Well in this tutorial we will work on a sample drawing using the technique that was introduced here. I explain what steps to take when drawing whiskers and cat hair. Cat hair is short hair so we will focus on acquiring texture using the techniques that i explained on the introduction to hair tutorial.
First thing i do when i start to draw hair is see the direction that the hair will be flowing. This is important because the hair will follow the contours of the face or body structure.
Tools Used:
- 2b Mechanical Pencil
- 2h Wood Cased Pencil
- Kneaded Eraser
- Hi-Polymer Eraser
- Color Blender
- 4b Progresso Pencil
- Stylus
- Canson Bristol Vellum Paper
Before we start the drawing i want you to know that results will only come from practice and if in the end yours doesn’t look like mine don’t worry about. I want you to understand the concept behind it and by practicing you will see results and find better ways to improve it. This is a technique that i have been working for a while now and im still looking for ways to make it better. Part of drawing is experimenting and should be enjoyable. If you practice these two things you will see results and improvement.
Step 1
Before we start i would recommend that you read this tutorial if you haven’t done so, Drawing Realistic Hair With Pencil Part One. It gives a brief introduction on the technique that will be used here. Well this will be the outline we will be working with. It measures approximately 5 inches in width. One thing about size, the bigger the drawing the more detail that you can add to it. For the outline I used 2b mechanical pencil for a light outline, don’t press too hard, it should be just dark enough for you to see it. It doesn’t have to look perfect, this tutorial will mostly focus on technique. We could have used any shape or object to cover with hair, but a cat is much more recognizable.
Step 2
We will add the whiskers in this step. Take your stylus, in my case i used a pen with no ink. Make sure the pen has ABSOLUTELY NO INK!!!! The best way to add them is to quickly run the pen along the whiskers lines that you drew in step one. If they don’t align exactly, don’t worry. As long as you’re able to put them down straight, you can add around six. Once you have them down you will reveal them using your 2h pencil. Run over the area with your pencil, holding it at around 30 degree angle. This will cover the area but not the indented lines. With your color blender you will blend the pencil that you put down. This will smooth it out, just make sure not to go over the white lines with the color blender. If you think the lines are too thin, you can erase the shaded area and thicken them by going over the line with the pen again.
Step 3
We can now start to add the outline for the cat hair. This should be random, but it should not be straight. Let me explain, hair grows in different directions at different lengths. If you just go in one direction, it wont look right and will look weird. You can test it out on a separate sheet of paper and see how it looks when you put down the lines straight. This the pattern i use. 
I drew it in pencil so you can see the pattern but you would do this using the stylus. There shouldn’t be any space between the lines, its best if they overlap as this would give it much more depth. The flow of hair is from the top left and curves down to the right. The layers of hair that is labeled on the above image are layers of hair that are overlapping each other. The dark parts are the spots where the thick whiskers are growing from. So these dark sections are created from the whiskers and the shadows from the hair above. 
To get this effect indent some lines with the stylus and outline the tips. The image on the right shows the top layer and the bottom layer. The lines that you see will be making will of course be made with the stylus. You would first indent the first layer, then using your progresso 4b pencil outline lightly just the tips. This will make the tips show. 
Now starting from where you outlined the top layer you start to indent the second layer below and you outline the tips. You keep doing this until you have the number of layers that you’d like. Now using your color blender pull the dark layers down over the layer below, this will give a shadow effect. Now where the whiskers are growing you would make it a bit darker just like the image above.
Now that we have that whisker section out of the way we can now start to indent the hair above. Randomly make the lines and after you have covered the area you lightly run your 4b progresso pencil over the area. This will reveal the hair, it should look like the image above. The section below the nose is drawn the same way except that it is not covered with 4b but 2h. Darken the area between the nose and the cheek. This area is darker because this is where hair comes together and since hair is going in different directions it creates more shadows. You will also darken the area where the hair starts under the nose. After outlining these areas, you can use your color blender to pull down some shadows like the image above.
