Cat in watercolor. Drawing a watercolor portrait of a cat Cat face in watercolor

Master class with step-by-step photos on drawing a Cat in watercolors for children over 5 years old

Master class with step by step photos: "Every day is not Sunday..."

Author: Natalya Aleksandrovna Ermakova, Teacher, Municipal Budgetary educational institution additional education children "Children's art school named after A. A. Bolshakov”, Velikiye Luki, Pskov region
Description: The master class is intended for children from 5 years old and their parents, educators, and additional education teachers.
Purpose: interior decoration, participation in creative exhibitions, gifts.
Target: creating a composition with a cat using watercolor technique.
Tasks:
-continue to introduce children to folk proverbs, holidays and customs native land;
-learn to draw a cat, practice drawing a sketch using auxiliary lines and geometric figures;
-improve skills in watercolor technique;
- cultivate interest in various visual techniques and materials, a feeling of love and pride for the history and culture of their homeland.

Hello, dear friends and guests!
We all know the Russian proverb: “It’s not all Maslenitsa for the cat...”, it’s about someone who lived too well (undeservedly well), but in the end will face difficulties.
The meaning of the proverb is well explained in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky. "Every day is not Sunday". The old merchant Akhov believed that money makes everything. He began wooing a young, poor girl, thinking that her mother and she would throw themselves at him for his money. Moreover, the badness and stinginess of his character was known to everyone. He demanded attention, so that everyone would bow to him. When he finally came to make a match, he received a decisive refusal. Instead, mother and daughter chose his young clerk, Hippolytus. Sending the old man away, the mother said: “It’s not all Maslenitsa, there’s also Lent,” - this full version Russian proverb, included in the “Dictionary of Russian Proverbs” by Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl. But as an analogue of the proverb, a form practically unknown to contemporaries is given: “It’s not all Maslenitsa for the cat, but it’s Fomin’s Monday.”
Fomin Monday is the second day of Fomin (Radonitskaya) week, the beginning of spring commemorations and a large number of church funeral services, which was assessed by the people as a “bread” time for priests. Gradually, the second option practically disappeared from everyday speech, but the proverb about the future difficult life We use cats everywhere.

In general, a proverb is a short wise saying that has an instructive meaning; in proverbs - the people's mind, the people's truth, a wise judgment about life and people. So this proverb: “Not everything is Maslenitsa, there is also Lent,” has its roots. This is the Maslenitsa holiday, and there are three of them in Rus'.
The proverb refers to Christian Maslenitsa, established by the Russian Church in the 16th century, as
7 days religious holiday from Monday to Forgiveness Sunday. On Maslenitsa, the Russian people have fun, eat pancakes and generally do not restrict themselves in anything special. When the time of Lent comes, the picture changes: everyone walks around gloomy and serious, meat is forbidden, and so is entertainment. During seven weeks of food abstinence, you can only eat fish, but very rarely. And here even a foreigner will understand that Maslenitsa symbolizes a favorable time in a person’s life, and Lent symbolizes an unfavorable one. Thus, the expression “not everything is Maslenitsa…” has the following meaning: good luck does not last long, hard times will come. On the other hand, harsh times also do not last forever.

The second Maslenitsa is a folk festival, it begins a day earlier than the church Maslenitsa, and lasts eight days. This is a riotous secular festival-carnival, established by the royal decree of Peter I in the image and likeness of European carnivals.
According to the Decree of Peter 1, the celebration of Maslenitsa began to be called “The Most Jolly, The Most Drunken, and the Most Extravagant Council.” They celebrated in the European style, like carnivals with cheerful processions of mummers, antics of jesters, and abundant festivities. The holiday was led by the clownish “Patriarch” appointed during Maslenitsa, who headed the “all-joking and all-drunk cathedral”...

