80 ideas

Cat Drawing Ideas

Deal one cat to draw, from a loaf with every paw hidden to a Sphynx in full wrinkle, with the shape to get right underneath.

Cat Drawing Ideas

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Drawn: A wide yawn showing all the teethA wide yawn showing all the teethThe eyes squeeze shut, the ears tip back, and the mouth opens far wider than you expect.

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All 80 ideas

Poses 16

A cat asleep on its back with its belly showing An exposed belly is a relaxed posture. The front paws fold at the wrists and hang above the chest.
A cat at full stretch, leaping from shelf to shelf At full stretch the body is one line from the front toes to the tail tip, hind legs trailing behind.
A cat curled into a circle, nose to tail Start with a full circle. The ear tips and the end of the tail are the only things that break it.
A cat grooming one hind leg held straight up The leg points at the ceiling while the body folds nearly in half. Find the curve of the spine first.
A cat kneading a blanket with its front paws The paws push in turn. Toes spread on the press and close on the lift, so draw one of each.
A cat loaf from the front, every paw hidden Paws and tail vanish under the body, so the outline is one rounded block with a head on the front.
A cat walking along the top of a narrow fence All four feet land on one line, so the legs overlap. Draw the far legs lighter than the near ones.
A cat walking towards you with its tail straight up A vertical tail is a friendly signal. Head on, the body shrinks to an oval behind the face.
A cat washing its face with one licked paw The paw bends at the wrist and sweeps from behind the ear to the nose. The head tilts into it.
A crouched cat about to pounce Shoulders drop below the hips and the head stays level. A cat twitches the tip of its tail when hunting.
A falling cat twisting to land on its feet The front half turns before the back half. A flexible backbone and no working collarbone allow the twist.
A long front stretch, chest down and rump up The front legs slide forward with the elbows near the floor, and the spine dips into one long curve.
A seated cat from behind, tail trailing to one side A pear shape with two triangles on top. There is no face, so the silhouette does all the work.
A sitting cat with its tail curled round its front feet The front legs are two straight columns. The tail makes a neat comma across the toes.
An arched back with the fur standing on end A cat arches and raises its hair to look larger to a threat. Break the outline into short spiky strokes.
Two cats asleep in one heap Work out whose leg is whose before you shade. Give each cat a different coat to keep them apart.

Coat patterns 16

A black cat in slanted light showing ghost stripes A solid coat can show a faint tabby pattern underneath in bright slanted light. Keep it barely there.
A calico curled asleep, three colours in patches White with large orange and black patches, often a quarter to three quarters white. Nearly all are female.
A classic tabby with a bullseye swirl on its flank Also called blotched. Wide bands whorl round a target on each side, with a butterfly shape on the shoulders.
A colourpoint cat with a dark mask, ears, paws and tail Pigment forms only in the cooler parts of the body. Siamese kittens are born cream to white.
A ginger tabby rolling in a patch of sun Every red cat shows tabby markings, because the orange gene overrides the one that makes a coat solid.
A harlequin cat with cow-style patches A mostly white coat with large coloured patches and no solid jacket. Also called a magpie or cow cat.
A long-haired cat with a lion-like ruff Fur is short on the head and shoulders, longer on the belly and flanks. Draw clumps, not single hairs.
A mackerel tabby from the side Narrow stripes run down the flanks like fish bones. It is the most common of the four tabby patterns.
A solid black cat in silhouette with two bright eyes Fill the whole shape flat and leave only the eyes. The outline has to say cat on its own.
A spotted tabby lying on its side The flanks carry spots and no stripes. Keep the spots in loose rows so they still follow the ribs.
A ticked tabby with stripes only on face, legs and tail Each hair is banded, so the body is an even shimmer with no bars. The pattern is fixed in the Abyssinian.
A tortoiseshell face split between black and orange Two colours and no white, brindled together or in patches. Let them mingle along a ragged edge.
A tuxedo cat sitting upright, white bib and paws White stays on the face, throat, chest and paws of a black cat. Leave the paper bare and shade the rest.
A Van-pattern cat seen from above Only the head and tail are coloured; the rest stays white. Named for the Turkish Van breed.
The tabby M on a forehead, close up Three to five lines form an M above the eyes, with a dark line running back from each outer eye corner.
Two-tone rosettes on a flank, close up A rosette is a broken ring, darker at the rim than the middle. Vary the sizes and keep them off a grid.

