Start date: Thursday 9th July 2026

Subject: Sketching Cats & Kittens

Medium: Graphite pencil

Course length: 6 x 1.5-hour lessons (9 hours total)

Included in the workshop: All tuition, reference photo (emailed), feedback and an edited recording of the course.

A workshop kit containing everything you need is available to purchase for £8.99

Suitable for: Beginners and advanced artists.

Location: Live via Zoom – invitation emailed after booking.

Time: 7.00pm-8:30pm GMT (Please be ready with your materials by 6.45pm)

Price: £99

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COURSE STARTED

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From cute, playful kittens to more mature sofa-loving companions, cats have been a popular subject in art for centuries.

On this course you will learn how to sketch cats and kittens in a variety of ages, fur types and poses, from full bodies to portraits, using basic shapes and hatching/blending techniques.

Naturally, feline eyes will feature prominently in many of the sketches, so we will be looking at those in detail, especially in the close up portraits.

The importance of tone, in particular contrast, will be covered, along with tips on sketching fur textures in a relatively short time.

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Lesson 1 - Thursday 9th July - Bumble

Our first sketch is of Bumble, silhouetted against a window. The lack of detail in the features and fur texture will allow us to focus on the basic shapes of the head and body, as well as the fundamental shading and blending techniques that we’ll be using throughout the course; a fairly simple yet atmospheric sketch for our first lesson.

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Lesson 2 - Thursday 16th July - Earl

In this sketch we won’t need to worry about the eyes, as our subject - a young Earl – is sleeping.

The main focus this week is on the basic geometric shapes in a cat’s head.

The use of tone and contrast, rather than textures, will result in an charismatic portrait.

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Lesson 3 - Thursday 23rd July - Ned

In the first of our ‘eyes open’ close-ups, we will look in detail at the cat’s eye in profile; how to construct the curve of he eyeball, the shape of the pupil as well as the shadows, highlights and reflections.

We will also get the chance to practice sketching Ned’s distinctive tabby markings.

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Lesson 4 - Thursday 30th July - Gladys

This week’s focus is on tonal contrast – important when sketching a white cat like Gladys.

With no visible fur texture to worry about, we can concentrate on the shape of a resting cat, as well as creating anatomical form through the use of soft tones and tonal contrast.

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Lesson 5 - Thursday 6th August - Forrest

This week’s focus is on the symmetry of a feline head and features.

Basic geometric shapes and angles are important in many natural subjects, especially when sketching faces head on.

The subject is our ginger cat Forrest as a very young kitten so, naturally, there will be some emphasis on the proportional difference between adult cats and kittens.

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Lesson 6 - Thursday 13th August - Oscar

Our final sketch features Oscar, with the white and black markings that sometimes give rise to the name ‘cow cats’.

This is a full body seated pose with the focus on loose cross hatching techniques to visually describe to markings as well as to show the slightly twisted form of Oscar’s pose.

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There is a kit available to accompany this course, which includes:

• A4 Cartridge Paper (8 sheets)

• 2B graphite pencil

• kneadable eraser

• 6 x Reference photos
   

​​** Kits are posted out approx. 1 week before the course starts **