Mr Tabby

Something a little more realistic today. I've challenge myself with colouring a tabby cat. This one has ginger tips and light markings around the chin and bib. I firstly sketched with a Copic Multiliner 1.0 pen. The first colour I applied was Copic E50, then shading of the light areas with E51. Next I used YR24 for the ginger contrast. I then made the markings and shading with W3 and W5. The nose is R02. YG61 and YG 63, with a touch of BG05 and Y35, are the eye colours. And YR00 is used inside the ears. Here is the base colouring for the cat.

I got to that point at midnight last night so I decided to come back to it with a fresh approach today. I began to do the dark marking in W7, but these ended up looking too gray. I have a selection of browns and it was difficult to make a decision as to which I should use. I went with E25, 27 and 29. To get the effect of fur I did very fine strokes in the same direction and then very carefully toned it all down with a light blend of W5. This is how it developed:

I could have left it as finished at this point but I went back after a break and added a little more definition with the browns and W5 and W7. Overall I'm pleased with the tabby's markings. It's been enjoyable drawing more true to life than my regular cartoons.

This cat is available to buy - please join my facebook page if you are interested in this or other commissions: https://www.facebook.com/DianaStevenArtist

Cats with character

These two cats are from the same family. I kept both of the poses from the photos I was sent as they work well together. The cat on the left looks like it has some personality!

I use my sketch book each time before I do my finished piece. This was another sketch that I thought worked out well enough I could have used it for the finished copy. They only take a few moments to draw but it helps me find the animal's character and posture.

I ended up using Copic Warm Grays for the cats' colour. The difficulty with black is that the detail from the line drawing can get lost if the colour is too heavy. I left brush strokes in the fluffy cat's fur - only minimal blending and a few strokes once the ink had dried also.