How to Draw a Cartoon Cat

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to draw a cartoon cat and adjust its look with different stylistic variations.

The cartoon style is very diverse, and there are as many different styles and variations of drawing cartoon animals, people, and objects as there are animators and studios.

In this lesson, we’ll show you how we draw cartoon animals step by step, and we’ll also share additional variations with a completely different stylization.

You’ll learn how to simplify details and shapes to create a recognizable animal character using different techniques and approaches.

How to draw a cartoon cat step by step

Step 1: Mark the head and torso forms

As with more realistic drawings, a cartoon cat should begin with basic forms – specifically the volumes of the head and torso. Sketch them as a circle and an oval that slightly overlap each other.

Step 2: Draw the front legs of the cartoon cat

Next, draw the front legs in the front part of the cartoon cat body using a pair of elongated, smooth lines. Position one leg slightly ahead of the other to create the impression that the cat is walking toward the viewer. Connect the neck and torso with a smooth, flowing line.

Step 3: Add the visible hind leg

On the back side of the torso, use soft lines to sketch the visible hind leg. Avoid adding details at this stage and keep the limb as a simple, elongated shape. Because of perspective, the second hind leg is not visible, as it is hidden behind the front legs.

Step 4: Sketch the tail and collar

Using a pair of curved lines, draw the cartoon cat’s collar. Remember that the neck has volume, so the collar should wrap naturally around it. At the back of the torso, add the tail with a characteristic smooth curve.

Step 5: Draw the ears of the cartoon cat

Now draw the cartoon cat’s ears at the top of the head as two triangles with slightly rounded tips. Make sure both ears are the same size and shape, and position them symmetrically on either side of the head.

Step 6: Sketch the simple oval eyes

In the central part of the head, draw the cat’s eyes as two simple ovals. Unlike when drawing a realistic cat, there is no need to carefully define almond-shaped contours, pupils, or detailed eye structure. Here, it is enough to lightly sketch two clean oval shapes.

Step 7: Draw the cat’s facial features

Above the eyes, draw the eyebrows – a detail that adds an anthropomorphic touch and makes the cat look more cartoon-like. Slightly below, sketch the nose as an upside-down triangle, and add whiskers on both sides using three long, slightly curved lines on each side. Beneath the nose, draw the mouth with two curved lines.

Step 8: Clean up and complete the cartoon cat

Now erase all the construction lines you used in the previous steps to establish the contours and shapes. Carefully trace the entire cartoon cat drawing with darker, cleaner lines. Bold, defined linework is another key feature of cartoon drawing that sets it apart from realistic drawing. Shade in the eyes and nose as shown in our example, or color the entire cartoon cat drawing.

How to draw a stylized cartoon cat

Now let’s look at the process of drawing a cartoon cat from a slightly different angle by using a somewhat different approach and achieving a completely different final result.

In this drawing, the cartoon cat is sitting and looking at its tail in surprise, where a butterfly has landed.

We see only the cat’s silhouette, its large eyes, and parts of the butterfly. As you can notice, this version follows a completely different set of steps and a distinct style.

First, sketch the head and add a guideline across it. Then draw the torso and connect it to the head, outline the tail, and add the necessary details.

Finally, draw a cartoon butterfly on the tail and add a shadow beneath the cat.

In the first, more detailed lesson, we showed how to draw a cartoon cat in the style most commonly seen in animated films.

The outlines are heavily simplified, yet the overall structure of the animal’s form is preserved. In the second version, we demonstrated a much more stylized interpretation, typical of author-driven projects and certain animated works.

Both approaches have their place, and studying each of them contributes significantly to the development of drawing skills.

Practicing other cartoon animals supports this as well. For example, we used a very similar style in our lesson on how to draw a cartoon dog.

If you compare the two, you’ll notice that they share a very similar structure and overall shape. However, by changing only a few details, it becomes immediately clear that one drawing shows a cat while the other shows a dog.

For a broader understanding of the different styles and approaches you can use to draw the same animal, take a look at our tutorial on how to draw a cat head.

In that lesson, we applied a completely different stylistic approach, added more detail and volume, and achieved a noticeably different result while keeping the animal clearly recognizable.

Studying various styles and learning to work confidently within them is one of the most important skills for any artist. Keep this in mind and make it a regular part of your practice.