How to Draw a Siamese cat portrait in colored Conte crayons

Different cat breeds demand different treatment in pastel and Conte drawing. This lesson covers how to draw a realistic Siamese cat portrait, and covers fur texture, color mixing, tracing and improving a photo reference. Siamese are exotic, mysterious, blue-eyed and hard to capture with their dark masks and pale shaded fur. White whiskers against dark needs a fine white line over dark, so we'll use colored Conte crayons.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 8 1/2" x 11" colored art paper, tan or brown. Canson Mi-Tientes "Neutrals" pad "Oyster" is what I used.
• 12 color set of colored Conte crayons, or black, bistre (dark brown), white Conte and a light blue pastel stick.
• Pencil and Ebony pencil
• Kneaded eraser
• Grid ruler or ruler
• Tracing paper (optional)
• Damp washcloth for cleanup
• A good photo reference of a Siamese cat
• Drawing board or table
• Krylon workable matte fixative or equivalent

1. 

   Choose your photo reference carefully. This is a face portrait, so I want a picture of my cat that shows his features in the black part of his markings. He is a seal point colorpoint longhair, and unless enough highlights show on his nose and face, it will wind up just a black blur with eyes in the drawing. You can draw from my photo of my cat for practice if you like. A phone camera or webcam shot is good enough for drawing from, it doesn't need to be art photography.
   
   One side of his face is a little dark in this photo, but we can fix it in the drawing and eliminate the trash sack in the background. Cats pose whenever they want to, and if you don't get a lucky shot, keep trying. Sooner or later your cat will be vain enough to look nice, and backgrounds don't matter.
   
   Mark up your tinted art paper with the grid ruler, outlining an area 7" x 10" for the picture area. This leaves plenty of border for testing eye color mixtures and highlight tones, and it also will let you mat the art right to the edge of the drawing. Always give yourself at least a half inch of border around any drawing and draw the picture area before starting.

2. 
   Sketch stage of Conte Siamese portrait

   Sketch or trace your cat's face from the photo on the smooth side of your tinted art paper. Canson Mi-Tientes has a smooth side and a side with a woven texture pattern that's very rough and will break up the lines of your drawing. Do a test line outside your picture area if you're not sure, if it breaks up when you draw lightly, turn it over.
   
   For tracing, digitize the photo, enlarge it and print it out. The cat head in the printout should be about five or six inches wide to place it well on the page. Trace the outline of the head and the outline of the eyes. The dark eye is a little hard to see, but you can look at my sketch for its shape. Position his nose with a little triangular cat-nose shape, at the angle of his eyes.
   
   To transfer your tracing, turn it over. Blunt your Ebony pencil and draw over the final lines of the tracing heavily with dark lines. Turn it right side up again and put the tracing over your tinted drawing paper, then sharpen your regular pencil and draw carefully over each of the lines, pressing hard.
   
   While you trace, keep the line on the dark side of the parts you're drawing. The line will get covered with Conte crayon. Go very lightly with the Ebony pencil if sketching.
   
   Trace or sketch areas of his markings even lighter. Use short strokes that go in the direction of the fur to make the guide marks. These won't break the flow of your drawing's marks when you do. If you want to draw the cat in pencil with white highlights, it's the same thing. Sketch in loose outlines of his markings, dividing into black, dark, medium and light value areas.
   
   If you are sketching rather than tracing, check proportions by finger-measuring length of ear or eye and then comparing to other measurements. It's okay to erase and fix the sketch as many times as needed. Drawing multiple times will get it more accurate.

3. 
   Black sketching done on the Siamese cat portrait

   Draw in the darkest darks with black Conte crayon. Use expressive strokes that go in the direction of the fur. Go lightly when you go into areas that aren't full black, but sketch into those too. Leave a highlight in the near, brighter eye, even if it doesn't show on the photo. Eye shine always makes eyes look more realistic.
   