The real Russian Maslenitsa is the ritual and astronomical holiday of Komoednitsa. It is celebrated strictly from March 21 to March 28 and coincides with the vernal equinox. Before the arrival of Christians and forced baptism, Rus' was a strong secular (by modern standards) state. None pagan gods, there was no religion in our homeland. There was veneration of the Russian great ancestors, who were the children of the gods. We, modern Russian people, are the same children.
After Komoednitsa, the day begins to become longer than the night, Yarilo the sun melts the snow, nature awakens with the force of spring, people celebrated the beginning of the New Year according to the ancient Slavic solar calendar (in Rus', until 1492, March opened the account for the New Year).
In addition to celebrating the sacred entry of Spring into its rights, on this day the Slavic Bear God was also revered: in the morning before breakfast, in a solemn procession with songs, dances and jokes, they brought “pancake sacrifices” to the great Honey Beast in the forest with the first baked holiday pancakes and laid them out on tree stumps. After this, the festive feast began. The ancient Slavs called the bear Kom (hence the rule - “the first pancake is Kom”, that is, bears).

This tale is for you, dear guests, and for children, a master class on drawing a cat watercolor paints. Welcome to our creative workshop!
Materials and tools:
-sheet of A3 paper

Simple pencil
-eraser
-watercolor
-brushes
-cloth for hands and arms
-water jar

Progress of the master class:

We start working on the drawing with a preliminary sketch with a simple pencil(the sketch is done with light lines). At the bottom of the sheet draw a horizontal line for the table. From the right edge of the sheet we draw a rectangle - this will be a stack of pancakes. On the remaining space of the sheet, in the middle, we begin to build the figure of a cat. First we draw a semi-oval for the head, then for the body (as if we were assembling a snowman).

Next, in the form of arcuate lines on each side of the body, draw the legs, then the tail. And we begin to work on the muzzle, we need to divide the oval of the head vertical line in half - this will help us proportionally draw the details of the cat’s face. At the bottom we draw two oval cheeks.

Above the cheeks there is a nose and eyes, ears consisting of double triangles. We draw the front legs using circles of different sizes.

Next we start working with watercolors. Let's start with the eyes, use green color. Then we work brown, outline the contour lines of our hero, wash the brush and blur these lines with water (make a smooth transition from brown to white background sheet). For pancakes we use the same color, very diluted with water.

Make the cheeks and nose pale pink, to do this we apply a red smear and wash it with water, the cat’s tongue will be red.

Draw rows of pancakes with brown horizontal lines. We outline the paws (pads) with brown color, and then blur the color with water. The middle of the ears will also be brown. And let's start working with orange - draw stripes.

Our whole cat will be a red tabby.

Making the eyes expressive. I use saturated Blue colour, but you can get by with black. We leave the small white circles inside the eyes unpainted, as when working with watercolors White color not used - this is the advantage of gouache.
The next stage of the drawing will be working with brown color: antennae, eyebrows and contour finishing of the entire silhouette of the cat. We draw as if with a trembling hand - we imitate the fur of our hero.
We paint the tablecloth in yellow and shade it brown.

Apply an almost transparent ocher tone to the white surface of the sheet around the design (dilute the color with water), and the work is completed.

For older children, you can offer a more complicated option, complementing the image of the cat with additional elements of the composition. I added a window with curtains, wooden walls and a bowl of sour cream in the background.

When done pencil sketch Let's start working with color. For the background I chose my favorite and universal color ocher. First, it is applied in a transparent tone to the area of wooden walls and stacks of pancakes (dilute the color with water). Then we put more ocher on the brush and draw the lines of the logs, these lines are slightly blurred with water.

Outside the window you can see blue sky, my tablecloth is red, and there are already pancakes on the table; we draw them with brown horizontal lines.

I add a few dark brown lines to the pancake design; I use the same color for the bowl of sour cream. We paint the curtains in a light green tone.

Then we draw folds on them in the same way, but more rich color. And we start working with black watercolors - we outline the contour lines of the drawing with it.

Next, rinse the brush, lightly dry it on a cloth and blur these lines.

The cat will be red (orange).

I do the green eyes and pink cheeks and nose as in the first version.
Then we begin to draw the cat in detail using brown color, outline the main details of the figure and carefully blur them with water.

Using a semi-dry brush contour lines We draw a cat and imitate fur (the “poke” technique).