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42 Responses to “Drawing Realistic Hair With Pencil Part Two-Cat Drawing”
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1. Anton Says:
December 8th, 2007 at 8:28 pmThanks again for another great tutorial =). I have been waiting for this for a long time
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Now I understand how is drawing this tiger, must have been a really hard job. -
2. Anton Says:
December 8th, 2007 at 8:28 pmThanks again for another great tutorial =). I have been waiting for this for a long time
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Now I understand how is drawing this tiger, must have been a really hard job. -
3. Anton Says:
December 10th, 2007 at 7:23 amWhat picture did you use for reference?? or you drew it from your mind?
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4. Anton Says:
December 10th, 2007 at 7:23 amWhat picture did you use for reference?? or you drew it from your mind?
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5. onlypencil Says:
December 10th, 2007 at 10:02 amfor this one you can use any cat picture that shows clearly the flow of hair.
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6. onlypencil Says:
December 10th, 2007 at 10:02 amfor this one you can use any cat picture that shows clearly the flow of hair.
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7. gael Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:16 pmI can’t tell you how appreciative I am for your wonderful website!!
I’m listing what tools I need to purchase and have a couple questions….
I have both the .05 and .07 mechanical pencils, but only able to find 2B leads for the .05 and HB for the .07. What leads do you use for each of these pencils?
Also, I see you use the pencil shaped blender- will I wish I had ordered a chisel shape too to smoothly bring down a larger area?
Not having a good art supply store nearby, ordering is an art in itself. (the store that has the most of what I want gets the order-I found “MisterArt” was my ticket except for the Steadtler pencils they were out of!)
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8. Amalitta Says:
March 11th, 2008 at 1:00 pmWOW.You are a wonderful teacher..and i am impressed of your work..they are amazing! thank you for sharing with us
Amalitta
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9. Amalitta Says:
March 11th, 2008 at 2:00 pmWOW.You are a wonderful teacher..and i am impressed of your work..they are amazing! thank you for sharing with us
Amalitta
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10. onlypencil Says:
March 21st, 2008 at 1:19 pmthank you so much. I hope these tutorials can help in improving your drawing skills. Be sure to come back and try out the other tutorials and any future ones that i will add. take care.
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11. onlypencil Says:
March 21st, 2008 at 2:19 pmthank you so much. I hope these tutorials can help in improving your drawing skills. Be sure to come back and try out the other tutorials and any future ones that i will add. take care.
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12. crazycarol Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 6:36 amIlove your tuition on the nose, i need hints on a short haired Jack Russell, i want to do a good job, what pencils do you suggest. Thank you.
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13. crazycarol Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 7:36 amIlove your tuition on the nose, i need hints on a short haired Jack Russell, i want to do a good job, what pencils do you suggest. Thank you.
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14. RO Says:
June 13th, 2008 at 8:05 amPLEASE HURRY AND BRING US THAT “LONG HAIR” TUTORIAL!!!!
THANKS FOR BEING SO EXPLANATORY!
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15. RO Says:
June 13th, 2008 at 9:05 amPLEASE HURRY AND BRING US THAT “LONG HAIR” TUTORIAL!!!!
THANKS FOR BEING SO EXPLANATORY!
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16. igorxxx70 Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 7:19 amHave you done the tutorial on long hair? If so where is it?
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17. igorxxx70 Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 8:19 amHave you done the tutorial on long hair? If so where is it?
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18. onlypencil Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 7:08 pmthank you so much everyone for the support and for visiting. I have not added a long hair tutorial but will be adding it soon. Its a bit different than the short hair one because you can have curly long hair and straight long hair.
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19. onlypencil Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:08 pmthank you so much everyone for the support and for visiting. I have not added a long hair tutorial but will be adding it soon. Its a bit different than the short hair one because you can have curly long hair and straight long hair.
