How to Draw a Cartoon Cat (Easy)
Learning how to draw a cartoon cat is easy and fun. We’ll show you step by step how to draw, outline, and color your cartoon cat drawings with markers.
Anyone can learn to draw and create art. They are just skills. And the more you practice, the more you’ll develop those skills.
So the best approach is to make sure you keep things relaxing and enjoyable. Don’t get stressed out over not being as good as someone else. The more fun you’re having, the more you’ll look forward to it.
So let’s grab some supplies and get ready to have some fun learning how to draw a cartoon cat.
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Art Supplies
- Thin black marker
- Paper or cardstock
- Markers
- Pencil
- Click Eraser, Pink Pearl Eraser
- White Gelly Roll pen
Cartoon Cat Sketch Practice
There are a ton of different ways to draw your cartoon cat, and many different styles to choose from, including your own.
Doing a cartoon cat sketch session is a great way to warm up your drawing muscles and work through some rough ideas for your drawings. And it only takes a few minutes to complete.
Here’s how to do a cartoon cat sketch practice exercise…
- Get some paper and something to sketch with (pencil, pen, marker, etc)
- Pull up some reference photos of cats
- Set a timer for three or five minutes
Then just do as many quick sketches until the timer goes off.
Another option is to sketch until you run out of room on your paper. Either way is fine. Just keep your cartoon cat sketches quick and loose.
How to Draw a Cartoon Cat Step by Step
Learning how to draw a cartoon cat is really easy if you break things down into simple shapes and steps.
So let’s begin by drawing a circle for the head. Divide the circle into quarters to create some guidelines.
The guidelines will help with the placement of the eyes and nose, as well as helping to keep the drawing symmetrical.
Now draw a small triangle for the nose where the guidelines intersect. You could also draw an oval or circle for the nose.
Next we’ll work on the mouth area. Start by drawing a short line coming down from the nose. Then draw a curved line on both sides of the line.
Then continue those lines around the nose to make the shape of the muzzle area of your cartoon cat. Like with most things, there’s a lot of different ways you can draw this.
Now make the mouth by drawing a small opening.
And then add a chin to your drawing.
To draw the eyes for your cartoon cat start at the top of the nose and make a line that goes up and then curves around towards the top of the head.
Do this for both sides creating a mirror image.
Next, draw the shape of the eyes. Again, there are many different ways to do this for your own drawing.
Finish up the eyes by adding the pupil and iris. You can draw in some reflections as well, or add them later.
Now we can draw the ears. For this example I made them rather large because it feels fun to me. You can draw your ears smaller than normal, or larger.
Draw the ear on the opposite side using a similar size and shape. However, the ears do not have to be completely symmetrical.
Next, draw some fur between the ears to complete the top part of the head. You can make this look textured, or draw the line straight.
Finish up your cartoon cat drawing by adding some fur for the shape of the head, neck, and body.
When adding in the fur there’s a few different options. You can make your line wavy so it creates texture. Or you can make them smooth instead. Learn more in our tutorial on How to Use Texture in Art.
It just depends on the look you’re going for. However you choose to make your fur is fine, and will create a slightly different look for your cartoon cat drawing.
You can also add some whiskers to your cats face.
Cartoon Cat Outline
Making a cartoon cat outline is really easy to do. Just trace over your pencil lines with a black pen or marker.
Your lines can be thin, thick, or a variation of line weights. Do whatever fits your style and what looks right to you.
You could also try using a color other than black. Maybe try gray, purple, or green. Experiment and have fun.
Do what fits with your artistic style. If you don’t know what your style is, don’t worry. Your own style will develop over time with practice and repetition.
The more you practice, the quicker your style will develop.
After you’ve finished making your cartoon cat outline you can use an eraser to clean up your drawing and remove any pencil lines.
How to Draw Cartoon Cat with Markers
Learning how to draw a cartoon cat with markers is easier than you might think. And there’s really only a few things to keep in mind.
First, if you want to be able to blend your colors together you need to use alcohol based markers. Bic, Sharpie, and Copic for example. As well as many others.
Second, you need to work while the colors are still wet or they won’t mix together. This isn’t a big deal. Just make sure you work on a section at a time.
Third, you need to use colors that are similar to each other if you want to create a smooth transition of color. If your markers are too different they will leave a harder edge.
However, if having hard edges of color works for the style you’re going for, by all means, go for it.
You should avoid using one solid area of color for your drawings. This will make them look boring and flat.
Of course it’s perfectly fine if you want your drawings to look flat. But if not, the easiest solution is to use two or three colors for each area of your cartoon cat drawing.
For this example two different pink markers were used for the nose and the inside of the ears. Two blue markers were used for the eyes.
And three different gray markers were used to color the fur.
You can add a color halo around your cartoon cat drawing. Or make a complete background.
A white Gelly Roll pen was used to add some highlights to the finished drawing.
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
Now that you know how to draw a cartoon cat, what’s the next step? If you want to get better at art and drawing you need to practice as often as possible.
This doesn’t mean you have to spend every spare minute working on your artwork. Nor does it mean you need to spend hours at a time drawing.
If you can consistently dedicate a few minutes each day working on your artwork, you’ll start seeing improvements in no time.
Schedule your creative time into your day and make it part of your daily routine. And remember to have fun so you look forward to it.
If you want to get really good at learning how to draw a cartoon cat, challenge yourself to doing a series of them. See how many different ideas you can come up with in a week.
Doing this will increase your creativity along with your art and drawing skills.
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