Everyone loves animals, and especially cute fluffy cats. We often see these mustachioed fluffies as one of the popular heroes of fairy tales and cartoons. Cats are popular not only among children, but also among adults, as evidenced by funny videos on YouTube and pictures with cats in in social networks. Cats are also considered a symbol of grace and femininity. We can talk about cats for a long time, but we will show you several ways on how to draw a cat.
This article will have three sections with at different levels Difficulty: medium, difficult and for children.

What you will need:

Sheet A4 or A5
Pencils with hardness 2H and B or 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B
Eraser

Medium difficulty level

Let's try to start with drawing a cat.

Take a pencil with hardness H and draw semicircles and dashes exactly the same as in the picture.

The first, upper circle is the head. Let's draw a “structure” for the nose there, mark the place where the ears should be and draw a line for the back.

Draw the lower part (the outline of the bend of the paws) as in the picture.

We continue to finish drawing the ears and muzzle, the lower part of the legs and the approximate location of the tail.

We finish drawing the ears, tail and paws.

Now, in the place where the curved line was drawn on the muzzle, above the nose, draw narrowed eyes. This is quite easy to do, just like in the picture. Erase the excess details, draw a nose, underneath it are smooth lines of a closed mouth and antennae. The drawing is ready!

Considering how to draw a cat step by step, we offer the following method. Here you will already need soft pencil(from V to 6V).

First, we draw an oval, it can have a rough, more square shape, as in the picture. And divide it with a light vertical line into equal parts.

Next, draw two oblique stripes on top of this oval - this will be the place for the ears. Below we will draw a line so that we know at what level to draw the eyes and draw the torso (preferably the same shape as in the picture).

Now we draw the cat’s ears, make two lines from the nose to the eyes, draw a mouth in the form of an inverted number 3 or simply in the form of a semicircle. We mark the paws.

Draw circle eyes and approximate form tail

And finally, we finish drawing the paws, shade the eyes, draw the remaining details of the face, don’t forget about the mustache. And use short strokes to outline the shape of the cat to create the impression of fluffiness. Ready!

Difficult level

And now we want to show more complex technology of how to draw a kitten. It's not just for those who do great success in drawing, this is also important for those who want to try their hand and be proud of the result! Here's our cat.

So, let's start with the fact that you need to draw the approximate outlines and pose of the kitten. To do this, use a pencil with a hardness of 2H or N. Try to follow the example of the picture.

Now draw two parallel lines on the cat’s face so that you can evenly draw his eyes. Mark the approximate outline of the eyes, draw stripes that go from the eyes to the nose, draw a mouth (such as in the example), a place for the antennae (an inverted number 8 above the mouth), mark the ears more precisely.

The next step is to draw the pupils in the eyes, make the nose more detailed, draw the teeth and tongue inside the mouth, and don’t forget to draw the paws.

We draw a cat with a pencil - and this is one of the best ways convey the wool in detail. On the face, with short strokes we indicate areas of dark coat color.

Now let’s shade out the darkest elements of the cat’s face with a pencil with a hardness of B to 6B: the pupils (don’t forget to leave highlights in them, so they will seem more realistic), the outline of the eyes, the nose, the points of the whiskers, the mouth.

Now we shade all the dark areas of fur on the muzzle with the same pencil.

We continue to draw dark areas of fur throughout the body, do not forget about the shadow under the paws.

Having finished with the dark stripes on the fur, we work on the light areas with an H or 2H pencil. Shading. After you've finished shading the fur, don't forget to draw the cat's whiskers. It is advisable to do this with a well-sharpened pencil with a hardness of B to 6B. You can add small “tassels” on the ears, but don’t overdo it. The cat is ready!

How to Draw a Cat for Kids

It is worth learning to draw from childhood, because it is important not only for acquiring a certain skill, but also develops the child’s color taste and calms him down nervous system. Therefore, if your child asks you: “How to draw a cat?” You can contact us and we will show you some easy ways! Let's start with the first one.

Take any pencil and draw a circle and an oval, as in the picture.

Draw the paws.

Now we draw ears, a tail and add a tick above the paws so that the cat has a fluffy neck in the end.

