Tazzy, permanent ink on Bristol Board, (30x21cm)

Learn how to draw a kitten and other animals using pen and ink.

‘The combination of pen and ink has a long tradition as a drawing method for illustration,’ says Murray Ince.

‘In its earliest form it was used for one-off illustrative purposes, either as a black-ink-on-white paper drawing in its simplest form or, with the additional use of colour, usually egg tempera, for illuminating manuscripts, such as the Book of Kells. These early illustrated books and manuscripts were mostly created by monks in breathtakingly beautiful detail; they were acts of love and devotion, and took many hours of careful work.’

Animals as subjects

Fur and feathers are particularly suited to depiction in pen and ink, as basically each line you draw represents a hair although, of course, in reality, we can’t possibly draw every hair, but we can draw enough for the viewer to accept that what they are seeing is indeed a drawing of a very hairy animal.

Each line is drawn in such a way as to portray the characteristics of the subject, therefore linear direction is of the utmost importance. Imagine a cat’s face as a clock face, the direction of the fur grows outwards from the centre, therefore the hair between the eyes grows upward towards 12 o’clock.

Think how you would smooth a cat or dog’s fur from the top of the head and stroke toward the tail; do it the other way around and they soon become grumpy!

So, the fur below the nose grows downward toward 6 o’clock and from the centre out towards the side of the head. Understanding this is important, as it makes drawing the animal easier.

If we were to draw a cat or dog’s tail, for example, the fur at the tip of the tail would be the place to start then work our way toward the head, as this allows our pen strokes to overlap naturally in the same way the fur grows.

To draw a cat’s portrait, therefore, I start with the fur at the outer extremities of the head and work my way in to the centre, a portion at a time.

Features, such as stripes, are gradually built up with strokes placed much closer together, and white fur is suggested with a minimum of marks and just enough to visually describe fur.

Start with something easy

Harriet, permanent ink on Bristol Board, (30x21cm)

If you are daunted by the thought of drawing a real animal, try drawing a furry toy first; it is a little less daunting and can be simplified to a greater degree than a real animal. The techniques needed, however, are exactly the same.

In the drawing of Harriet (above) I used various shading techniques, including hatching, cross hatching and simple linear strokes.

Build up your confidence then try drawing your favourite cat, dog or other furry pet; the similarities are surprising, even with fake fur.

Top tips for drawing animals

• When creating a fine white line, carefully hatch up to your pencil line then continue on the other side, leaving the gap. Then simply erase your pencil line.
• Vary the length of your lines according to the fur you are depicting.
• Look at your subject through half-closed eyes. This simplifi es the tonal values, revealing the most important darks, lights and mid-tones.
• Use a kneadable putty eraser as it is more sympathetic to the surface of your paper.
• Practise creating dark and lighter tonal values by adjusting the gap between your lines. Simply draw your lines closer toget her for darker areas.

If you're new to drawing, don't stop here! Explore our other beginner-friendly guides to learn all you need to progress and develop your drawing skills.

Demonstration: Merlin

Your reference photograph for this demonstration

You will need:

• A4 bristol board
• Winsor & Newton black permanent fine liner No.01 or 0.05
• Sharp B grade pencil
• Putty eraser

Step 1

If you are not too confident with your ability to draw the image directly onto your chosen support, draw it on sketching paper first at actual size; you can make all of your mistakes there then transfer your drawing to your final support.

If, however, you want to draw straight onto your support, use a sharpened B grade pencil and keep your lines very gently drawn so as not to deposit too much graphite onto the paper; this also avoids denting the paper.

Top tip Graphite is used as a dry lubricant for locks and is therefore naturally slippery so will not allow the pen to draw on top of too heavy a drawn line.

Step 2

1. Draw the eyes with the No 0.1 pen, leaving little areas of white to indicate reflected light followed by the little lines around the pupils, like the second marks on a watch.
2. Begin putting in the dark stripes above the eyes using short lines drawn in an upward direction, as the fur grows.
3. Start to draw the hairs that form the outer edge of the cat’s fur, again using short and slightly longer strokes, drawn in an upward direction. Note the longer hairs on the tips of the ears.
4. Add the nostrils.

Step 3

Continue to draw the fur between and at the base of the ears, spacing the lines further apart where the fur is of a paler colour.

Draw some of the darker stripes on the right.

Top tip The hair in the ears is drawn using much longer strokes, curving them in towards the centres. Some of the lines are criss-crossed slightly, but still maintain their general direction of growth.

Step 4

Continue to build up the patterns in the fur, closing the gap between the lines for the darker fur and spacing them more widely for the paler fur in between.

Note the directions of the lines drawn in comparison to where they are on the head.

The fur directly to the right and left of the eyes point towards the edges closest to 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock, whereas the fur just under the left eye starts to point towards 7 o’clock and 8 o’clock.

Top tip Turn the paper to the direction that you find is the easiest direction for you to achieve a nice, smooth flowing line. Note where the whisker crosses the dark stripe in the fur on the far left; I left a gap where the whisker crosses the dark fur.

Step 5

1. Using dots and very short lines add some indication of fur into the areas of light (white) fur around the area of the nose and mouth, and also down onto the chest. Again, all of these lines are drawn directionally.
2. Finally, gently erase all of the graphite construction lines, leaving just the inked drawing.

Step 6

Merlin, fine liner pen on Bristol board, (20x20cm)

If you liked this little project, don't stop here! Rosalind Jelbert-Ingram shows us how to draw a cat step-by-step using coloured pencils.

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