How to Draw a Kawaii Cat

Last Updated: September 29, 2018

The adjective “kawaii” refers to “cuteness” in relation to Japanese culture. It also embraces the concepts of lovable, adorable, cool, non-threatening and innocent-looking. Cats, and especially kittens, lend themselves well to kawaii styling. Modern Persian cats are probably inherently kawaii with the exaggerated large eyes and the tiny mouth, nose, and ears all set on a wide face. Cartoon cat features can be selectively diminished or exaggerated – a small-nosed, wide-eyed, innocent look, or a large-mouthed, small-eyed laughing look etc. This tutorial will teach you how to get started drawing kawaii cats!

Steps

1
Gather your supplies. Here's what you will need:
- A piece of paper (it can be of any size or any color)
- A pencil (more preferable)
- A thin black marker (a sharpie, or any marker with a good nib).
- An eraser (for erasing all those mistakes!)
2
Start off by using your pencil, and draw a medium sized ear.
- On the page, draw a up-side down letter "V", or in simpler words, draw a triangle. Be sure not to make the sides exactly straight like a triangle!
- You can make fur on the sides of the ear, just to make the cat furry and cuddly!
- Inside that triangle, draw a smaller triangle, and mildly shade it in.
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3
Draw a wide curve from one ear, to the location where you want the other ear to be. You can draw some hair on it, for details. That should be the cat/kitten's head.
4
Draw the the other ear, the same way as before. The only thing to change is the angle of drawing it.
5
Start with the face. Starting from the left ear, move down, with a little curve. The length should be a little bigger than the ears. But you don't need to go according to measurements! Be sure to draw the whiskers in the middle of the cheek we just drew. Now, draw another cheek the same way on the other side, including whiskers. Be sure not to make the cheeks meet each other, because you'll have to draw the paws over there.
6
Start the paws! Draw an egg-like shape near one of the cheeks. Be sure to leave the paw open. Don't draw it too thin. You want it to be cute! Do the same with the other paw. It should look like a cat/kitten touching its face.
7
Start drawing the body. Drag a slightly curved line downwards.
8
Add the tail. From where the back ends, draw a curvy line outwards to represent the tail of the kawaii cat. To finish off the tail, draw another curvy line to complete the gap. You can make the tail stripy if you want. the tail can also be furry, long, or curvy if you want.
9
Create the legs. This is quite easy. You have to draw them in the same way as the paws, only make them a little shorter. Shade them in a little, just for effect.
10
Finish up the body. Just draw a line from the left leg to the left paw. Be sure to make it a little curvy, because it looks cute!
11
Draw the facial features! We'll start with the eyes. Draw two large circles in the cat's head. Draw three or four smaller circles in the larger two circles and colour them in. That will make the kawaii eyes!
12
Move on to the mouth. Draw a small, triangle/circle nose. Make a tiny vertical line, followed by two horizontal letter "C"'s. Now that's a winning smile! Outline the kitty to make it bold.

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Community Q&A

Question

Can I change the eyes?

Community Answer

Yes. It's your art, so it's your choice.
Question

Is it OK if the head is bigger than the body?

Community Answer

Yes. In certain styles, it makes the cat cuter. If it has big, cute, bright eyes, that is also kawaii.
Question

What do I do if I don't have a black marker?

Community Answer

You can always draw with a pencil, pen, or crayon, or ask a friend if you can borrow one of their markers!