How to Draw Realistic Cats, Draw Real Cats
How to Draw Realistic Cats, Draw Real Cats

Description: Hey everyone, this is a tutorial tutorial that took me a while to find time to finish but it's finally as done is I can make it right now! This, as with most of my tutorials, is mostly about realistic technique using graphite pencils. My hope is that   

Step 1.

TOP
Description: Alright, here are my materials, the same that I have been using for the last couple of tutorials. I also used a kneaded eraser and 6H and 3H graphite pencils of another brand.

Step 2.

TOP
Description: Alright, lets jump straight into this by sketching out Momma Cat's body with basic shapes and forms. Don't worry about making mistakes and keep your sketching light.

Step 3.

TOP
Description: Sketch in kitten number one in Mamma's "lap." This guy's pose is a little complicated so try and break it down into basic shapes first if you are having trouble with it.

Step 4.

TOP
Description: Add in kitten number two. All you really see other than this kitten's head are a bit of its right arm and its left paw and forearm.

Step 5.

TOP
Description: All you have to do during this step is lightly darken the background. You don't need to make it as dark as possible yet.

Step 6.

TOP
Description: Now we can start defining things a bit. Start with the heads. First define the outlines with some like a 2b pencil and then lightly define the facial features.

Step 7.

TOP
Description: Work your way around the figures. I chose to go counter-clockwise and deal with the cat and kittens' heads first.

Step 8.

TOP
Description: Continue until you have your figures' outlines well defined.

Step 9.

TOP
Description: This step involves adding a background. You can make the background anything just remember that darker background will bring out your foreground more.

Step 10.

TOP
Description: You can continue developing your background throughout the drawing. You can see a bit of background development during this step. You can also start lightly sketching in details like the cats' stripes now.

Step 11.

TOP
Description: Here is the result of lightly sketching in the fur and stripes. This makes it easier to build more details during the remaining steps.

Step 12.

TOP
Description: This step involved adding darker values to the cats, from right to left. Pay attention to what kind of pencil strokes you are using. You should try to emulate the flow of the fur; it should almost feel as if you are drawing in every little strand of   

Step 13.

TOP
Description: Finish up with this portion of the drawing and move on to the next.

Step 14.

TOP
Description: Keep inching along and drawing in details. make the out lines separating the cats dark but make sure to blend them into the background. You don't want the outlines to be too bold, that would take away from the realism.

Step 15.

TOP
Description: Finish up by detailing the left side. I tried to make the light come in from the from the front right so the shadows should be moving to the left of the drawing. make the shadows as dark as possible using 7B-9B pencils.

Step 16.

TOP
Description: Here's a nice overview of our cats. You could actually call it done here but I chose to refine the drawing a bit more.

Step 17.

TOP
Description: Two big things took place during this step. Firstly, I smoothed out the background with my darkest pencils. I then took a soft tissue and very lightly blended over the cats. This may take away some of the details that you worked hard on but I find th   

Step 18.

TOP
Description: Finish up by basically adding in the fur again, only this time with the harder pencils like HB and 2B. Also use a kneadable eraser to ease some of the lighter places around the cats' bodies and faces. So, to get the drawing this far took countless ho   

Comments (0)
submit to reddit
Details
Artist: finalprodigy
Date Added: May 10, 2011
Steps: 18
Favorited: 0
Views: 0 in last hour, 0 in last day, 15 in last week, 50508 total
Comments: 0
Tags: cats, realistic animals, realistic, kittens, pets

Contest Submission Form