We draw the eyes with dots, the nose - a triangle, the mouth - an inverted number 3. We draw a mustache, a little more fur on the neck. We remove the extra lines on the paws and draw the fingers. The cat is ready!

Let's consider another option, how we draw a cat step by step for children.

We will draw the cat from the front and back. Draw ovals on each other (try to follow the example in the picture).

We draw short legs, ears and a tail. Note: the second one, sitting with his back, cannot see his upper legs, as if he is leaning on them, but you can complete them yourself.

Now we draw the eyes as two commas, the nose as a triangle, the mouth as an inverted number 3 with a tongue. Don't forget about the whiskers and stripes, our cat is tabby. 🙂

And one more option for you:

Draw a circle and an oval. They are connected by a curved line. The second line, which is larger, is the “skeleton” of the tail. On the face we draw two parallel lines in order to draw the eyes evenly.

Draw ears and fur on the sides of the head.

In the ears we draw two inverted ticks, we draw eyebrows and eyes. On the sides of the small line connecting the torso with the head, draw two more curved lines so that our neck becomes thicker.

We finish drawing the muzzle, removing the extra lines on the sides of the head. On the chest we draw fur, and below – the paws.

We finish drawing the hind and front legs, turning the line into a tail.

We remove the extra lines on the paws, draw stripes for the cat, paint over them and the eyes. (You can paint the cat according to your taste, but it is advisable to do it with a neat stroke). We draw mustaches. Ready! Let's learn to draw a cat together!

We found and translated for you a wonderful watercolor master class that tells you how to paint beautiful cat.

I am impressed by Liz Shaderton's approach to the choice of composition and the ease of the watercolor solution. Well, the resulting cute portrait of a cat, I think, will inspire you to take up your brushes.

One day I came to the conclusion that working with watercolors requires special forethought. Its success often comes from simplification... What we leave out is just as important as the elements we include in our picture.

I propose to draw a portrait of a cat today. What attracts me to this animal is its marbled look, mustache and patterned color. These are the elements I want to focus on, the rest doesn't matter!

Materials for references

When drawing animals, you will have to use a lot of photographs to obvious reason that animals are usually very mobile. And if they are also wild, they are unlikely to allow you to even get close to them.

Drawing from life in this case is something from the realm of fantasy. Therefore, photographs here can become your “lifeline.”

Please be aware of copyright law. Not a problem if you're just using photography to draw for fun. But the moment you share it online, display it, or sell it, you may be violating the photographer's rights. In this case, do not use the image without permission from the author.

Luckily, websites such as Paint my Photo(pmp-art.com) and Pixabay(pixabay.com), provide beautiful free images With high resolution. Don't hesitate to ask. Many photographers allow their photos to be used for free.

Work planning

We will carry out the work from light to dark, from long-range to your neighbor. This will allow us to maintain the transparency of the watercolor.

It is important to think through the light areas in advance, because they are the ones that bring the picture to life.

I also like to add shadows to early stages. This way, the area with the greatest contrast (in our case, the eye area) will immediately attract the viewer’s attention.

Do preliminary pencil sketch. It will help you think through the composition and main elements in advance, so that in the future you can fully devote your time to working with color.

A sketch like this helped me figure out that it would be better to reduce the size of the cat's head compared to the original idea.

And also achieve an expressive S-shaped line, conditionally passing between the eyebrows and mustache.

I don't like pencil lines to be visible in my drawing, so I prefer to erase them with an eraser. If you want to erase the lines, make the original outline of the image a little larger than necessary or use a watercolor pencil.

I took half a sheet (not the square format). This allowed me to adjust the composition even after finishing the drawing.

A simple HB pencil drawing indicating the general dimensions and shape of the object is all you need. Try not to draw details or make the drawing too dark.

Check the accuracy of the drawing by looking at it in a mirror or turning it upside down.

Using a small amount of color will help your brain relax. I try to limit my palette to seven colors.

Decide whether you want to use colors from the original image or your own shades. Make blanks of the desired shades before starting work.

