How to Draw a Cat Head
This step-by-step lesson will show you how to draw a cat head in a realistic, three-dimensional style with shadows and highlights.
To draw a cat well, you need to understand how to draw its head. Knowing how to draw animal features is essential for building full figures.
In this lesson, we will use classic techniques to show you how to draw a cat’s head step by step, and how to add simple but academically grounded, realistic shading so the face looks three-dimensional, natural, and believable.
How to draw a cat head step by step
Step 1: Sketch the overall head shape
Begin with the overall forms and volumes, sketching the outline of the cat’s head as a circle or an oval. There are many different species and breeds of cats in the world, and each has a slightly different head shape, so keep this in mind when working from reference.
Step 2: Add the facial symmetry guidelines
Draw a horizontal line across the exact center of the cat face, then add a vertical line that intersects it. These guidelines should cross roughly at the bridge of the nose and will help you place the cat’s facial features symmetrically and accurately.
Step 3: Draw the ears on the cat head
At the upper part of the head, sketch the cat’s ears on the right and left as two triangles with slightly rounded tips. The shape of a cat’s ears can vary significantly, and their angle and position often depend on the animal’s current emotional state. Below the head, lightly outline the neck with a pair of soft lines.
Step 4: Sketch the cat eyes and nose bridge
The overall forms and volumes are now established, so you can begin adding details, still using light lines. Using the horizontal guideline from the previous step, draw the cat eyes as two almond-shaped forms, placing them evenly on both sides of the vertical line. Then lightly indicate the bridge of the nose with a pair of soft lines.
Step 5: Draw the muzzle on the cat head
In the lower part of the face, use a wide oval shape to outline the muzzle. Inside it, along the vertical guideline, carefully sketch the cat’s triangular nose. Slightly below, indicate the mouth with a pair of short, slightly curved lines.
Step 6: Refine the cat’s eyes and nose
Now gradually begin refining and finalizing the cat’s facial features, giving them a more finished appearance. Carefully trace the eyes to make them clearer and more defined. Inside, draw the cat’s narrow pupils, placing them evenly. Then outline the nose, positioning its details symmetrically on both sides of the vertical center line.
Step 7: Refine the ears and mouth
Move on to the ears and define their inner structure, adding a bit of fur at the base. Then continue refining the mouth, giving it a more recognizable shape – first curving slightly downward to the sides, then gently lifting upward. Just below, sketch the rounded contour of the cat’s chin with soft lines.
Step 8: Clean up the face outlines
Erase all the construction lines from the cat’s face, carefully retracing and refining the shapes, correcting the symmetry if needed, and giving the features a finished look. You can also add small fur contours or other subtle details for a more complete result.
Step 9: Draw the outlines of the cat head in detail
Next, erase the remaining construction lines from the ears, the sides of the head, and the lower area as well, continuing to refine the shapes and adjust symmetry and proportions. Try to work back and forth between the left and right sides to keep the drawing symmetrical.
Step 10: Add shading and highlights
Carefully fill in the pupils with dark shading, leaving small highlights in the upper area. Then lightly outline the boundaries of the shadows and apply even hatching to fill them in. Keep the principles of light and shadow in mind, as well as the direction of the light source, to achieve a natural and convincing result.
How to draw a cat face
Now let’s briefly focus on drawing a cat’s face. In this lesson, we additionally demonstrate how to depict the contours and forms in greater detail, using a slightly different position and head turn.
Here, we demonstrated the full sequence of steps for drawing the eyes, nose, mouth, and the surrounding contours of the facial features in as much detail as possible.
At the end, we also showed how to add highlights and shadows to the eyes for greater realism, and how to apply hatching to other contours to create a more three-dimensional look.
Let’s go over several important points that can be helpful when drawing a cat’s head. The first thing to remember is the tremendous diversity within the feline family.
This includes not only domestic cats but also their larger relatives such as lions and tigers. The core principles used when drawing a cat’s head largely apply to drawing a lion’s head – the king of the savanna – as well as drawing a tiger’s head, the largest member of the feline family.
These same principles can also be applied to various breeds of domestic cats, from Maine Coons to mixed breeds whose lineage is harder to define.
Proportions are what most clearly distinguish different species and breeds of cats from one another. Compared to large wild cats, a domestic cat typically has a more juvenile facial appearance – relatively larger ears and eyes, a smaller nose, and a more compact lower part of the head overall.