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20. corvus93 Says:
August 20th, 2008 at 7:25 pmAll I can say is that it's a good thing the Tiger picture was at the end; if I'd seen that in the beginning I would have been defeated! Great tutorials! I took at art class at my local JC ended up crying thru nearly all of it. Drawing stationary items; drawing things upside down; perspective; etc… I didn't do very well. LOL
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21. Rochelle Says:
November 30th, 2008 at 3:09 pmJust wanted to thank you for your fantastic tutorials. They have done wonders at improving my pencil drawings, especially the fine details. Here is the British Blue cat I did for someone after reading over your website: http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/Rozski/Ar...
I think the main thing I often need to work on is depth of shading (my drawings in the past were a bit light), though I find it very difficult to reach the dark black shade that you manage with your 4B progrsso. Thanks again!
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22. onlypencil Says:
November 30th, 2008 at 6:56 pmwow beautiful results. you have really understood the technique and you will so much more improvements with practice. Adding value with progresso can be done by layering. Add some pencil and blend and repeat until it is dark enough, i recommend using a color shaper to blend over the lines because its great for that. Great work and keep it up.
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23. 92rachh Says:
January 3rd, 2009 at 5:28 pmwow, thankyou so much for these tutorials: your works are absolutely amazing. I've been trying to draw hair like you have in this tutorial, but i can never get it right: when i draw the main fur on the cheek, there seems to be more gaps between each hair than there is in yours, and I cannot seem to get the area where the whiskers are growing from right: they just look like I've drawn straight lines over them. please help: I really want to get this right, but right now my drawings look terrible. I also don't understand how you shaded the area under the nose: how you got that almost zigzag pattern of the shadows beneath only some hairs. Please, if you have a video of you drawing this that would be fantastic, or if you could just give me a few tips on where I went wrong.
Also, I've looked on other sites before I found this one, and they say to draw fur from the bottom up, so that the roots of the hairs don't overlap the tips, and I'm really confused. And I don't have a colour blender, is there anything else I can use instead? I've been trying tissue paper bu t the colour doesn't spread as well. please help me, I so want to be able to draw like this. thankyou so much for these tutorials -
24. alex Says:
January 13th, 2009 at 4:04 pmwhat about the rest of the tiger like the head and ears to match your eyes and fur?!?
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25. 92rachh Says:
January 15th, 2009 at 12:12 amhave u ever tried to draw a guinea-pig? im trying, but im having a lot of trouble with the fur…
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26. Short Hairstyles Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 8:56 amYEAAAAAA
I finally did it..Thank you very much.
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27. Cheryl Says:
February 16th, 2009 at 3:17 amI first want to thank you for giving me back the inspiration to start drawing again! I used to enjoy drawing since I was very young and somewhere along the path of life I put the pencils and paper away. So very happy to say you have inspired me to dust off the cobwebs and begin creating again.
My deepest gratitude to you for sharing, in so much detail, the gift that God has given to you.Cheryl “The Inspirated”
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28. Sue Says:
March 24th, 2009 at 3:10 pmI am so glad I found your site. I am fair at pencil drawing but like a beginner I try to draw it all. Until now I had no idea about technics or tricks. I was trying to glearn watercolor but pencil is so much more interesting to me.
Thank You
Sue . -
29. Arnold Says:
July 25th, 2009 at 11:01 pmThank you very much for this tutorial!! It has greatly improved my hair drawing technique. I noticed you said you were going to be doing a tutorial for long hair but I"m not sure if that has been completed yet… anyways I am starting a new portrait project that involves drawing some long hair (human) and was wondering if you could give me some tips. First of all, when you do the indenting, is it necessary to do the entire strand of hair in one stroke ? Also I think long hair flows more generally in the same direction, it doesn't go in many direction like short animal hair… am I right about this? If you could answer these questions or offer me some other helpful advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
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30. priceless Says:
July 26th, 2009 at 9:22 pmit is such a pleasure to learn all these new things from such a great artist. For this i thank you so very much.and to be able to see results so soon is just amaseing to me it brings me great joy :0)
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31. pricelessone Says:
July 26th, 2009 at 10:23 pmi have been trying to draw your cats and i am getting better at it the hardest thing for me is trying to find a pen with no ink haha.i would like for you to see my work i just don't know how to post it
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32. priceless Says:
July 28th, 2009 at 10:14 pmwow lisandro i have been trying this nagitive drawing that you talk about and teach so well it is the most incredible thing to see it come together and make thing jump off the page at you.come alive right in front of you thanks for your talant shareing.i also am from canada i am in fort mcmurray alberta money town .