Boxes, sinks and perches 16

A blanket lump with a tail sticking out One soft hill of folds and one tail. The folds radiate from the highest point, which is the cat's back.
A cat asleep on a bookshelf between two rows of books The books give you straight perspective lines. The cat is the one soft shape that interrupts them.
A cat at the top of a cat tree, seen from below From below the chin and chest dominate and the head looks small. The platform is a wide ellipse.
A cat curled in a bathroom sink The basin draws the circle for you. The ears and one paw rest on the rim.
A cat drinking from a dripping tap The neck twists sideways so the mouth meets the drop. Keep the water to a few sharp white highlights.
A cat in a cardboard box one size too small Draw the box first in simple perspective, then let the cat bulge over every edge.
A cat in a laundry basket of clean towels The weave is a repeating pattern. Draw it fully only where the light falls and hint at the rest.
A cat in a round bed, seen from above From above it is a circle inside a circle. Add two ear tips and the spiral of the tail.
A cat in an open suitcase on top of folded clothes The lid stands open behind as a rectangle in perspective. The cat sits dead centre on the packing.
A cat on a night windowsill with its reflection in the glass The reflection is dimmer, flipped left to right, and cut off by the frame. Keep its edges soft.
A cat on a sunny windowsill watching birds Draw the cat as a dark shape against bright glass, with a thin rim of light along the back and ears.
A cat peering through banister rails on a staircase The rails slice the cat into strips. Draw the whole cat lightly first, then lay the bars over it.
A cat sitting in an empty plant pot on a step The pot is a tapered cylinder with an ellipse for a rim. The cat fills it like a scoop of ice cream.
A cat sprawled across an open laptop The cat hides the keyboard completely. Let one front paw hang over the edge of the desk.
A cat squeezed into a glass mixing bowl, seen from the side Fur presses flat where it touches the glass, and the paw pads show through. The rim is an ellipse.
A cat's face peeking out of a paper bag Only the eyes and whiskers catch the light inside the dark opening. Crinkle the edge of the bag.

Faces and paws 16

A cat with the tip of its tongue left sticking out One small pink shape under the nose. Everything else on the face stays calm, which is the joke.
A cat's nose and mouth, close up A small upside-down triangle, a short line down from its point, then a curve out to each side.
A head tilted sideways at an odd sound The eye line tilts with the head. Draw the centre cross on the face first, then hang the features on it.
A hiss with the ears pressed flat Mouth open, nose wrinkled, ears back against the skull. Seen from the front the head becomes a flat wedge.
A polydactyl front paw shaped like a mitten A normal front paw has five toes. Polydactyl cats have extras, most often on the front paws; draw six or seven.
A sleeping face with one paw over the eyes The paw covers the hard part for you. Draw the curve of the mouth and one ear folded against the arm.
A slow blink with the eyes half closed Slow blinking signals a relaxed cat. Draw each eye as a shallow downward curve and keep the ears upright.
A surprised face with the ears up and tilted back The pupils go wide and the ears stand tall but lean slightly backward. Keep the mouth small and shut.
A three-quarter face with the whiskers fanned out About twelve movable whiskers a side, in four rows. Draw them last, in single fast strokes from the root.
A wide yawn showing all the teeth The eyes squeeze shut, the ears tip back, and the mouth opens far wider than you expect.
An odd-eyed white cat looking straight at you One eye is blue and the other green, yellow, amber or brown. It is most common in solid white cats.
Eyes shining back at a torch in the dark The glow is light bouncing off the tapetum lucidum, a reflective layer behind the retina.
The flehmen grimace after a strange smell The cat curls back its upper lip, shows its front teeth and holds the face still for several seconds.
Huge round pupils at dusk In low light the pupil opens almost to the edge of the iris. Leave one white highlight in each eye.
Narrow slit pupils in bright sun In very bright light the pupil closes to a thin vertical slit, and the coloured iris fills the eye.
The underside of a front paw, pads and all One large pad with four toe pads above it. Front feet have five toes, and the fifth, the dewclaw, sits higher.

