054:365 Hold On!
Today another one of Gracie, this time done in pencil. Gracie likes to hold hands. He’s the only cat I’ve ever known that will grab my hand, hold onto it, and not let go. Sometimes he even “kisses” it like a dog would. Cat’s tongues are a lot scratchier than dog’s though. Some mornings, he doesn’t want me to leave and will grab my hand every time I try to get out of bed. Other times he’s up already trying to get “coffee” from someone else.
To make the subject clearer than the photo, the background has been simplified and edited, and the sweatshirt textured a little more to look like a sweater so that it doesn’t blend in with the chair.
Although I’m pretty good at photo-realistic drawing, somehow portraits never turn out as lively as their subjects, or even as a photo of the subject (if I’m drawing from a photo). Perhaps it’s because wearing my costume hat for figure drawing, I try to document clothing and makeup details rather than trying to draw portraits. Anyway, all things considered, Gracie doesn’t look half bad in this drawing, a little stiffer, but pretty relaxed. I got the angle on his head a bit wrong. This is the first cat drawing that I’ve done in a long time that tried to literally depict rather than caricature, so I guess it makes me a little proud!