How to draw a cat with watercolor pencils and watercolor. Draw a watercolor portrait of a cat

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

Master class with a step-by-step photo: "Not everything is Shrovetide for a cat ..."

Author: Natalya Alexandrovna Ermakova, Lecturer, Municipal Budgetary Educational Institution of Additional Education for 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, teachers of additional education.
Purpose: interior decoration, participation in creative exhibitions, gift.
Target: creating a composition with a cat in watercolor technique.
Tasks:
-continue to introduce children to folk proverbs, holidays and customs of their native land;
- teach how to draw a cat, exercise in building a sketch of a drawing using auxiliary lines and geometric shapes;
- to improve skills in watercolor technique;
- to cultivate interest in various visual techniques and materials, a sense of love and pride in the history and culture of their homeland.

Hello dear friends and guests!
We all know the Russian proverb: "Not everything is Shrovetide for a cat ...", it is 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 Ostrovsky A.N. "Every day is not Sunday". The old merchant Akhov believed that money does everything. He began to woo a young poor girl, thinking that her mother and she would throw themselves on his neck because of his money. Moreover, the nastiness and stinginess of his character was known to all. He demanded attention, so that everyone bowed to him. When he finally came to woo, he received a decisive refusal. Instead, mother and daughter chose his young clerk Hippolyte. Seeing the old man out, the mother said: “Not everything is Shrove Tuesday, there is also a great post,” this is the full version of the 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: "Not everything is Shrovetide for the cat, Fomin's ass is Monday."
Fomin Monday is the second day of Fomin's (Radonitskaya) week, the beginning of spring commemoration and a large number of church memorial services, which was estimated by the people as a "bread" time for priests. Gradually, the second option practically disappeared from everyday speech, but we use the proverb about the coming difficult life of a cat 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 Shrovetide for a cat, there is also a great post, "has its roots. This is Maslenitsa holiday, and there are three of them in Russia.
The proverb refers to the Christian Maslenitsa, established by the Russian Church in the 16th century, as
7-day church holiday from Monday to "forgiveness" Sunday. On the church Maslenitsa, the Russian people have fun, eat pancakes, and in general do not limit themselves in anything in particular. When the time of Great Lent comes, the picture changes: everyone walks gloomy and serious, meat is banned, entertainment too. During the 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 Great Lent is an unfavorable one. Thus, the expression "not all Maslenitsa to the cat ..." has the following meaning: luck does not last long, harsh times will come. On the other hand, harsh times are also not eternal.

The second Maslenitsa folk, it begins a day earlier than the church Maslenitsa, and lasts eight days. This is a rampant secular holiday-carnival, established by the royal decree of Peter I in the image and likeness of European carnivals.
According to the Decree of Peter the Great, the celebration of Maslenitsa became known as the “Most Joking, Most Drunk, and Most Extravagant Cathedral.” Celebrated in the European manner, like carnivals with cheerful processions of mummers, antics of jesters, plentiful festivities. The holiday was headed by the clownish "Patriarch" appointed for the time of Maslenitsa, who headed the "most jesting and most drunken cathedral" ...

The real Russian Maslenitsa is a ritual and astronomical holiday Komoednitsa. It is celebrated strictly from March 21 to March 28 and is timed to coincide with the day of the spring equinox. Before the arrival of Christians and forced baptism, Russia was a strong secular (by modern standards) state. There were no pagan gods, no religion in our Motherland. There was a veneration of Russian great ancestors, who were the children of the gods. We, modern Russian people, are the same children.
After Komoyednitsa, the day begins to become longer than the night, the Yarilo-sun melts the snow, nature awakens with spring power, people celebrated the beginning of the New Year according to the ancient Slavic solar calendar (in Russia until 1492, March opened the account for the New Year).
In addition to celebrating the sacred entry of Spring into its rights, the Slavic Bear God was also revered on this day: 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 stumps. After that, the festive feast began. The ancient Slavs called the bear Kom (hence the rule - "the first pancake to the koms", that is, bears).

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

simple pencil
-eraser
-watercolor
-brushes
-cloth for hands and hands
- bank for water

Master class progress:

We begin work on the drawing with a preliminary sketch with a simple pencil (the sketch is made with light lines). At the bottom of the sheet, draw a horizontal line of the table. From the right edge of the sheet, draw a rectangle, conditionally it 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 are collecting a snowman).

Further, 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 with a vertical line in half, this will help us proportionally draw the details of the cat's muzzle. In the lower part we draw two ovals of cheeks.

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

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

We make the cheeks and nose pale pink, for this we apply a smear of red and blur it with water, the tongue of the cat will be red.

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

All our cat will be red-striped.