Materials used

Watercolor paper:

Bockingford NOT (35x35cm)

Watercolor paints:

French ultramarine
Quinacridone gold
Quinacridone sienna
Emerald phthalo (Phthalo turquoise)
Permanent mars (Perylene maroon)
Dioxine purple

How to draw a beautiful cat in watercolor:
progress

click to enlarge the picture

STEP 1

1. Start with the eye. Let's be honest, if you ruin the eye, the whole portrait won't work.

It's better to do it in the first 5 minutes than to leave it until last, wasting several hours of work...

2. Take a closer look, determine the places of light, shadow and shades of the desired colors. The cat's eyes are like marble.

Leave the required area of paper painted over. If you have masking fluid, use it.

Draw the iris around the pupil.

STEP 2

Now move on to the dark areas around the eyes. If some color from the iris flows into the fur area, so much the better. Place your strokes as if you were stroking fur in the direction it grows. This will make your strokes look much more natural.

STEP 3

Using a clean, damp brush, brush off part of the dark layer, creating the S-shaped line that I mentioned at the sketching stage.

Add more characteristic strokes, paint wet on wet.

Pre-moisten the paper in places where you want the stroke to lay more softly.

Remember that the edges dry out faster. Be prepared to soften them to avoid hard edges when representing fur.

STEP 4

Mark the bases of the whiskers while the surface is still wet.

Very lightly touch the nose with Perylene maroon and the far eye. Soften the edges of the chin.

STEP 5

Now work with pale shades on three fronts in turn - under the chin, with the far ear, and then with the near one.

STEP 6

When the basic character of the animal is “captured”, let the work dry.

QUESTION: The image looks somewhat flat.

ANSWER: Is everything okay with the balance of dark and light? If there are errors in tone, then no beautiful colors will “save” the work. Squint and look at the picture carefully. Or take a black and white photo of her on your phone. And then adjust by adding color.

QUESTION: The work looks tortured.

ANSWER: Write with a large brush wherever the size of the paper allows. Hold the brush close to the tip and stop when you think there are 10 percent left to finish. You can always make some changes, but removing the excess will be much more difficult.

QUESTION: The colors are dull and lifeless.

ANSWER: If you make changes to a wet layer, the colors may blend and become lifeless. Check also the quality of the materials used. Perhaps you are using amateur paints or cheap paper?

QUESTION: The highlight of the eye is “lost.”

ANSWER: Add a highlight with white gouache. Or, if you're brave enough, use a scalpel to carefully scrape the top layer of paint down to the bottom of the paper. This should be done after complete drying, at the very end of the work.

Now experiment!

Draw the cat again, but use purple or blue as a base, which is not a natural "cat" color.

If you get the tone right, the portrait will still look alive.

Master class on drawing for children from 8 years old on the theme “Kitten” with step-by-step photos

Unconventional drawing techniques - drawing fur using PVA glue and a toothpick

Place of work: GKKP "Nursery-garden No. 116", Pavlodar

Description: The master class is intended for children from 8 years old and their parents, educators, additional education teachers, and creative people.
Purpose: interior decoration, gift, drawing for exhibitions and competitions.
Target: drawing a fluffy kitten.
Tasks. Teach children to convey the features of the depicted object using PVA glue and a toothpick. Strengthen the ability to independently select desired color. Expand your understanding of the life of a pet. Cultivate an interest in the life of pets, a desire to know as much as possible about them.

Some people like to draw flowers, some butterflies, others devote their creative impulses to portraits. How about a cute fluffy kitten? Imagine how happy your mother or sister will be when on March 8th you give them a postcard with a picture of a pretty kitten with fluffy fur.
Do you think it takes a lot of time to draw fur realistically? Do you want to know about a simple trick for making fur look natural? Now I’ll tell you how to draw a fluffy kitten using PVA glue and a toothpick. This drawing technique is my know-how! Draw with glue and a toothpick, I think you'll like it!

Materials required for work:

- white thick paper A4;
- watercolor;
- 2 brushes - No. 5, No. 3;
-a glass of water;
-PVA glue;
-toothpick;
- felt-tip pens;
- a simple pencil.