In large cats, these same features differ noticeably: their ears and eyes are proportionally smaller, while the nose and muzzle are larger and more pronounced.
At the same time, there is significant variation even among domestic cats, as different breeds display distinct proportional relationships and head shapes.
It is also important to keep in mind that fur texture can either enhance a drawing of a cat’s face or weaken it if handled incorrectly.
When indicating fur, avoid over-detailing it. Instead of drawing every individual hair, focus on suggesting the main planes and forms with controlled strokes.
The eyes are another key aspect. If rendered correctly, they can significantly improve the overall realism of the drawing.
Cats have a characteristic almond shape to their eyes, with narrow vertical pupils and a relatively broad bridge of the nose, all of which should be considered when refining the final result.
This cat is amazing and very easy to make I LOVE it! <3
mine turned out bad 🙁
So did mine, but that’s no surprise considering I’m so bad at drawing.
im bad too
This doesn’t work. mine is like a circle-eared creature
it was not good
Have advice! Use this head and then search up “how to draw a cat sitting” and you should find one on this same web and it turns out AMAZING! (My drawing skills are terrible, but it actually turned out great)
Really?
lol i love this
I love this it was so easy to do and fun
Jojo omg you are my fan
Fab love the details
haha
good
Mine turned out to pretty good…but the eyes were very low🫤
this is so cool
Vvvvvery nice drawing
It is super cool, but dogs should have a pic 2!
NO Cats Only
>:]
Oh no!
love it
Oh. Cool. Yeah, I love following a guide that makes everyone’s cat drawings look the same.
Yes Elon, everyone knows that you love your “Ponzi Scheme Guidebook for Billionaires”…
cool, this is a great tool if you pay attention to the details, they should add a body though! ( XD )
Awesome i love it! I am a kid and I found it pretty easy and fun!
This is great
The cat is amazing!I learned a lot from it.💕
I lov i🤩🔥❤️💕😍🔥🔥. It is on fire
me two i love it
It was fun and was sooo much easier than I thought it would be
THIS IS AWESOME! I love cats and love to draw them!
I love it, I have to. Because I love cats and live to draw them.
We are glad that we were able to help you learn how to draw cats.
This was awesome and so easy
This was very easy and fun to draw
Thank you, we are pleased that our lessons are helpful.
Do you like kitty’s?
I like kitty’s.
This is like the coolest version of Pete the Cat I could find.
The only thing missing is his cool red shoes!!
This drawing is easy😋
I love this drawing!
It was easy.
wow it so so easy and fun thanks for uploading the drawing
Thank you. Our team is glad that we help to draw
This drawing is really nice I made it for my teacher and her cats
How do you draw this without making it look like a dog??
Make the ears more pointed and the whiskers longer. Works for me.
this is my favorite drawing guide
BRO MY TURNED OUT SO UGLY…. BUT I LOVE IT
Try drawing again. The more often you draw, the better your drawings will turn out.
i guess its the best drawing to draw a cat
That is goooood
hello
hey
Ikr, this cat looks sooooo good!
Well I mean my cat did turn out well but they should do one for dogs!
Ya dogs are cool but I rlly luv cats ( hence the name), I think they have a dog tho.
Okay, thanks for this! I mean I thought it is just a picture and then it tells you the steps but it also shows you how does it look like.
Cats are so amazing. I stink at drawing, but the only way to get better is to draw, so this tutorial was not too hard/not too easy. Cats rock!!
Our team also loves cats very much, which is why there are so many cat drawing lessons on the pages of Drawingforall.net.
I wish you had a video….. I’m really bad at learning with pictures 😅
So am I!
It was so cool
sameeeeee
for me it’s just easier with pictures instead of video
This was amazing! Mine turned out really bad, but I loved it!
This was amazing! Mine turned out really bad, but I loved it! Do you have one for dragons?
Draw more. I’m bad at drawing too.
Is there a way I can post comments without rewriting my name and email address every time?
Usually, there is no need to rewrite the name and email every time. If you wrote a comment, then it goes to our moderators and is published after being checked for spam. Just wait and within 24 hours your comment will appear on the site.
Wow
it does not mean your bad you just need more practice
i liked this but i made the body like yellowfang (warrior kittys!) and it looked bad (the body not head)
probably cuz u need some practice
it turned out great
It was too hard for me but only because I’m bad at drawing. Mine looked kind of okay either way. I like it!
same
lol just read through
I gave up so fast