Drawing Cats!

So I have decided to teach myself how to draw. I have tried all kinds of motives, but it turns out that I really only like to draw three things: cats, flowers, and trees. It just so happens that cats. as I have learned, are not the easiest things to draw. Below are my attempts at drawing cats, and I will use this post to chronicle my journey towards a real drawing of a real cat! And please remember: I never said I'm GOOD at drawing, I just said I LIKE to do it! 

Above you see a photo of one of our family cats, Einstein, and my version of it. Well, it was my first attempt, and even though it looks nothing like him, it kind of does look like a cat. I took that as a success and encouragement! I also learned that Black fur is really difficult to draw, and that express more with their eyes than I would have ever guessed. Then, I moved on to another family cat, Raja.

Again, I do think my drawing does kind of look like a cat, but not at all like the picture. The angle is all wrong, and I struggled with textures (fur, whiskers) again, quite a bit. After these two experiments, I decided that I need a new strategy, and so I turned to books (always my favorite fall-back option: when you don't know how to proceed, try to find a book on the subject!). I am using two books, Drawing Cats and Workshop Zeichnen: Katzen, and the first thing I've learned is to start with details, "parts" of cats if you will, and work myself up. So I spent some time drawing paws, and here are the two most promising results

The texture/fur is still not quite right, but better than in my earlier drawings. Somehow the balls of the feet look "fuzzier" than they should, but it's getting better. Next, I turned to whiskers.

Here, the main lesson was that sometimes it's more important what you DON'T draw than what you draw. In order to make the whiskers stand out, you have to leave them white, and color the space around them. The same applies to fur.

I played around with different patterns, textures and hair lengths. I realized how important it is to use harder and softer pencils together. Short stroke with a hard pencil create the impression of thick, wooly fur, and long, darker strokes with softer pencils make individual hairs stand out, for a more realistic appearance. Then it was time for the first trial drawing from a book. It's a picture of a cat with her two kittens.

I do think that I did a fairly good job with the cat's face and head. The way the head is turned, the way she hold her ears, and her expression are convincing. The body is nothing short of a small disaster, since her front leg looks much too big, and her paws are of different sizes. The kittens are acceptable, but far from good. Back to drawing body parts, more precisely: eyes!

I attempted to use what I learned about fur and apply it to the tiny hairs around the eye, and the result is not bad. I even managed to make it look "striped" underneath the eye. The white spots, which are supposed to be reflections of light in the eye, are too small, and their edges aren't smooth enough, but the shape and expression of the eye are promising. Lastly, the nose!

I think I managed to give the nose itself some plasticity, especially in the second attempt, where I did not press down quite as hard when drawing the "line" in the middle of the nose. I need to work on the whiskers more, they are better in picture one, but they need a lot of improvement.

So these are the lessons so far:

- sometimes you highlight things and draw attention to them by leaving them out, and filling in the space around them. That can draw attention to them, and give the drawing a more three-dimensional quality

- using harder and softer pencils, as well as charcoal, helps create different textures. Sometimes, it is best to create a smooth, thick, furry texture and use an eraser to make individual hairs stand out

- always draw with strong, confident strokes, but don't press down to hard. Drawings that are done too hesitantly will show it, and lines drawn with too much force can never be corrected

- cats are hard to draw!

And remember: just because I enjoy drawing doesn't mean I'm very good at it! More in part two, which will follow once I've practiced more!