We make expressive eyes. I use a deep blue color, but you can do with black. We leave small white circles inside the eyes not painted over, since white is not used when working with watercolor - this is the advantage of gouache.
The next step in the drawing will be working with brown: antennae, eyebrows and contouring of the entire silhouette of the cat. We draw as if with a trembling hand - we imitate the hair of our hero.
We paint the tablecloth in yellow and shade it with brown.

On the white surface of the sheet around the picture, we apply an almost transparent tone-ocher (we dilute the color with water), and the work is completed.

Older children can be offered a more complicated option, complement the image of a 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 the pencil sketch is done, we 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 ​​\u200b\u200bthe wooden walls and a stack of pancakes (we dilute the color with water). Then we pick up the ocher on the brush more saturated and draw the lines of the logs, these lines are slightly blurred with water.

Outside the window you can see the 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 drawing of pancakes, I use the same color for a bowl with sour cream. We paint the curtains in a light green tone.

Then we draw folds on them with the same, but more saturated color. And we get to work with black watercolor - we circle the contour lines of the drawing with it.

Next, we wash the brush, dry it slightly on a cloth and blur these lines.

The cat will be red (orange).

I do green eyes and pink cheeks with a nose as in the first version.
Then we begin to draw the cat in detail with the help of brown, make a stroke of the main details of the figure and gently blur them with water.

With the help of a semi-dry brush, along the contour lines of the cat, we draw-imitate wool (the "poke" technique).

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 did an exchange abroad in high school and my parents got rid of her as soon as I left. My heart was broken, but taking Sammy, given his age, felt like the right thing to do. I decided to paint a portrait of him based on his photograph, which I love very much. A few days after I wrote it, Sammy became terminally ill and retired. This was a few weeks ago. Such a portrait is a good way to leave the memory of a deceased pet, or capture moments in the life of a pet that is still with you.

Step 1: Required Materials

Materials:

• Watercolor and palette.
• Paint brushes - make sure you have a few brushes for detailed drawing.
• Photo of a pet.
• Tracing paper, pencil and eraser.
• Watercolor paper. Using quality watercolor paper makes a big difference in the final result. It can be bought one sheet at most hobby shops. For practice, cheaper paper will also do, it can be purchased there.
• Gum arabic (optional) It is used to increase the fluidity of paints and create a glossy sheen. It is recommended to mix gum arabic and water in proportions of 10% to 90% respectively. I've also read that once you use it and the paint dries, you can easily get back to work, and even remove the paint patch by rewetting.
• 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 details of whiskers and fur.

Step 2: Preparing the Pet Portrait, Copying and Transferring

Image and paper

First of all, you need to decide how big you want the portrait. If it needs to be larger than what a regular printer can print, you will have to go to where you get everything printed. Also, you will have to cut the watercolor paper to the right size. Keep in mind that paper with a density of 400 is quite difficult to cut.

Tracing

I printed a picture of my pet on a piece of paper in standard sizes. After that, I carefully stuck a piece of tracing paper onto it. I copied the main lines and the main details of the cat with a pencil, pressing down so that the lines are quite dark. Of course, if you're good at drawing, you can always try to draw everything yourself, but a lot of artists use the same method. Either way, both methods will work.

Transfer

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

When you have shaded the places where you have drawn the lines, carefully place the tracing paper on the watercolor paper. After that, once again take your pencil and draw along the lines drawn on the tracing paper. As you do this, the graphite will transfer from the tracing paper to your watercolor paper. You will also notice small indentations where you traced with the pencil. They will not be too dark, but they will be visible.

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

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

Tip - please remember that with watercolor painting "less is more". If you want to leave highlights, then be careful where you apply the paint, or save these places for later. I didn't go overboard with the watercolor on the cat's nose, and I managed to make it look very realistic with highlights in the right places.

I started by painting the background. When I finished, I didn't like it so much, and I overdid it with paint, repainting it several times. As a result, I got a rather dark background, but I like it. Remember that it's hard to remove something when it comes to watercolor, especially after several repaints.

Pay attention to contrast. This is what will make your drawing alive and close to reality. It is not necessary to trace all the lines several times and highlight each part of your pet. It's just that if your pet's coat is white, making the background darker would be a great idea. Once I've finished the basics of my background, which I've modified anyway, it's time to draw the eyes.

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

Step 4: Painting in dark areas and highlights

Then I started to paint over the main details of the face. You need to cover the main areas with a thin coat, or a very thin coat of paint. All you have to do is add a lot of water for a certain color and look very closely at the photo of your pet to understand exactly where his color matches this color.

