{"id":1206,"date":"2010-07-13T01:56:02","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T01:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/"},"modified":"2023-12-23T01:19:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-23T01:19:05","slug":"draw-cat-step","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Draw A Cat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Draw A Cat In Four Steps<\/h3>\n

I helped a friend sketch her cat by sketching along with her as she worked on her drawing, so I could give her better feedback. We live in different parts of the country, so we scanned our work and emailed it to each other. Here are the steps of the drawing I made.<\/p>\n

The steps with full explanations are beneath the slide show.<\/em><\/p>\n

This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p>

<\/div>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n
\"Cat<\/a>
Cat Sketch Step One – Block In The Cat’s Face<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Step One<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always start by measuring how wide and tall the main part of the subject is with the tip of my pencil and my thumb, and then I make a box. Then I draw everything that belongs in the box … in the box!<\/p>\n

It’s like drawing using a frame, only you just imagine the frame. If you want to be highly accurate, take measurements with your pencil and thumb of different parts of the scene and carefully transfer them to the paper. (Reducing or enlarging as needed.)<\/p>\n

If you plot one thing well, you can base all the other measurements on it.<\/p>\n

Her face is angled, and I caught myself trying to draw three different parts of it straight. This is a common mistake and makes a skewed-looking drawing. Something in our nature makes us want to draw faces “straight” even if they’re angled.<\/p>\n

\"Cat<\/a>
Cat Sketch Step Two – Hatch In The Background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Step Two<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first few lines of a drawing are always challenging, and it’s essential to get them right. If you don’t, the following layers of the drawing will be wrong, too, and harder to correct. But we’re not machines, so there will always be some variance between our drawings and reality.<\/p>\n

I hatched in a rough background because I needed a dark value to relate the values of her face to in the next step.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"Cat<\/a>
Cat Sketch Step Three – Hatch In Face And Body Shadow Patterns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Step Three<\/strong><\/p>\n

I blocked in the value pattern on her face. The lightest values are along the edges of her ears and across her forehead, so I added a bit of value to all the other light areas. I planned to save the whiskers until last.<\/p>\n

The eyes were too high and too far apart, so I fixed them.<\/p>\n

Then, I hatched the background darker because it needed to be darker than her fur, especially on the right side of her cheek.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"Cat<\/a>
Cat Sketch Step Four – Final Details<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Step Four<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s my finished drawing. I brought all the values to their final version, corrected her eyes, and added whiskers. I “drew” the whiskers by erasing them with a battery-powered eraser. Then I thinned them and made them more whisker-like with the pencil’s tip.<\/p>\n