   To draw fur, press harder at the beginning of the stroke and flick it away in the direction the fur goes. Practice doing fur strokes on a scrap sheet until you get the knack of them. Where the fur clumps divide, you can start the stroke way into the edge of the previous clump, then feather out into the dark area. Look back at your photo reference to see what shade you're drawing.
   
   To do the stripes and the dark areas with whisker roots, draw short zigzags to fill a broader stroke, angling in the direction of the fur. Try these strokes on scratch paper before doing your drawing. A smooth outline is okay on the ears, you can add the tufts by flicking short strokes later.
   
   Turn your drawing upside down and tap it to shake loose dust off. Blow any remaining loose dust off, and carefully clean up smears with your kneaded eraser. Stretch, fold and stretch again if it gets dirty. A misplaced black stroke can be removed completely if you're patient. Wash hands. Spray your drawing with a light coat of Krylon workable fixative as a barrier layer to protect this first stage drawing.

4. 
   Black and brown have been used together, with some smudging and distinct strokes over smudging

   If you want to try this as a pure black and white drawing, do this step by going more lightly with the black crayon. That can look very good on gray paper. Otherwise, get out the brown Conte crayon from the 12 color set. If you have a larger colored Conte set, choose a dark brown darker than the paper and not particularly reddish.
   
   Draw fur textures in brown in the lighter parts of his coat, in all the places where black fades into brown or darker beige. Follow the photo reference for shading. Smudge lightly in some areas for a smoother tone, then detail by a few light strokes over the shading. Add some more light strokes in black and strengthen any black areas that got lightened by smudging. Leave the lightest areas blank.
   
   Do some inside the ear detailing with the brown for a warmer look than black would give.

5. 
   "Portrait of a Siamese" by Robert A. Sloan

   Now for the white highlights, and any corrections to the shape of the darker fur areas. Keep working close to the photo reference. If the direction of the fur isn't obvious in the photo, look at a real cat. It's okay to do this project in several sittings, as it is fairly complex. My cat has a lighter "collar" before his back like a Ragdoll or Tonkinese, so if yours doesn't, do your cat's markings.
   
   At each stage, keep the box of Conte crayons open to refine the areas done in previous stages. Use white over black to get the bluish shiny highlight on the bridge of his nose and anywhere else that has that bluish highlight. Alternate black and white till you're satisfied with how dark it is and how it looks.
   
   For his eyes, use the lighter blue Conte crayon first but don't go entirely to the edge of the brighter eye, leave a small curve of space that will get a lighter hard bright line. Go lightly filling in the eye and then go over that with white till you get the shade of blue you want.
   
   Sign it, give it a final coat of fixative, mat it, frame it and hang it with pride! Cat portraits make a great family gift to cat owners, if you have relatives that love their cats, be sure to do a portrait for them for the holidays. They'll treasure it forever!

Tips & Warnings

• You can use a sunny window as a lightbox by taping what you trace onto it, then tape the tracing paper over it and draw while standing.
• Draw the same subject many times to get better at drawing that subject. If you draw your cat in more than one pose, the later ones will look better and better the more you know your cat's individual head shape, markings and expressions.
• Do many quick sketches from life when your cat's sleeping or sitting still. This gives practice in cat head proportions that can be vital in a detailed portrait. Drawing directly with Conte crayons is good for this kind of sketch. Don't try to get them perfect, just do lots till they start coming out well.
• Don't draw realistic drawings from photo references you don't have permission to from the photographer. This violates copyright. If you have a professional photographer take portraits of your cat, ask the photographer to give you written permission to produce derivative artwork from their photos. There may be a small fee for usage. Taking your own reference photos or getting permission from friends who do photography is free.
• Draw with good lighting. It's much harder to get a good rendering if you're struggling to see what you're doing.

Resources

• Author's DeviantART gallery
• Unrestricted Stock Photo source
• Dick Blick for purchasing Conte crayons and Canson Mi-Tientes paper