Max’s First Portrait – Animal Drawing

 

Original Photo Used for Max's Sketch
Original Photo Used for Max’s Sketch
Max Portrait
My First drawing of our cat Max.

I was at the Mall one day in Salisbury, while my Fiance then, and wife now was shopping for some clothing and gifts.  So I decided to attempt to draw our cat Max from a photograph my wife took.  I sat down by the water fountains and started to draw.  I went into full tunnel concentration mode.  Totally zoned out, unaware of time and my surroundings.  It was a very relaxing and meditative feeling.

I based the drawing on a photo of Max sleeping that my wife took and posted on her Facebook page, so my reference photo was on my iPhone 5s.  If you own an iPhone you are fully aware of how small the screen is.  On top of the screen being small, the phone has a power saving mode, which would kick on every few minutes.  This made it kinda difficult to concentrate.  Although it does help with increasing your ability to remember details of an object better.

Animal Drawing of our Cat and Max Approval
My cat max approving of his drawing, or maybe adding the final touch.

The funny thing is that as the sketch started to look more like a cat, my nerves started to really act up.  This is because, of how nice the drawing was turning out.  I was afraid of making a huge mistake and have to start over.  My hands were pretty clammy and my anxiety was soaring.  I was very heavy handed with the shading and using 5B-8B pencils, instead of using a 2H for granular details.

I was very happy that it looked like a cat at the end.  I was worried that I was going to get lead poisoning from all the graphite I was adding to the drawing.

Supplies used and time

  • Graphite Pencils Grade 5B-8B for shading.
  • Graphite Pencil Grade 2B used for main outlined sketch
  • Tortillion
  • Sketchbook
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