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33. onlypencil Says:
July 28th, 2009 at 11:14 pmnegative drawing is a great way to use the stylus technique. The lines that are created using the stylus are created negatively with the surrounding area that is covered in pencil. Once you get better practice with this technique you will begin to see patterns when you are indenting. The best way to improve is to practice and with time you will see great results. Before picking up the pencil make sure to study whatever you are drawing. This will allow you to see things that should be there. You can't draw what you can't see or don't know, so it makes a big difference knowing what to add to your drawing. In regards to drawing hair, the more you understand it the easier it will be to use that tool. Well thank you for the kind words and im glad these tutorials have been helpful. Have fun with. A big part of drawing is being able to enjoy it.
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34. onlypencil Says:
July 28th, 2009 at 11:15 pmi hope to add this tutorial soon. I have so many projects going on right now and these tutorials take some time to write. Ill see if i can do a video tutorial which might make things a bit easier.
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35. priceless Says:
July 30th, 2009 at 9:33 pmso true you are one of a kind you get all the thanks on this one.i intend to combine your style with my style to see what it comes out like i know that it will be great.it don't matter i will enjoy itall the same i get to spend three hours a day drawing i wish i had more time for it i have signed up for art instruction school and finding your sight with your teachings is more then i need to take me to the top of my game and for that i thank you.
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36. priceless Says:
July 31st, 2009 at 11:39 pmok lisandro i'm getting beter at the hair now question where do you start your cats from i start with the eyes then move down the face to the nose and mouth.the question i want to ask is do you do nigitive drawing in sections and if yes how big plus how do you blend the sections in so you can't tell where they are.Thanks for your help and making me a better drawer. :0)
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37. priceless Says:
August 1st, 2009 at 11:55 pmyou are right it does take along time i have been at it for three days now and i think i might be half done.This is something that you do have to take your time at to get it right and it is very involveing.I love it and i am going to keep on practicing and become the best i can be.
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38. priceless Says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 pmok i have to say spending this much time on one drawing for me is different.i have been drawing your lion and tiger and my mother will be getting it when its done but wow takeing your time at it is an under statement.
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39. onlypencil Says:
August 12th, 2009 at 12:13 pmWith time you will see improvement. This technique works with the understanding of what you are drawing. If you just use it without the understanding of hair or fur, you’ll just end up with white lines.
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40. CM Says:
October 29th, 2009 at 5:14 pmRespect for an amazing artist. Your site has inspired me to pick up my pencils again. Thank you!!
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41. Michael Says:
January 14th, 2010 at 5:10 pmEXCELLENT WEB STE, oh,and your drawings are good to… ok, so they are amazing… THANK you for sharing your wonderful talents, drawings, videos and techniques.
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42. Sora Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 7:36 amWhere can I download your lesson?
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:48 am
[...] You can read these tutorials on the techniques that i use to draw hair, drawing hair part one and drawing hair part two. These are an introduction to understanding the techniques that i use. In this tutorial we will be [...]
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:22 am
[...] Well this should be a good introduction and the basics on how i draw hair and fur. Next tutorial i will give an example on how you can use it on different types of hairs. We will draw the area around the nose of a cat,including whiskers. If you have any questions please contact me or leave a comment. I don’t want to continue on because i want to take my time with this topic since it can be pretty long and i want you to understand it really well. Ill leave you with a little homework Look at the image below and draw it using what i just showed you. There is no better way to improve than to practice and this should be a good start. Part 2 [...]