There's no one right way to draw a cat. Here are 34 ways artists on Magma drew theirs, and how you can learn from them.
In "Cat ministudy take 2", a public study jam on Magma that 38 artists joined, everyone drew the same black cat from one reference photo on one shared canvas. Some caught it in a few loose lines, some did clean line art, some painted every shade of the fur. The black cat study further down (#2) is one of them.
Open the Art JamWork from a reference, a photo or your own cat, and build the fur out of many shades instead of outlines. These artists painted light, shadow and texture.
Most of the fur in the black cat study (#2) is dark grey, with lighter grey strokes along the back, shoulder and legs where the light hits. Pure black is saved for the deepest shadows. The artist's own caption: "cat fur is harder than expected".
The two sleeping cats (#3) use pale cream on the light side, strong orange in the middle and brown in the shadows. Closed eyes are just two short curves.
#2
#7
Simplify and exaggerate: a big head on a small body, big eyes, short legs and flat color. The personality comes from the pose and the face.
The round calico (#27) has a head almost as big as its body, short stubby legs and big dark eyes set low on the face. The calico patches are flat shapes of black and orange with no extra detail.
#56
![Part of the Art Jam canvas "[Birthday Jam!!] 🎉✨(Free draw!)"](https://framerusercontent.com/images/ASlWBr41AYVAFudESVdgiP4Uuc.jpg)
#77
Keep what makes it read as a cat (the ears, the whiskers, the curl of the tail) and change everything else: what it's made of, where it lives, what it could be.
The jelly cat (#10) is still a sitting cat with pointed ears. Only the surface changed: see-through green with bright highlights, like a gummy sweet.
#55
A few lines can be enough. Quick sketches, doodle pages and studies are how most artists practise, and they're often the most alive drawings on the canvas.
The angry pixel cat (#47) gets its expression from slanted brows, ears pulled back and fur puffed up along the back and tail, with almost no shading.
In "Learning to draw big cats" (#13) the artist puts a cheetah, a tiger and a puma side by side, each in a single color, to compare the heads.
The fastest way to get better at cats is to draw them next to other people. 9 of the 34 drawings on this page were made in Art Jams: shared canvases where everyone draws at the same time.
Join a cat jam, watch how others handle fur, eyes and poses, and ask them how they did it. Or host a study jam like Cat ministudy: add a reference, share the link, and compare what everyone makes of it.
No cat jam is live at the moment. Browse the open Art Jams, or start your own and share the link.
The basic shapes behind a sitting cat. Once they're down, pick a way from above and make it yours.
Counts from Magma's public Art Jams and posts, September 2026.
Open a free canvas in your browser. Nothing to install, and it works on Chromebooks too. Post it when you're done, and it could end up on this page.
Draw a cat nowThere's no single right way. Start with simple shapes (a circle for the head, a pear for the body, triangle ears, a long tail), then pick a style: realistic, cute, fantasy or a quick sketch. The easiest way to improve is to draw alongside others in a cat Art Jam and see how they do it.
Make the head nearly as big as the body, keep the legs short and put big eyes low on the face. The round calico and the grumpy round cat on this page are good examples.
Don't fill it with pure black. Use dark greys and leave lighter strokes where the light hits, keeping true black for the darkest shadows. In the Cat ministudy jam, more than 20 artists drew the same black cat, each a different way.
Draw it on Magma and post it to your public feed. We pick drawings for this page from public posts, and every one is credited to its artist.
Draw your cat now
Draw a cat now
