Kitty Behind the Car

How adorable! We spotted a cute little cat idly sitting by the bumper of my red Toyota Yaris during our short trip to Ameland the weekend before last. Being dinnertime and getting a bit dark, I hadn’t noticed her until my partner alerted me. “She must have noticed all the Hello Kitty car accessories inside”, I giggled. You see, I have in my car some seat cushions, seat belt covers and even headrest pillows all featuring Hello Kitty! Perhaps they are magnets to attract cats, who knows. At the right moment, my partner took his phone out and took a snapshot of this cat posing by my car. Isn’t that sweet? And now that I have a memorable photo of this cat, I thought I’d make a painting too, Hello Kitty’s included of course!

Pencil Drawing

Before painting, a pencil drawing was made on a blank page of Strathmore’s Visual Journal Bristol Paper. What a challenge that was! I don’t have much experience with drawing cars properly, but I was so determined to give it a go. Having to rely on the photograph, it was important that I had the drawing closely as much as possible resembling a Toyota Yaris. I have to say, not bad for the first time! Getting the perspective correct was another obstacle, and though not entirely accurate, I think it’s reasonably recognizable. Not too fussed anyway, and besides, the focus is more on the cuteness! Taking another step beyond my comfort zone is something I should be proud of too. And now that I had achieved that, I decided to reward myself by adding a twist to this painting: How about a “fantasy” theme with a bunch of Hello Kitty’s sitting in the car playfully peeking out the windows?

Start Painting

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to photograph each step of the process as was concentrating on getting the painting to my liking. So where to begin? Start with the background where acrylic was used, namely Golden Fluid Acrylic First the sky with Cobalt Teal mixed with Turquoise Acrylic ink by Sennelier. The ground I was not yet certain which color to go for and hence painted the car red first using Holbein’s Acryla Gouache in Scarlet. It was then easier to decide what to do with the ground: A combination of Green Gold, Indian Yellow Hue and Titan Green and Sennielier’s Naples Yellow were selected and randomly stippled around the area. Loving the effect this has! Looks very autumnal and gives out some visual texture as well. And once the background was done, I went about tracing the outline of my Hello Kitty’s with a 0.5 black felt tip marker.

Further Painting

For now, all I did was outline the Hello Kitty’s with the marker and set aside coloring in the ribbons for later. The details of the car were then worked on using a variety of greys from Holbein’s Acryla Gouache. Why I chose gouache for coloring the car is that I found that the colors come out more intense and more matte so it pops out of the painting effectively. A few coats were applied, making sure each layer was properly dry so the paint doesn’t move. Very happy how it now looks! Then Hello Kitty’s ribbons and outfits were filled in with Uni Posca and Faber Castell’s Pitt Artist’s Pens, mediums which are handy for tiny areas. Following those, I went about coloring in the cat, trying to be as close as possible to the actual one I came across: Grey, white and orange. Here, Holbein’s Acryla Gouache was also used, once again to allow this character to pop out more.

Finishing Up

After having left the paint to dry overnight, I returned to finish it off by painting the license plate. Yellow is the color used in the Netherlands. Of course, I thought I’d be a bit naughty and rather than my own registration number, I just simply wrote “MEOW” with colored pencil! And finally the cat’s eyes were colored in green with Faber Castell’s Pitt Artists Pen. In order to enhance the whites, including the Hello Kitty’s, I filled the areas with Uni Posca pen. Another layer of paint over the cat, and I was done!

And what fun that was! It took me a few days to complete it as I wanted it to what I had in mind, i.e., deciding color and medium. In the end, it came out rather well, illustrating how acrylic and gouache work well together. Another highlight of this was being able to challenge my comfort zone in several ways: By drawing a car and even the cat’s sitting position! Although it’s not perfect, I am nevertheless happy with it and proud of myself for making the effort. I would definitely like to create another variation to this painting. How about in digital art with Procreate? Or watercolor and colored pencils combined? Look forward to working on them soon!