Here’s a little drawing I just finished:
Title: Mozzie
Size: 6″ x 8″
Medium: Graphite on paper
When: Summer 2014
Purpose: I had a lot of fun drawing QD and Milo, and wanted to try to do other animals. A cat seemed like a good next choice, so this is just a study of Mozzie.
History: Mozzie is my one year old cat. He sleeps in the most random positions, and his favorite place to sleep is on my office chair. Sometimes he’ll share my chair and then I can work on writing blog posts or editing pictures of my work, but more often than not he gets annoyed that I’m invading his space and walks away pouting. One day he was laying on the chair, hugging his feet to his head. He looked so cute, that I had to photograph him, and eventually draw him 🙂
Thought process: It was fairly straight forward. I liked his position, and the composition that I thought was best was just cropping in on his face and paws. The fact that Mozz is a black and white cat made it really easy to differentiate between the lights and darks when drawing him!
Problems I encountered: Keeping the white parts white enough. My paper itself is an off-white color, so the brilliant whites already were dulled down. As I draw, areas tend to get smudged as well, so I don’t think there’s enough of the bright whites here. If I had used really white paper, I could go back with paint or white charcoal to highlight the areas. On this paper, it would just look odd with the off-white paper.
Fun tidbits: Mozzie was named after a character from the TV show White Collar 🙂
We actually got Mozz as a kitten from Milo’s parents! He was born in their hay loft by a stray cat, and when I heard they had black and white kittens, I had to get one. He actually has a white tip to his tail, so it looks like he’d dipped his black tail into white paint and was trying to paint. Once I saw his tail, I knew he was the kitty for me!
This was the first piece I’ve used a mechanical pencil on. I’d seen and heard about other artists using them, but didn’t know if they’d really work or not. It was amazing getting into the tiny places and doing fur with it! I’ve officially added a mechanical pencil to my pencil case because now I’m not sure I’ll be able to do a drawing without it!
Favorite part: How fuzzy his chest fur looks (above his chin), and his front paw hanging in front. They capture his fuzziness and I think Mozz has awesome big white paws!
Least favorite part: Getting the black fur to look right. If you go to dark, you run the risk of the graphite getting shiny or too pigmented to be able to erase. If you go too light, it looks gray and there isn’t enough difference between the lights and darks. As this was just a study of a cat and not a full blown piece (think of it as a practice piece, a learning experience), it’s okay that it’s not perfect. It’s something I’m going to have to work on, though!
Do you prefer dogs or cats? I thought I’ve always been a dog person, but now I’m starting to lean towards cats!
Back to the Drawing Board 
I still have my favorite dog breeds and find new ones every few years. But, if I had to pick a pet, I’d probably pick a cat over a dog just because it’s hard for me to picture a cat cutting loose the way a dog does/needs to (and risk damaging something I value). I think dogs teach us valuable lessons about life, though. To not care or become invested in material things and just enjoy the time you share with those you love/trust. We should never break the trust of a dog and respect the animal. But, the dogs I’ve known best eventually know how to get on my nerves:) I’ve only heard one or two bad stories about cats gone wild. Catnip was involved in one.
We have two cats and a dog; I prefer the cats as I can leave for a day (or longer) and they barely notice. My dog gives me guilt trips because I wasn’t here to rub his belly and pet him and let him lay at my feet. I do love the companionship of our dog, though! I change my favorite breed of dog on a regular basis; the new favorite is a Goldendoodle, but black fur, instead of the golden color.
I don’t think I’d like a Goldendoodle:P…other than the funny name which could be fun to use. I have never been a golden retriever fan. I have had some bad experiences with them at the houses of short-lived friends. Nor do I like German shepherds. I’ve heard pugs can be a pain to care for, but I can’t stop loving them:) My first favorite was a black Scottie for some reason. But, I got tired of the plain color for some reason. Then, I went on a dog hiatus for a while before liking pugs…and then Samoyed…and now border collies. I remember liking Lassie but thinking she was too much dog/hair (and the show was a bit dated for me). As for cats, my heart has been set on Russian blues since the day I ran into a sickly mother cat of that breed.