Do you have any tips for cat face shape?? I struggle to imagine anything but circle
Usually, I start with the same pentagonal face shape for every cat, like this:
Once I've figured out what the rest of the cat's body is doing, I adjust the pentagon, or "skull" of the cat to better fit its wiki description and/or personality.
Here are some examples from previous designs I've done, and how I also try to use shape language to communicate things about a cat's personality (key word try, I am not a design expert lol):
These are just three face shapes that I use commonly, and if you scroll through my blog you'll see even more.
Here are the differences between these three cats' ears, as well as some other types of ears I'll draw on cats:
Sometimes I use shape language for the ears, sometimes it's whatever I'm feeling that day! Generally, I'm just trying to make sure I'm adding more than just a pair of triangles on a cat's head.
As for the muzzle, I usually just squash or sharpen so it matches the language of the skull.
Finally, and my favorite part, is the face fluff. I try to make sure that if I'm drawing a fluffier cat, the extra fur is just an extension of the face, so I don't lose the language of the skull.
I don't always keep the face guidelines in the final design, but I definitely use them during the outlining process to make sure the proportions are right.
Other than the eyes (which, I'm not sure how to explain so I won't), I think that covers it!
It took me a longgg time to figure out how I wanted to draw cats, and there isn't totally a wrong way to do it, as long as you can recognize it as a cat lol. I hope this helps!
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