Cats are excellent sprinters, built for short bursts of speed rather than endurance running. A running cat is a beautiful thing indeed, resembling a miniature cheetah. This how-to guide will show you how to draw a cat running facing either left or right.
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 3:
Drawing the Head
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Decide what direction your cat is going (right or left for the purposes of the article). The following steps can be influenced based on where your cat is headed.
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Draw a circle facing the direction your cat is going in.
- Draw a bigger circle if your cat is larger or closer to the viewer.
- Draw a smaller circle if your cat is smaller or further away from the viewer.
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Lightly draw a horizontal line across the middle of the circle, and then put a vertical line through the middle of that line. This will help you measure out your cat's proportions, but it is optional and skipping this step is okay.
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Add the eyes. You'll want only one since he/she is facing left or right. Position the eye somewhere along the vertical line you drew earlier. If you didn't draw the lines, simply place the eye as desired.
- Draw the eyes as circles, ovals, rounded squares or any shape you desire.
- You do not need to draw in the pupil yet, but if you do keep in mind that in dark light cats have large round pupils and in bright light they have the classic vertical slit pupil.
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Add ears. Cat ears can be large or small, pointy or rounded and their position on the head varies. Be creative!
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Add the muzzle. Since your cat is facing left or right, simply draw their muzzle from the side view, protruding from the line going across the middle of the head. A typical muzzle is drawn by making a smaller circle.
- Muzzles can be stubby or elongated.
- If you didn't draw the guide-lines, place the muzzle as you wish.
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Add a nose and mouth. The nose and mouth should be on the muzzle, and there are many ways to draw them.
- Some people prefer to make a simply straight line for the nose, while others will create a more detailed variety.
- As for the mouth, you can draw it more realistically, with the two round arcs or less realistically by forming a rounded line.
- Keep in mind that you are drawing from side-view, so the viewers shouldn't see the entire nose and mouth, only what is visible on the side you are drawing.
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Add fur around the edges of the circle you drew. You can make tufts of fur sticking out from the cheeks and even add some extra fluff in the space between the ears. You can do this by adding jagged lines to represent the fur.
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Add the whiskers. Cats have whiskers protruding from their muzzle and some from their 'eyebrows'. Whiskers are optional, and some people draw only the muzzle whiskers while leaving out the eyebrow whiskers. It is your choice.Advertisement
Part 2
Part 2 of 3:
Drawing the Body
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Envision what sort of body your cat has. Is it cobby, or slender? Fit or flabby? Short or long? If you made your cat's face strong and broad, their body should follow along with the same characteristics.
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Make the neck. Cats don't have long necks, but when they run they may stretch them out a little. Drawing the neck is easy, simply make two short lines extending from the head.
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Draw the shoulders. To do this when the cat faces right or left, make a clockwise candy cane or an upside down raindrop. The shoulder is located right after the neck.
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Draw the rest of the front legs. Cats vary in height, and some have longer front legs than back legs, and vice versa. To draw the legs, add the 'forearm' onto the shoulder, in whichever position you wish the leg to be in, and make the paw by drawing an almost circular oval, with lines to indicate the individual toes. Make sure it looks as if the cat is in a running position.
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Draw the back. Cats can have long backs, short backs, and everything in between. To draw the back, simply draw a line going back from the shoulders that curves up or down (depending on which phase of running the cat is in).
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Draw the flanks. To draw the flanks, make a circular-oval shape at the end of the cat's back. Heavier cats will have wider flanks, as will strong cats, and thinner or weaker cats have smaller flanks. Since this guide is explaining
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Draw the underside. Use your pencil/pen to make a line going from the shoulders to the flank on the underside of the cat.
- Remember that fatter cats will have wider stomachs and thinner cats will have narrower stomachs.
- Unless your cat is overweight, your cat should have an underside that starts with a chest, then tucks into the flanks.
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Add the rest of the hind legs. The hind legs extend from the flanks, and are divided into two sections which are the rough human equivalent of the calf and the foot, with the flank being the thigh. To draw the legs, draw a banana shape coming from the flank, ending in a circular-oval paw. The exact position and angle depends on how your cat is running at that moment.
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Draw the tail. Tails can be long, short, non-existent or average length. To draw the tail, make a snake-shaped outline protruding from the back of the flank. You can make it furry at the end, or rounded.Advertisement
Part 3
Part 3 of 3:
Adding Details
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Add patterns. Make stripes, spots, swirls or a brindled design. Make sure to add the pattern to the head and tail, not just the body, unless your cat's pattern only works for the body.
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If you haven't added a pupil to the eyes or if you haven't added the nose or mouth, now is the time to do so.
- To draw the pupils, make a line going through the eye. Cats tend to look to the front when they run, so the line should be close the the front of the eye and just barely visible to the viewer.
- To make the nose, you can make a simple dash or design a more realistic nose.
- To make the mouth, all you need to do is make a curving line (it can curve up or down) starting from the beginning of the muzzle and ending at where the muzzle joins the head.
- Also, you can draw the mouth as a little smile (or frown) facing the viewer, in side-view.
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Erase any guidelines, including the ones on the head and legs.Advertisement
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Tips
- Once you gain control over your drawing hand and learn to draw a cat without any extra guiding lines, you can simply freehand.Thanks
- If you are really proud of your work, you can sign your name on one of the corners and hang it in a frame.Thanks
- Sometimes, leaving the extra 'guide-lines' in the drawing can give your work an interesting effect.Thanks
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Warnings
- If you want some real criticism, it is best to ask someone you don't know very well (but still trust) rather than close friends or family, who may sugarcoat the truth.Thanks
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