How to Draw a Cartoon Cat on Illustrator

When drawing, break the image into a series of shapes.

Vector art is a method of producing images from mathematical formulas rather than from placing colored pixels in a grid, which is how software such as MS Paint, Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro work. The advantage with vector art is its smooth lines and the ability to shrink or expand the image without losing resolution. Illustrator is a vector art program, so learning how to draw an image such as a cartoon cat on Illustrator means learning to handle the shapes and curves it employs to produce art.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Illustrator

Instructions

1. Open Illustrator. Click "File" and select "New." Click the "Circle" tool. Draw a circle two-thirds of the way up the new document. This is the cat's head. Click the "Pen" tool. Draw the path of a triangle on the top left of the circle to make an ear. Repeat on the top right of the circle to make a second ear.

2. Click "Circle" again. Create an oval under the head that is wider than the head and also taller than it is wide, as this is the cat's body. Create a second oval slightly wider than the first but only two-thirds as tall, starting at the bottom of the oval. This forms the extra bulk of the lower portion of the cat's body.

3. Click the "Pen" tool. Draw the tail, curving around the front of the body. Select a contrasting color to your cat's body. Draw an ellipse on the body of the cat, to give it a different color on its belly. Switch to another color, such as pink, brown or black. Select the "Pen" tool. Draw a triangle nose on the cat with the point facing down.

4. Draw two curves coming off the point of the nose, to form the mouth. Switch to white. Select the "Line" tool. Draw three lines, each curving slightly downward, on each side of the nose. These are the cat's whiskers. Switch to "Circle" mode. Draw two circles, one on either side of the nose, slightly above the nose. Choose a color for the iris of each eye. Draw a smaller circle in each eye.

5. Switch to black. Draw an ellipse, longer vertically than horizontally, in the middle of each iris. Select the color of the cat's body again. Draw a small circle at the bottom left of the cat's body to form a toe. Hold down "Alt" and drag out three more copies of the toe to form a paw. Repeat on the other side of the body.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider using effects such as brushstroke, shading and opacity. These will enhance your drawing by making it look less like a collection of colored shapes put together to form a cat, and more like a piece of art. Experiment with transparencies not just to form shadows and highlights but also to add patches of color to the cat's fur.

• It is very easy to lose hours of painstaking work by pressing the wrong button, accidentally closing the image or the computer crashing. To avoid this happening, remember to save your work regularly. You can either press the "Save" button or use the Ctrl-S shortcut key.

References

• PSD Tutorial: A Lovely Cartoon Character
• Cute Little Factory: Create A Tiger Striped Cat With Illustrator