Step-by-step work process:

1. We begin to draw a kitten using geometric shapes.
Draw the head and torso in an oval shape.

2. Always start drawing with what you think is easier to do. It's probably not difficult to draw ears. The ears look like an equilateral triangle, only two lines and ears are drawn. The most difficult thing is to draw the eyes; you need to not make a mistake with the size, make sure that they are on the same line and the same.
On the muzzle we draw cheeks, antennae and a mouth with a visible tongue.

3. In addition, you need to make “highlights” in the eyes so that the cat looks like a real one.

4. We finish drawing the paws and tail.
To prevent the cat from looking lonely in the drawing, you can draw it on a rug.

5. Now comes the fun part. We begin to draw, tracing the contours of the picture with PVA glue using gentle movements. Draw the fur using a toothpick.

6. Add volume to the rug, draw wavy lines with PVA glue and draw with a toothpick.

Let the drawing dry.
7. After it is completely dry, we begin painting.

8. My cat is gray, so I added gray color to my palette.

This guide is dedicated to our beloved cat Sammy. He was about 15 years old when we adopted him from a relative, and my son and I became very attached to him. It was 2 years ago. Sammy's mother was my cat when I was a teenager, but I went on an exchange abroad to high school, and my parents got rid of her as soon as I left. My heart was broken, but it felt right that we took Sammy, given his age. I decided to paint him a portrait based on a photograph of him that I really love. A few days after I wrote it, Sammy became deathly ill and retired. This was a few weeks ago. Such a portrait - good way leave a memory of a deceased pet, or capture moments in the life of a pet who is still with you.

Step 1: Materials Needed

Materials:

Watercolor and palette.
Paint Brushes – Make sure you have several brushes for detailed painting.
Pet photo.
Tracing paper, pencil and eraser.
Watercolor paper. Using quality watercolor paper makes a big difference in the final result. It can be purchased one sheet at a time at most hobby shops. For practice, cheaper paper will do just fine; you can buy it there.
Gum arabic (optional). It is used to increase the fluidity of paints and create a glossy shine. It is recommended to mix gum arabic and water in proportions of 10% to 90%, respectively. I also read that when you use it and the paint dries, you can easily return to work, and even remove the area of paint by re-wetting it.
Gouache (optional). Gouache is very similar to watercolor, but more matte. I didn't use gouache in this portrait, but if I lived closer to an art store, I would buy it and use it. I advise you to buy only white - it will be useful when drawing small parts mustache and fur.

Step 2: Preparing a pet portrait, copying and transferring

Image and paper

First of all, you need to decide how big the portrait you want. If it needs to be larger than what a regular printer can print, you will have to go somewhere that will print everything for you. Also, you will have to cut the watercolor paper to required sizes. Keep in mind that 400 weight paper is quite difficult to cut.

Tracing

I printed out a picture of my pet on a standard size piece of paper. After that, I carefully stuck a piece of tracing paper onto it. I copied the main lines and main details of the cat with a pencil, pressing so that the lines turned out to be quite dark. Of course, if you are good at drawing, you can always try to draw everything yourself, but many artists use the same method. In any case, both methods will work.

Transfer

Now flip your image over so that you can see the back of it. On the back of the tracing paper, you need to shade the places where you have copied lines. You can use a softer or darker pencil if you have one (4B or 6B), but a regular 2B pencil will work fine.

Once you have shaded the areas where you drew the lines, carefully place the tracing paper on the watercolor paper. After this, take your pencil again and draw along the lines drawn on the tracing paper. As you do this, the graphite is transferred from the tracing paper to your watercolor paper. You will also notice small indentations where you traced with the pencil. They won't be too dark, but they will be visible.

The final touch is to again draw a pencil along the already drawn lines, but this time on watercolor paper, and you are ready to start coloring.

First, prepare your paints and palette. Before I had tubes of watercolors, I only had my son's cheap paints for school. It is best to use watercolors in tubes. Be careful not to squeeze out too much. The excellent quality of watercolor is its durability! You only need to squeeze out a tiny amount of paint (about the size of an eraser) onto the palette. back side pencil). Pour water into a large jar or mug and add some onto your palette. You will need a lot of water! If the paint dries on the palette, you can still use it further. Simply dip your brush in water and then move it over the dried paint and you're ready to use it again!

