• Henna Watercolor Cat Illustration Tutorial

    In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use a wet on dry watercolor technique to make a gorgeous cat illustration with a henna motif.

    Henna Cat Created with Dip Pen | The Postman's Knock

    Today, I’m going to teach you how to harness the power of the wet on dry watercolor technique to make a henna watercolor cat illustration. With some help from a pointed pen, you can make an illustration that’s bursting with henna tattoo-inspired vibrance!

    Enroll in the TPK Ultimate Beginner's Watercolor Course
    New to watercolor? This tutorial is best suited for people who have a bit of experience working with this fabulous medium. If you’re a beginner, consider enrolling in TPK’s Ultimate Beginner’s Watercolor Course.

    1. Gather Your Supplies

    Calligraphy on the go
    Don’t forget to have some water at the ready so you can hydrate your watercolors.

    To make this henna watercolor cat, you’ll need a few supplies:

    2. Make a Pencil Outline + a Watercolor Base Layer

    First, sketch a pencil outline of a cat onto your watercolor paper. If freehand drawing isn’t your forte, you can print off a picture of a cat, then use a light box or a bright window to trace an outline. Once you’ve drawn the pencil outline, use a dark yellow watercolor — Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue is a good choice — to paint inside the outline. Add color to everything except the eyes.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    It’s easy to make a pencil outline with the aid of a light box or a bright window! Just print off a picture like this one, then put it behind your watercolor paper. Place both pieces of paper over your light source, and start tracing (For more information on how to use a light box, see this article.)

    Don’t worry if your watercolor tones aren’t uniform. Variations in color will add to the artistic appeal of the piece.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    3. Add Shadows

    Once your yellow watercolor has dried, use a black watercolor like Lamp Black to add shading to the cat’s chin, back, tail, and legs. After you’ve painted the shadows, moisten the brush with water to blend the black tone into the yellow tone.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    If blending watercolors is a new concept for you, see Painting with Watercolors for Beginners and Painting with Watercolors for Beginners Part II.

    To add interest, you can supplement your shadows with a hint of dark blue.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Use a blue tone, like Intense Blue from the Winsor & Newton palette, and a size 3 or 4 brush to build up your black shadows.

    Then, use a tiny paintbrush to fill in the cat’s nose with a nice green tone like Emerald. Use that some brush to apply coral accents to the edges of the cat’s ears. (To get a coral tone, try mixing Burnt Sienna with a bit of Cadmium Red and plenty of water.)

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Use a tiny brush to do this part.

    4. Add a Henna Motif

    First, use a small brush to fill in your cat’s eyes with a true yellow tone. Leave a couple of spots without color to denote light reflection. Wait for the eyes to dry. Then, load your pointed pen nib with blue watercolor as shown in the How to Create Watercolor Calligraphy tutorial. Use the nib to trace an outline around the eyes, then start drawing a henna motif off of that outline.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    You can draw the same henna patterns that I use in this tutorial, or you can Google henna patterns for inspiration.

    Finish up the cat’s face with blues and greens around the eyes and nose. Once you’ve done that, you can use a bit of coral on a size 3-ish paintbrush to add some shading to the nose, chest, and legs. Then, load your nib with brown paint and use that paint to accent the ears. Next, use the brown to draw a flower outline on the cat’s back.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    5. Add Color to the Flower

    Use a tiny paintbrush to fill in the flower you just drew with shades of rich yellow and coral. You can ensure the vibrancy of these colors by using a small water to paint ratio.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Cadmium Yellow Hue is a good choice for the yellow.

    Then, load your calligraphy nib with green. Use that green tone to outline your flower with parallel lines as well as vertical lines.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    6. Finish Filling in the Face

    Use shades of coral, blue, and green to add more details to the face of this cat illustration. You can use white watercolor and a paintbrush to apply subtle highlights if needed.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Again, you can come up with your own henna designs for your cat’s face, or you can echo the ones that you see here.

    7. Add Details to the Legs

    Once you’ve finished up the face detail, use the watercolor calligraphy technique to add an intricate pattern to the cat’s legs.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    When the paint has dried, you can switch between your pointed pen and a paintbrush to accent the pattern with colors.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Some aspects of your henna design may be too small to fill in with a paintbrush. If that’s the case, use your pointed pen instead!

    8. Embellish the Neck

    Now, use a dip pen and your paintbrush to add a nice, big flower and a curly leaf to the back of the cat’s neck. You can enhance the front of the neck with a little necklace.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Draw outlines for these designs first, then fill them in with color.

    9. Add a Henna Pattern to the Tail

    Next, add a henna pattern to the tail. I used the same flower on the middle of the tail that I did on the cat’s back, then I finished off the tip of the tail with a brown flower.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Feel free to switch your focus between different areas. For this step, I drew on the tail, then I added a few accents around the flower on the back of the neck.

    10. Embellish the Back Legs

    The last step in this henna cat illustration is to add a nice, big pattern to the back legs! I like to use a rich brown watercolor for this step.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Fill in the pattern on the cat’s back legs with some color, and you’re almost finished.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    11. Draw Whiskers on Your Henna Watercolor Cat

    You’ll finish up your cat by using your dip pen to draw little blue dots on the cat’s cheeks. Then, use your coral watercolor to create curved, thin lines to represent whiskers.

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Here’s a close-up of what those whiskers and the cat’s face will end up looking like:

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Once you’ve drawn the whiskers, you can go back through your henna watercolor cat illustration to add contour or details as you wish!

    Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    You can then frame the illustration and/or digitize it for future projects.

    7 Ways You Can Use Printables to Make Life Easier | The Postman's Knock
    I digitized and printed my henna watercolor cat illustration in the corner of a piece of paper as part of an engaging letter to my young niece.

    I hope that you enjoyed today’s tutorial! Remember that you don’t have to use this technique to draw a cat. I’ve successfully used it to create other subjects, too, like the henna dog below. There’s not much that you can’t enhance with vibrant colors and well-placed henna motifs.

    Dog Illustration | The Postman's Knock

    If this henna watercolor cat tutorial seems appealing but intimidating, consider enrolling in The Ultimate Beginner’s Watercolor Course. Upon completion of the course, you’ll find that projects like this watercolor henna cat are perfectly achievable and enjoyable to create.

    Thanks very much for reading TPK, and enjoy the rest of your day!

    Warmly,

    Lindsey's Signature | The Postman's Knock

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