Drawing With Cat

Hello, and welcome to instalment two of Drawing With Cat!! (And is it just me, or do you wish British and Americans spelled things the same way? I prefer one L in instalment, but American's MUST use two. **sigh** We're so overcompensating.)

Anyhoozle, here we go!! We are going to do something fairly simple... I think. Just a sweet little girl, quite imaginative, holding a flower. Ready? Set? GO!

First, here's what we need:

• One dullish HB (or 2B) pencil
• One automatic pencil
• One white artist eraser
• One basic Bic Round Stic Ballpoint Pen
• One brightly lit work station

You remember this from last time, right? :-)

Okay, now that's done, off we go.





First, we're going to start off with a little stick figure like this. Grab your HB pencil, making sure it's not too pointy, 'cause otherwise it will leave an indelible mark, and you DON'T want that!


Children are a bit differently proportioned than adults. Whereas adults tend to be drawn 7 1/2 to 8 heads high, children are much less. For this picture, since we're drawing a five-year old, we're going to give her about six heads worth of height.

All right, got that?

Okay, now add the dimension boxes. You want to make sure they're pretty small, because this is a very small little person, so don't make the shapes too large, or too bulky. Lightly sketch in the circles to mark out where elbows, wrists, ankles, and knees will be. Remember, keep your strokes very, very light and very loose. Don't choke up on your pencil or you'll end up with stiff, lifeless strokes that will, ultimately, land you with a stiff, lifeless end product. Light, lively strokes!

Right, now add the physical structure, and erase the superfluous lines that distract from the overall appearance of the girl. Use a fairly careful touch with your eraser. You don't want to permanently delete a line you need. Make a little cup with her hands, and lightly, lightly, lightly etch in where her eye will be. Draw in an ear, and an upturned nose. Children do NOT get straight noses, ever. Give her a soft, round tummy and slenderish little legs. Since I love HB pencils, continue using this pencil as you draw in her shape.

Now you get to graduate to the automatic pencil. In her cupped hands, lightly draw in the shape of a flower. With loose, simple lines add in the slight bell-shape of her dress, and some flyaway hair. Gently draw in a slightly triangular slot for her eye, and a small suggestion of a mouth. Throw on some cute little shoes. At this age, bigger shoes actually look kind of adorable, so feel free to experiment with bigger or smaller shoes.

She's a very imaginative little girl, so at this stage we're going to take a breath and give her some fairy wings. Gently add a criss-cross of lines to the front of her dress, where her wings fasten to her body. Next, erase her legs from the dress, and add a pocket to the material. Lightly darken her hair, putting in a bobble right above her ear.

Looking good! Now, ink her in, using your Bic Round Stic pen, being careful to use the same light touch as you did with the pencil. Add a very gentle "hatching" appearance to her wings. Enhance her eyes, nose, and mouth, and add a bit of bulge to her clothes, where the string cuts over her shoulders waist. Slightly enhance the pleats of her dress, being careful not to get too heavy-handed with the pen.





Last step. With your HB pencil, add the shadow. Darken patchy areas of her hair, leaving sections white and untouched to give the appearance of highlight. Darken the area of her forehead under her hairline, and slightly shadow the curve where the back of her eye meets the cheekbone. Shadow in the entire area under her chin, as well as her neck and shoulders, leaving only a faint "splash" of white between her collarbones. Draw a line of shadow underneath the crisscrossing threads across her chest, and make the shadows where her arm comes out of the sleeve even darker. Add darker lines of shadow beneath her arm where it presses against her dress, in the hollow of her pocket, and down the back pleats. Touch little shadow details to the flower petals, as well as to her legs and to the inside of her shoes. Ground her with a couple dark scribbles under her feet.

Katrina DeLallo, October 23, 2012 - For Cinta

Voila! Excellent job! I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did. I'm actually going to dedicate this one to my little sister. Cinta Beth, this picture is for you. Love you, sweetie.

All right, I'll see youse all on Saturday. Until then, have a lovely, lovely few days, and if you draw this picture I'd love to see it. Any blog links are welcome, too. :)

God bless!

Cat