Ok sorry if this is random but any tips to drawing tabbies? Its easily the most difficult part of drawing cats for me. I constantly dread getting to the stripes.
Sorry this took so long to get to! the thing is I'm ALSO terrible at tabbies and dread drawing stripes, but I'll do my best here.
Also, I'm WAY better at drawing realistic tabbies than I am drawing "animation-friendly" tabbies, so I'm going to be coming primarily from that angle, but I'll have advice for both.
First things first: REFERENCES ARE YOUR FRIEND! ALWAYS have at least 1 reference up of the type of tabby you're trying to draw, EVEN if you're heavily stylizing! It'll act as a visual reminder of The Zones
I think of tabby stripes as being broken up into different Zones. Zones often connect or overlap, but if I approach and draw them separately, I can not only make tabbies less overwhelming, but understand each part of their appearance.
I'll break down the different Zones of different types of tabby:
the Collar zone is basically the same on all tabbies, with only the part that transitions into whatever it touches varying. Tails are also usually the same with not much variation.
For mackerels, the Flank is the bulk of the stripes. They're long, and on most mackerels they break off into smaller pieces. This can give the illusion that stripes aren't reaching the belly (as can fluffiness, which often hides stripes) but they usually do go all the way down.
Both leg markings just kinda wrap around the legs like bands. However, note the transition areas. See how the top of that upside-down Y on the front legs meets the front-most yellow Flank stripe? They're built the same way as the 2 yellow stripes behind them.
Another way to think of it is that the Flank stripes above the front leg split off into that Y-shape and become the leg stripes.
We see this a little bit on the back w/that last, small Flank stripe becoming the top back Leg stripe, but notice that there's a whole new region there too!
That Ass Region is the hardest part of the tabby for me and the one that took the longest to learn. You really do have to think of it as its own Zone in order to understand it. What I do is draw the Flank, and then the back Legs, and then use them to figure out where the Ass Region should go as a transition section between the Flank and Leg.
AKA, the angle of the Ass stripes are going to be halfway between the Flank and the Legs:
That's why I draw the Flank and Legs first, and then let them guide how the Ass goes. The Ass stripes get smaller as they transition into becoming tail stripes.
Both for Leg transition areas and for the Ass Region, you're going to be drawing a lot of triangles. Drawing tabbies means drawing a LOT of triangles, which is not an intuitive fact, and that's why tabbies are so hard to draw. We think of them as like…straight lines all throughout. We don't really think of tabbies as "has triangles." But when you look at real photos of tabbies? There's So Many Triangles.
Pictured above: Triangle. Notice how it's acting as a transition point where 3 other zones meet.
As a variation of mackerel, spotted tabbies are similar. Sometimes the front Legs connect to the Collar (we see this on mackerels too), sometimes not. Sometimes Tail stripes are broken towards the base, sometimes not.
The big key things w/spotteds - who I struggle the most with - is that the actual "spots" are pretty much only on the Flank and Ass! Most of the stripes are still connected, with maybe a few breaks here and there.
The bottom part of the Ass gets less and less broken as it starts to transition into back Legs. Similarly, the front part of the Flank gets less and less broken as it transitions into Collar.
Classics have a MAJOR point of difference from Mackerels, though, and that's because of The Swirl.
The Flank gets pushed all the way up to the shoulder area. Sometimes just behind it, sometimes it gets shoved all the way up against the collar (like in the reference). Usually there's some bare spots around there.
The Swirl is usually on or near the ass (back-ish part of the flank or over the back leg). It consists (usually) of a big center dot and a circle around it OR a snail-like swirl, and then some smaller, unconnected or less-connected stripes circling it, emanating out, getting smaller. These smaller stripes transition into the back Legs.
Sometimes The Swirl is more in the middle/front of the flank, which is when we see the Ass become its own region again, and it acts just like it does on mackerel: as a transition zone between angles of stripes.
The good news is you don't have to memorize any of this! This is NOT a List Of Facts for you to Always Know, this is a guideline for HOW to think of/break down tabby stripes, so that when you look at your references, you don't get overwhelmed.
As well, to help you understand WHAT you're simplifying when you simplify. Even the most animation-friendly, cartoony, simple designs are simplifying/stylizing real life, which is why even (and especially) cartoonists do things like figure sketches and anatomy studies.
As long as you put something down that follows the basic principles of each Zone to represent that it's there, you can get very very simple with it. You can also get very stylized while still feeling believable:
Faces also have Zones but they're WAY simpler.
You've got the Cheeks (red) and the Tabby M (blue). Just put SOMEthing there to represent each of those and you're good.
I hope this helps!!!!