Breed silhouettes 16

A British Shorthair sitting square to the viewer A stocky body, a thick coat and a broad face. The best-known colour is solid blue-grey with copper eyes.
A Cornish Rex standing side on, coat in tight waves An extremely fine, curly coat made only of down hair, on a slender body with small paws and large ears.
A Devon Rex face with large wide-set ears A short, broad wedge of a head, large oval eyes set wide, and big ears with rounded tips: the pixie look.
A Japanese Bobtail sitting, one paw lifted The short tail looks more like a rabbit's than a cat's. This seated pose is the maneki-neko lucky cat.
A Maine Coon sitting with its ruff and long plumed tail One of the largest domestic breeds. The tail is long and tapered with heavy fur, like a raccoon's.
A Manx from the side with no tail at all A rounded rump where the tail would be, and hind legs longer than the front. It comes from the Isle of Man.
A Norwegian Forest Cat climbing a tree trunk A large cat with long legs and a bushy tail, and a strong climber. Show the claws gripping the bark.
A Persian face from the front A round face with a very short muzzle inside a long coat. Eyes, nose and mouth sit close together.
A Ragdoll gone limp in someone's arms Named for going limp when picked up. Colourpoint coat, blue eyes, and a long tail hanging straight down.
A Russian Blue lying down with its green eyes open A short, dense blue-grey coat with a silver sheen and vivid green eyes. Shade it in one even tone.
A Scottish Fold head with the ears folded forward The ears fold forward and down against the head, which gives the round skull an owl-like outline.
A Siamese in profile with a wedge-shaped head A triangular head, large wide-set ears and a long slender body. The eyes are blue and almond-shaped.
A Sphynx sitting upright, every wrinkle showing There is no coat to hide behind. Draw the folds at the neck, shoulders and brow, the large ears and long tail.
A Turkish Van standing in shallow water Nicknamed the swimming cat. A large white cat with colour only on the head and the tail.
An Abyssinian standing alert Large upright ears and a long, lean body give it a small-wildcat look. The ticked coat has no body stripes.
An American Curl head with the ears curled back The ears curl back from the face towards the centre of the back of the skull. Draw them as open arcs.

How it works

Eighty cat drawing ideas, sorted the way a cat presents itself: a pose, a coat, a box it should not fit in, a face, a breed outline. Every hint names the shape to get right, and the coat and breed facts were checked against Wikipedia. Press the button for one, and draw fast. The model will not hold still.

Read the full guide

A cat is a bean, a ball and two triangles

Nearly every pose here starts the same way. Ribcage and hips make one long bean, the head is a ball, the ears are triangles. A cat loaf from the front, every paw hidden is the bean with a head on it. A falling cat twisting to land on its feet is the same bean wrung like a towel, which a flexible backbone and no working collarbone allow. Get the bean right and the legs can be sticks.

Coats go by their real names

Five topics hold 16 ideas each, split 24 easy, 32 medium and 24 hard. The Coat patterns group uses the words breeders use. Tabby comes in four patterns: mackerel, classic, spotted and ticked. A tuxedo keeps its white to the face, throat, chest and paws. Topic and level combine, so Faces and paws plus Easy holds six.

Start with a sleeping cat. You get ten minutes instead of ten seconds, and a curled cat is one circle.
Fur is tone, not lines. Shade the form underneath, then add a few clumps where the outline turns.
Wrap stripes and spots round the body like bracelets. Stripes drawn straight across flatten the cat.

Questions and answers

What is the easiest cute cat to draw?

The loaf. With paws and tail tucked under, the whole cat is a rounded block with a ball on the front, so there are no legs to get wrong. After that try A cat curled into a circle, nose to tail. Twenty-four of the 80 are in Easy.

Can I paint these instead?

Yes. As cat painting ideas the coat prompts work best. A tuxedo is two flat tones with the white left bare. For a tabby, lay the mid-brown first and drop the stripes in while it is damp, so the edges stay soft like fur. Leave whiskers until everything is dry.

How do I tell a tabby, a calico and a tortoiseshell apart?

Tabby is a pattern: stripes, swirls or spots with an M on the forehead. Tortoiseshell is two colours, usually black and orange, with no white. Calico is those colours plus white, in larger patches, and nearly always on a female. One cat can be two of these at once.