I initially applied a thin layer of gray paint on the cat's body. Then, I started adding details on him and on the body as well using gray (slightly darker) color. If your photo has shadows, then paint them the way you see them. You may think "No, this is too much, I can't draw it", but don't listen to these bad thoughts, just draw what you see. Leave the areas that should be white untouched. Blank paper is the best white.

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

Step 5: Furry Details

When the main colors are applied and some details are drawn, you can proceed to the wool. In the photos, you can see that I started painting the hair from the dark areas on the muzzle. Using a lot less water, I was able to create a matte effect. This is all not without the help of a linear brush. I made small strips in the direction of hair growth. The first time you 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 have advanced a little, it helps a lot to step back a few meters and look at the drawing from that distance - the difference is huge.

In the last photo, you can see that the area of ​​the head between the ears looks straight and hard. It doesn't look like a real one at this stage of the drawing, because in reality the hair grows in different directions, and does not lie so perfectly and evenly. Once we continue to draw the layers of fur, everything will fall into place.

Step 6: Draw the Fur on the Body

When I painted hair on the body, I first of all 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 drew dark blotches on the cat's abdomen. Then, I went back and added some water to this place to lighten the drawing a bit (I made this area too dark). Then I again looked closely at the photo in order to understand where it lies and in which direction the hair grows on the abdomen, and drew it.

I had a little trouble with the white fur on my belly, and that's where gouache would come in very handy.

Look at your drawing and compare 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 necessary.

Antennae can be a problem, because you want to draw them correctly the first time. No need to rush. Practice, practice and more practice before you start! You will need a good line brush for this! Make sure you apply enough paint and water to the brush to make it move smoothly and smoothly.

At the end, don't forget to make sure that you have painted all the shadows that are on the original. For example, under the head of the cat in my drawing, the green is darker in some places. This is done in order to portray 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 will help you paint the perfect pet portrait!

Everyone loves animals, especially cute fluffy cats. We often see these mustachioed fluffies as one of the most 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 of cats on 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 to draw a cat.
This article will have three sections with different levels of 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

Let's try to start by 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 "design" for the nose there, mark the place where the ears should be and draw the line of the back.

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

We continue to draw 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.

And now, in the place where the curved line was drawn on the muzzle, above the nose, draw narrowed eyes. It's pretty easy to do just like in the picture. Wipe off unnecessary details, draw a nose, under it smooth lines of a closed mouth and antennae. The drawing is ready!

Considering how to draw a cat in stages, we offer the following method. Here you already need a soft pencil (from B to 6B).

To begin with, draw an oval, it can have a rough, more square shape, as in the picture. And we 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. Draw a line below to 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 an approximate shape of the tail.

And, finally, we finish the paws, shade the eyes, draw the rest of the details of the muzzle, do not forget about the mustache. And with short strokes outline the shape of the cat to give the impression of fluffiness. Ready!

Difficult level

And now we want to show a more complex technique of how to draw a kitten. This is not only for those who make great progress in drawing, it is also important for those who want to try their hand and be proud of the result! Here is 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 H. Try to follow the example of the picture.

Now draw two parallel lines on the cat's face, so that later you can evenly draw his eyes. Mark the approximate outline of the eyes, draw the stripes that go from the eyes to the nose, draw the 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, do not forget to draw the paws.

We draw a cat with a pencil - and this is one of the best ways to convey the fur in detail. On the muzzle, short strokes denote areas of dark coat color.

Now we will shade the darkest elements of the cat's face with a pencil with a hardness of B to 6B: pupils (do not forget to leave highlights in them, so they will seem more realistic), eye contour, nose, whisker dots, mouth.

All dark areas of wool on the muzzle are now stroked with the same pencil.

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

Having finished with dark stripes on wool, we work out light areas with a pencil H or 2H. We shade. After you have finished shading the fur, do not forget to draw the whiskers on the cat. It is desirable to do this already with a well-sharpened pencil with a hardness of B to 6B. You can add small "tassels" on the ears, but do not overdo it. The cat is ready!

How to draw a cat for kids

Learning to draw is worth it from childhood, because it is important not only for acquiring a certain skill, but also develops the color taste of the child, calms his 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 paws.

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

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

Consider another option, how we draw a cat in stages for children.

We will draw a cat in front and behind. Draw ovals on top of each other (try to follow the example in the picture).

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

Now we draw eyes like two commas, a nose - a triangle, a mouth - an inverted number 3 with a tongue. Do not forget about the antennae 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 ponytail. On the muzzle, draw two parallel lines in order to evenly draw the eyes.

We draw ears and wool on the sides of the head.

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

We finish the muzzle, remove the extra lines on the sides of the head. On the chest - draw fur, and below - paws.

We finish drawing the hind and front paws, turn the line into a ponytail.

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