This kitty’s name is Nori. She is a longhaired calico cat. The cat belongs to a friend who lives in Germany, and I was so taken by her photo of her cat that I had to draw it for practice. Her portrait was done with Derwent pastel pencils on 30×40 cm (12×15.5 in) pastelmat. The original color of the pastelmat was buttercup (a light yellowish color) and I completely covered it with pastel because the background was too light for the cat to stand out. In hindsight it would have probably looked better on the dark grey pastelmat that I typically use, but I had run out of sheets of that particular color, and I did not want to do her portrait on white, so I chose that color instead. Some of the yellow undertones show through in the white areas of her fur, since the white pastel pencil I was using was not as opaque as I would have liked.

The photograph I saw of Nori, the one I used for the reference for this drawing, was so absolutely adorable. She was sitting like a cat model, with her perfect pose, alert expression, and vibrant green eyes. The lighting was really great; her markings could be seen clearly, the details in her fur stood out and were sharp, and there was a perfect amount of shading in the white areas so that the fur clumps were discrete. Often with white animals, the camera washes out their fur details, due to overexposure, and so the white areas can look like a featureless blob. But her photo was delightfully detailed and the perfect reference to use for a drawing, so I was excited to use it for practice.

With acrylic paintings, I typically do the background first, then start with the eyes, and work my way outward. But with pastel pencils, I work from the top down, since I don’t want to smear anything. So I started with her ears, then the top of her head, and moved downward. In each area I put a base layer of whatever the main color was, then added highlights and shadows in those areas. Once her face was done, I drew her neck and chest all in one go. I put a light layer of white and then layers of darker greys for the shadows, and white again over the top to blend. Due to the light base color of the paper, the white fur did not really stand out as much as I would like; I think it would have popped more if I had drawn this on dark grey, as mentioned above. That way the dark grey could take the midtones and most of the shadows, and I can focus on the lighter midtones and brightest white highlights. But overall I am happy with how it tirned out.

For the background, I used my chalk pastel sticks and layered several different greys and browns, blending them together with my finger to remove any harsh edges. I wanted the background to be darker and neutral colored.

I have considered offering pastel drawings as a one of my options for pet portraits, to see if anyone would like to get one instead of a painting. I can put much more details in a drawing than I can in a painting, and also the colors are more subtle and realistic. These will be a standard size, and only for natural realistic colors. I would like to do more practice drawings and build up my realism portfolio more, but I feel confident enough in my skills to offer these as an option.