How to Draw a Cat
Cats are pets that live in the homes of many people. They curl up to sleep on sunny windowsills, play around the house, and rest on their favorite human’s lap with contented purrs. Cats can be wonderful companions to their owners. This is why they are such popular pets. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to draw a cat in 11 easy steps.
This easy cat drawing is perfect for children and beginning artists. We’ll start with one large oval, and add the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, legs, paws, tail, whiskers, and color.
Our cat is sitting with big bright eyes, pointy ears, a curved tail, and long whiskers. Just follow the blue lines in each picture and see how a few simple shapes come together to make this cute cat drawing step by step.
Want it on paper?
Every step on one sheet, sized for US Letter and A4.
1
Draw the Head Shape
We’ll start by drawing a large horizontal oval for the cat’s head.
Make the oval wide enough to leave room for the eyes, ears, nose, and whiskers that we’ll add later.
2
Add the Eyes
Draw two large circles inside the top of the oval for the cat’s eyes.
Make sure the eyes are close together and are about the same size.
3
Draw the Eye Details
Add a smaller rounded shape inside each eye.
Leave a curved space near the top of each shape. These will be the bright white areas of the cat’s eyes when we color.
4
Add the Nose and Mouth
Draw a small horizontal oval below the eyes for the cat’s nose.
From the bottom of the oval, draw two short curved lines that curve in opposite directions to make the cat’s mouth.
5
Draw the Ears
Add one large pointy ear on each side of the cat’s head.
Start the ears behind the head and bring the lines upward until they meet at a rounded tip.
6
Add the Inner Ears
Draw a smaller pointy shape inside each ear.
Follow the shape of the larger ears, but leave some space between the two shapes.
7
Draw the Front Legs and Paws
Draw two long front legs that come down and curve in from the bottom of the head.
Bring the legs close together at the bottom and add a small rounded paw at the end of each leg.
8
Add the Hind Legs and Paws
Draw a large curved hind leg on each side of the front legs.
Curve each leg down towards the floor and add a rounded rear paw at the end of each leg.
9
Draw the Tail
Add a long curved tail behind the hind leg on the right side of the drawing.
Let the tail curve out and up along the side of the cat’s body. Make sure the end of the tail comes to a rounded tip.
10
Add the Whiskers
Draw three long curved whiskers on each side of the cat’s face.
Space the whiskers apart from each other and let them curve out and down from the sides of the face.
11
Color the Cat
Now it’s time to color your cute cat drawing.
We colored the cat’s body, ears, legs, paws, and tail in black with some dark charcoal shading. The inner ears and nose are pink, while the eyes are black and white. You can use these same colors to make a black cat, or try using orange, gray, brown, white, or any other colors that you like.
Your cat drawing is complete!
Easy Cat Drawing Step by Step
Grab your pencil, paper, eraser, and coloring tools. The shapes are simple in this cat drawing, so just follow along each blue section and add one new detail at a time.
Printable Cat Drawing PDF
We have a printable cat drawing PDF below that you can color or use as a reference when you want to try this cat drawing again. The completed outline includes the large eyes, pointy ears, front and hind legs, rounded paws, curved tail, and whiskers that we added in this tutorial. If you’d like to try coloring more pictures of this familiar pet, you can also find our Cat Coloring Pagescollection.
Did you make a black cat like ours, or did you go with a different color? Let us know in the comments below and share this cat drawing tutorial with another parent, teacher, or friend.
Printing tips
Choose Fit to page and plain white paper. Every sheet is US Letter and prints correctly on A4 with default settings.
How to print our printables ›