When I first thought about launching this site, many moons ago, my only real vision was a giant homage to my cat on the landing page. That cat is Minnoe, the most beautiful cat in the world! Minnoe was my first pet on my own (if you don’t count a couple of fish that preceded her.) I really wanted a cat, for a long time, but was in a basement apartment, and it just didn’t seem right. Almost immediately upon moving into a second-floor apartment with windows that looked on to the outside world, I went searching for my new buddy. I found her at the Humane Society on River Street, in Toronto, Ontario. One of the lovely staff pointed her out to me and she was a wonder. Such a pretty girl, and so well-behaved. So, drawing this portrait of Minnoe was important to me. She’s the Queen Bee of this website! (And, um, my whole life.)

I started by sketching out the basic shapes of her face and body. Then I started shading. Drawing with pencils is really not that different from painting. It still involves a lot of layers, which build upon one another to create a more seemingly three-dimensional image. Check out the process:

And to rescue a pet that needs you, take a shop around the Toronto Humane Society website. Cats are the best! Get one!For more portraits of pets, please see my gallery.