Cat Constellation Painting Tutorial

I recently saw a meme on a cat lover’s page and it inspired me to paint my own version of it. If you like a simple, easy watercolor project, here is my “Cat Constellation” painting tutorial in just 5 steps.

Materials

• 5×7″ 100% cotton cold pressed paper*
• Meiliang paint in Payne’s Grey, Prussian Blue and Black. You can use any dark blue paint you have.
• Suggested brushes: round 0, 2 and 12*
• a white coloured pencil or any graphite pencil
• Dr Ph Martin’s Bleedproof White or any opaque white gouache

*You can use any size paper you have and adjust the brush sizes accordingly.

Step 1: All Over Wash

Start with a graded wash of dark blue, darker at the top and lighter towards the bottom. Since watercolour dries down lighter than when it’s wet, you may need to do a second layer if your first one isn’t dark enough.

By the way, I taped my paper because I like the clean edge look. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.

Step 2: Put In Some Trees

While the paper is still wet, add some trees at the bottom. This will dry down to a blur which is what we want. Let dry.

Step 3: Add More Trees

Once the paper is dry, add more trees to give depth to the forest. Let dry completely.

At this point, the sky is lighter than I wanted, but that’s okay. Night sky isn’t completely black or dark! 🙂

Step 4: Sketch The Cat Constellation

Tip: Make sure your painting is completely dry before you sketch the cat, or you will scratch off the paint. 

Here I used my Prismacolor Premier colored pencil in white to sketch the cat. Be super gentle, in case you need to erase it. Alternatively, you can use an HB pencil as well, but it may be a little harder to see.

By the way, the cat doesn’t need to be detailed. Just do a simple half silhouette to suggest the form and it is enough to be recognized.

Step 5: Paint the Cat Constellation

Using a super fine brush (size 0 round brush), I picked up a bit of the Bleedproof White and painted the cat constellation. Then, as a finishing touch, I flicked the white paint* with a size 2 round brush to create the stars in the sky.

Tip: Test your flicking elsewhere before doing it on your painting, since the first few drops tend to be bigger.

So this concludes my Cat Constellation Painting Tutorial. By the way, you can change the cat to a different animal if you like, but make sure the silhouette is distinct enough to be recognized. Hope you enjoy it!