Drawing Cats

El siguiente texto es un extracto del libro Drawing Cats (ISBN: 9781646997480) Conocerlo, entenderlo, interpretarlo y ayudarlo, escrito por Roberto Fabbretti, publicado por de Vecchi /DVE ediciones.

Foreword

Admired and revered since ancient times, the cat has inspired artists across civilizations. From the temples of ancient Egypt, where Bastet was venerated as a goddess of protection and grace, to the elegant sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, the cat has always embodied a rare balance between power and mystery.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, artists such as Théophile Steinlen and Tsuguharu Foujita immortalized the cat’s supple movements and enigmatic charm. Their works celebrated not only its beauty, but also its independence and instinctive intelligence — qualities that continue to fascinate painters, illustrators, and photographers today.

Many masterpieces depict the cat not as a mere accessory, but as a central figure capable of commanding the viewer’s attention. In Pierre Bonnard’s interiors, cats lie languidly on patterned fabrics; in Balthus’s paintings, they seem to mirror the psychological depth of their human companions.

This book offers a practical and progressive approach to drawing cats in a variety of attitudes and from multiple angles. The exercises invite you to capture the feline’s flexibility, its natural elegance, and that subtle tension that makes every movement so captivating. Through repetition and observation, you will learn to express both its anatomical precision and its mysterious grace.

Drawing Cats

Of all domestic animals, none has inspired such fascination, mystery, and devotion as the cat. Since ancient times, artists have been captivated by its supple elegance, its luminous eyes, and its ever-shifting moods — from the stillness of contemplation to the sudden energy of movement.

In Ancient Egypt, the cat was revered as a divine creature, the living symbol of grace and protection. Through centuries of art, it has continued to appear — in the quiet interiors of Dutch painters, in the soft etchings of Goya, in the lithographs of Steinlen, or the refined lines of Foujita’s Japanese modernism. To draw a cat is to attempt to express its soul: alert yet serene, independent yet affectionate, fragile yet powerful.

The artist must observe more than form — they must feel the rhythm of the cat’s breath, the play of light on fur, the tension that precedes movement. Each study in this book aims to develop that sensitivity. By copying the following sketches, you will learn not only to reproduce proportions, but also to understand balance, structure, and attitude.

As you move through each exercise, your hand will become more confident, your eye more precise. You will discover that drawing a cat is not about perfect lines, but about harmony — a dialogue between calm and motion, between the seen and the felt.

Sitting cat with its tail around the body

The body is formed into a vertical oval shape. The gaze must be profound.

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