draw another circle roughly in the shape of your cat's muzzle.

  5. 5

    Now sketch the ears in place. Notice the way the inner of the ears is almost is a perfect line with the middle of the eyes?

  6. 6

    Now roughly sketch in the body.

  7. 7

    Draw a rough heart shape in the place of the cat's nose.

  8. 8

    Trace in the mouth below.

  9. 9

    Now sketch the shape of your cats eye - taking note of the shape, are they more oval or round?

  10. 10

    Draw in the cats pupils. Depending upon the light, they might be round, almond or tiny slits.

  11. 11

    From the inner corner of the cat's eyes, trace in the shape of the cat's nose and begin defining the shape of the muzzle.

  12. 12

    Once you've got the major feature of the face positioned correctly, you can begin sketching in the fur. Use the width of the eye to calculate how wide to go with the fur.

  13. 13

    Lightly sketch in the body fluff.

  14. 14

    Using a slightly darker pencil, go over the features again, refining and refining until you're happy.

  15. 15

    Remember to keep the main feature relatively symmetrical.

  16. 16

    Then begin lightly sketching in the designs and directions of the fur. Sketching any markings to guide you.

  17. 17

    When you're feeling brave, begin adding touches of colour to your drawing using the pan pastels and a sponge brush. Start very lightly at first - at the brightest points in the fur and then lightly brush out the way blending into the white of the paper.

  18. 18

    Continue working your way around the face, adding the most distinctive markings first.

  19. 19

    Continue further down the body, brushing the pastels in the direction of the fur. Making longer sweeps for longer fur and shorter ones for short haired cats.

  20. 20

    When you've finished all the markings in one colour, begin blending in the other colours - one at a time.

  21. 21

    Use the darker colours to fill in negative spaces, bringing out the white of the paper.

  22. 22

    Continue adding more and more details

  23. 23

    Only add a new colour if you really need it. Less is more!

  24. 24

    When you're happy with the colours, go over the drawing with a thin black ink pen to bring out the details and dark areas.

  25. 25

    Lightly sketch over the darker areas of fur, sweeping in the same direction and add the whiskers.