Have you ever wanted to paint realistic, captivating cat eyes like this one? In any portrait, the eyes are everything. They need to show life, feeling… they need to shine. It’s where we instinctively look to find a connection.
Hi everyone, and welcome! I’m Momi Lotta, and I love sharing everything I’ve learned on my creative journey. In this complete, step-by-step tutorial, I’m going to guide you through my entire personal process, perfect for beginners.
This guide accompanies my full, in-depth video tutorial. You’ll find it embedded right here so you can paint along with me!
Part 1: Understanding the Eye
Before we pick up a brush, we need to really look. Understanding the simple forms, volumes, and textures is crucial for a realistic result. That’s why knowing the basic parts of a cat’s eye is so important.
For this tutorial, I’ll be using a wonderful reference image I found on Pixabay. Image here!
Based on our reference, the key parts for us as artists are:
- The Pupil: This is the black shape in the center, which, as you can see in cats, is beautifully oval or slit-like.
- The Iris: This is the area of color surrounding the pupil, full of texture and subtle color shifts.
- The Eyelids: A cat has three eyelids, and they are important for us because they frame the eye and give it its shape within the face.
Of course, the structure of the eye is much more complex, but for our artistic purpose, this is more than enough to get started. It’s also important to see the shapes and textures. Notice that the eye is a round, slightly protruding sphere. The eyelids cover this sphere and have their own shape. The cornea on top is shiny and reflects light with varying intensity. The eyelids are soft and furry. We will pay close attention to all of this.
Part 2: The Materials You’ll Need
A quick note on supplies: these are just my suggestions. If you don’t have the exact same colors or brands, don’t worry! The most important thing is simply to paint. For this project, I will be using these materials:
- Surface: Heavy paper (200 gsm or more). I’m using a sketchbook I made myself with 250 gsm Bristol paper, which is very smooth.
- Palette: A wet palette is ideal.
- Tools: A few synthetic brushes, a palette knife, and a pencil.
- Other Supplies: Masking tape (or washi tape), a paper towel, a jar of water, and a spray bottle.
- Paints:
- Gesso
- Burnt Sienna
- Burnt Umber
- Ultramarine Blue
- Payne’s Gray
- Verdaccio
- Yellow Ochre
- Titanium White
- Nickel Titanium Yellow
Part 3: The Step-by-Step Painting Process
Step 1: Prepare the Surface
The first step is to prepare our surface. I like to tint my gesso with a little bit of acrylic paint. In this case, I’m using Burnt Sienna because I love the warm color it leaves behind. Why add color? Our perception of a color is always influenced by the color next to it. Pure white can be an extreme background and can distort how we see our colors, especially the darks. Starting with a mid-tone background is a great strategy. I’ll apply two coats and let it dry completely.
Step 2: Quick Sketch
Once the gesso is dry, we’re ready for a quick sketch of the basic shapes. We’re only interested in the basic shapes here—no shadows, no details.
Step 3: The Darks
And now, we’re ready to paint! We start with the darkest areas. I’m using a mix of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber.
Pro Tip: Avoid using pure black. It often looks unnatural, as this color isn’t really found in reality. A rich, mixed dark is much better.
Don’t stress about making it perfect. This is what I call the “horrible phase” where everything looks messy. It’s the part where you think what you’re doing is awful and has no remedy. Don’t be discouraged; just keep painting.
Trust the process! Painting is all about building layers.
Step 4: The Iris
To get that texture, I’m using a wet-on-wet technique, blending in cooler tones while the base is still damp to create soft transitions. As you can see, you don’t always have to wait for the paint underneath to be completely dry. Just be gentle with the brush.
Next, we move to the iris, blocking it in with a solid color. No details yet. For the iris, I used a mix of Verdaccio green and Nickel Titanium Yellow. I’ll darken it with the black mix we already made for the shadows, and I’ll lighten it with the yellow. But don’t get ahead of yourself; right now, just paint the whole iris. You’ll see I’m not making an effort to paint a solid, uniform color; the iris has texture, and this will help to achieve it.
To get that texture, I’m using a wet-on-wet technique, blending in cooler tones while the base is still damp to create soft transitions. As you can see, you don’t always have to wait for the paint underneath to be completely dry. Just be gentle with the brush.
Step 5: The Eyelids
While we wait for our first dark layers and the iris to dry, let’s paint the outside of the eye—the eyelids. We’ll create a dark grey with our black mix and white, and paint around the eye.
Step 6: Shadows & Light
Let’s add the shadows on the iris to build volume and depth. We will build this up layer by layer. Now, using a little bit of yellow, I’m going to build up the lighter tones—again, layer by layer.
Step 7: Depth
I’m using Payne’s Gray to deepen the pupil and the inner edge of the eye. I’m not painting the entire pupil, only filling the bottom half. For the top, where the brightest highlight will be, I’ll keep that other, not-so-deep black. This contrast will make the highlights pop later.
Step 8: Fur
While that dries, let’s paint the fur on the eyelids. I’ll cover this in more detail in another video, but the basic idea is to use a fine brush and build up layers from a dark grey to a lighter grey, always following the direction of the hair.
Step 9: Highlights
And for the final, magical touch… the highlight! Notice in the reference it’s not just a white dot; you can tell there are tonal variations. That’s what makes the glow look more realistic. To achieve this, add lighter tones around the spot for the final specular highlight. This will give you a finish with more volume and realism.
Recap - We are done!
Let’s do a quick recap:
- Start with the dark areas.
- Block in the iris and build its texture.
- Define details and shadows with more layers.
- Finish with the highlights to bring it to life.
When you break it down into steps, it’s not so difficult, right? Remember that the key is to build up your painting, layer by layer.
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