COLOURED PENCIL DRAWING – TONY’S CAT SMUDGE, AND MY LATEST KITTY PHOTOS

When we visited my hubby’s 96-year-old friend on Sunday, I took several photos of his cat. I had not been to his apartment since his wife died and before they got Smudge, so this was the first time I had seen her. I had no idea she was so beautiful. She is a seal-point Persian with the most magnificent soft coat. I took several photos of her, without telling Tony that it was so that I could make a drawing of her for him.

I edited one of the photos, cropping and rotating it somewhat. I began with a pencil outline. Rather than tracing this, I used my proportional divider and it took a lot longer than tracing, to get it right!

The head completed.

Close-up of the head.

The completed drawing. I added a blue background with a small amount of texture, to pick out the colour of her beautiful blue eyes.

Close-up of the head.

Close-up of some of the fur.

This was the first time I had attempted fur, and white fur at that – this is the most difficult! I am sure there is room for improvement in my technique but it doesn’t look too bad!

Materials used

Amazon Basics coloured pencils for the majority of the drawing, with some Derwent Coloursoft pencils in the background, working on my Faber Castell Sketch Pad suitable for graphite, coloured pencils and watercolour pencils. The paper has a good amount of tooth for dry media, and is slightly cream-coloured, at 160 gsm. I painted her whiskers with a very fine brush and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White diluted with water. I also used this to pick out a few strands of the fur.

Latest Kitty Photos

Heads well and truly together, asleep on the kitty throw on my hubby’s chair.

Both sitting on the cat tree, waiting for their tea.

Asleep again, Ruby resting on top of Lily as usual.

Finally, sitting on the stairs, and again eagerly awaiting their tea.