I captured the feel of the fur and perhaps discovered this cat’s inner Mountain Lion, too, especially around the nose and eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Draw A Cat In Four Steps I helped a friend sketch her cat by sketching along with her as she worked on her drawing, so I could give her better feedback. We live in different parts of the country, so we scanned our work and emailed it to each other. Here are the steps of … Continue reading “How To Draw A Cat”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1206","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Draw A Cat - Carol's Drawing Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Follow along as I draw a friend\u2019s cat in four steps. There are instructions and a slide show.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Draw A Cat - Carol's Drawing Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Follow along as I draw a friend\u2019s cat in four steps. There are instructions and a slide show.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Carol's Drawing Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-23T01:19:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/image005-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/draw-cat-step\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/draw-cat-step\\\/\",\"name\":\"How To Draw A Cat - Carol's Drawing Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/draw-cat-step\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/draw-cat-step\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/image005-150x150.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-13T01:56:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-23T01:19:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"Follow along as I draw a friend\u2019s cat in four steps. There are instructions and a slide show.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/draw-cat-step\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/draw-cat-step\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/draw-cat-step\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/image005-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/image005-150x150.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/draw-cat-step\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Draw A Cat In Four Steps\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Carol's Drawing Blog\",\"description\":\"Drawing lessons and art by Carol Rosinski of Toad Hollow Studio.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6a4d245062c819bedd53d57134797e17\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6a4d245062c819bedd53d57134797e17\",\"name\":\"Carol\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/cropped-sunflower-atc.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/cropped-sunflower-atc.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/cropped-sunflower-atc.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Carol\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\\\/wp_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/cropped-sunflower-atc.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"I'm an artist, an accidental author, and lover of life. I grew up in Yorktown, Indiana, and I've been writing (and drawing) this website since 1999.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/toadhollowstudio.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How To Draw A Cat - Carol's Drawing Blog","description":"Follow along as I draw a friend\u2019s cat in four steps. There are instructions and a slide show.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How To Draw A Cat - Carol's Drawing Blog","og_description":"Follow along as I draw a friend\u2019s cat in four steps. There are instructions and a slide show.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/","og_site_name":"Carol's Drawing Blog","article_modified_time":"2023-12-23T01:19:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/image005-150x150.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/","url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/","name":"How To Draw A Cat - Carol's Drawing Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/image005-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2010-07-13T01:56:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-23T01:19:05+00:00","description":"Follow along as I draw a friend\u2019s cat in four steps. There are instructions and a slide show.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/image005-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/image005-150x150.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-cat-step\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Draw A Cat In Four Steps"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/","name":"Carol's Drawing Blog","description":"Drawing lessons and art by Carol Rosinski of Toad Hollow Studio.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4d245062c819bedd53d57134797e17"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4d245062c819bedd53d57134797e17","name":"Carol","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/cropped-sunflower-atc.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/cropped-sunflower-atc.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/cropped-sunflower-atc.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Carol"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/cropped-sunflower-atc.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm an artist, an accidental author, and lover of life. I grew up in Yorktown, Indiana, and I've been writing (and drawing) this website since 1999.","sameAs":["http:\/\/toadhollowstudio.com"]}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P1r5dp-js","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3165,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/online-drawing-lessons-videos-exercises\/","url_meta":{"origin":1206,"position":0},"title":"Online Drawing Lessons, Videos, And Exercises","author":"Carol","date":"2015\/09\/14","format":false,"excerpt":"Many people want to know where to begin with my drawing lessons. I suggest starting with Line Drawing Parts One through Four and Drawing From Life With Expressive Line. These five lessons will give you a basic set of drawing skills. The rest of the lessons will add to your\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5713,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/buddy-art-cat\/","url_meta":{"origin":1206,"position":1},"title":"Buddy The Art Cat – A Drawing In Graphite Pencil","author":"Carol","date":"2018\/12\/19","format":false,"excerpt":"This piece was created on plate finish 2 ply Bristol Board with graphite pencils. I used a value scale system of 1 to 10 with \"1\" as white and \"10\" as black. I refer to these values as numbers as I talk about the steps of the drawing. The rubber\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/buddy-7-rosinski-300x245.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12627,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/first-steps-in-the-art-of-pencil-drawing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1206,"position":2},"title":"First Steps in the Art of Pencil Drawing","author":"Carol","date":"2023\/12\/23","format":false,"excerpt":"Pencil drawing appeals to many aspiring artists because it\u2019s an inexpensive yet expressive medium. Drawings can range from quick sketches to full tonal artwork, and you probably have all the supplies you need to get started right now. Just One Pencil You could produce a very nice sketch with just\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Ordinary Writing Pencil","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/writing-pencil-125x125.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3535,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/draw-a-scallop-shell-in-six-steps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1206,"position":3},"title":"Draw a Scallop Shell in Six Steps","author":"Carol","date":"2015\/10\/23","format":false,"excerpt":"You probably have the supplies you need to draw this shell right now. If you don't have the exact pencils and erasers that I suggest, you can probably make your supplies work with a little creativity. Supplies: Drawing Pencils - 2H, B, 2B. If you don't have them, a writing\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Scallop Shell Dimensions","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/draw-scallop-shell-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3071,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/beginning-pencil-drawing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1206,"position":4},"title":"First Steps in the Art of Pencil Drawing","author":"Carol","date":"2015\/08\/10","format":false,"excerpt":"Pencil drawing appeals to many aspiring artists because it's an inexpensive yet expressive medium. Drawings can range from quick sketches to full tonal artwork, and you probably have all the supplies you need to get started right now. Just One Pencil You could produce a very nice sketch with just\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Ordinary Writing Pencil","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/writing-pencil-125x125.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1450,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/drawing-texture-technique-queen-ann-lace\/","url_meta":{"origin":1206,"position":5},"title":"Drawing Texture Technique – Queen Ann’s Lace","author":"Carol","date":"2010\/09\/04","format":false,"excerpt":"I draw complicated textures in layers or steps. Each layer concentrates on one part of the texture like this: General background value Large shadows Large highlights Small shadows Small highlights ... and so forth I'm using a reference photo of the field across the road from our house. What caught\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/drawing-texture-technique-queen-ann-lace\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Queen Anne's Lace Background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/qal_1-300x263.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12614,"href":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1206\/revisions\/12614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}