Tip – Please remember that with watercolor painting, “less is more.” If you want to leave highlights, be careful where you apply the paint, or leave these areas for later. I didn't overdo the watercolor on the cat's nose and managed to make it look very realistic with highlights in the right places.

I started with drawing background. When I finished, I didn't like it so much and I went overboard with the paint, repainting it several times. As a result, I ended up with a rather dark background, but I like it. Remember that it is difficult to remove something if the conversation is about watercolors, especially after several redraws.

Pay attention to contrast. This is what will make your drawing alive and close to reality. It is not necessary to circle all the lines several times and highlight every part of your pet. Just if your pet’s fur is white, making the background darker great idea. Once I finished the basics of my background, which I then changed anyway, it was time to draw the eyes.

For the eyes I used a layer of yellowish orange and around it I painted with a darker one. orange. I'll come back later to finish them.

Step 4: Painting Dark Areas and Main Details

Then I started painting over the main details of the face. You need to paint a thin layer, or a very thinned layer of paint, over the main areas. All you have to do is add a lot of water to a certain color and look very carefully at the photo of your pet to understand where exactly its color matches this color.

I initially applied a thin layer of gray paint to the cat's body. Then, I started adding details on him and the body using a gray (slightly darker) color. If there are shadows in your photo, then draw them as you see them. You may think: “No, this is too much, I won’t be able to draw this,” but don’t listen to those bad thoughts, just draw what you see. Leave the areas where you want the white color untouched. Blank paper is the best white color.

When all the most basic colors are painted over, go back to the face and go over it with a thin layer of paint again, but this time less diluted (look at the photo!). You don't need to go into fur details for the time being. As you paint, you can smooth out the corners by dipping a clean brush in water and gently running it over the problem areas.

Step 5: Fluffy Details

Once the main colors have been applied and some details have been drawn in, you can start working on the fur. In the photos you can see that I started drawing the fur from the dark areas on the face. Using much less water, I was able to create a matte effect. This is all done with the help of a linear brush. I made small stripes in the direction of hair growth. When you first take it on, you might look at it and think you're doing something wrong. This is fine. You really need to keep going until the coat looks just right. Once you've progressed a little, it helps a lot to step back a few meters and look at the drawing from that distance - the difference is huge.

On last photo you may notice that the area of the head between the ears looks straight and stiff. It doesn’t look real at this stage of drawing, because in reality the fur grows in different directions, and does not lie so perfectly and evenly. Once we continue drawing layers of fur, everything will fall into place.

Step 6: Draw the fur on the body

When I drew the fur on the body, I first looked at the photo to notice the darkest areas. Basically, you can save a lot of time if you just don't do it. I really liked how everything looked before, but once I started, there is no going back!

First, I painted dark spots on the cat's belly. Then, I went back and added a little water to this area to lighten the drawing a little (I made this area too dark). Then I looked at the photograph again to understand where the fur on the abdomen lies and in which direction it grows, and I drew it.

I'm having a little trouble painting the white fur on the belly and that's where gouache would really come in handy.

Look at your drawing and compare it with what is shown in the photo to match all the details. Looking at the photo, find the darkest areas! And make sure you convey them in your drawing. The eyes will stand out if you add contrast to them and draw lines where needed.

Mustaches can be a challenge because you want to get them right the first time. There's no need to rush. Practice, practice and practice again before you start! You'll need a good line brush for this! Make sure you apply enough paint and water to the brush so that it moves smoothly and without obstruction.

At the end, don't forget to make sure that you have drawn all the shadows that are on the original. For example, under the cat's head in my drawing the green is darker in some places. This is done in order to depict the shadow of his head. This approach will bring your drawing closer to reality.

Take a closer look at all the folds and add wool there, avoid straight folds (except for the ears). Draw what you see.

I hope this guide helps you paint a great pet portrait!