Acrylic Painting: Adorable Cat Tote Bag

1. Intro: Hi guys, my name is Rosie and I'm a freelance artist based in Bucharest, Romania. In this class, you will learn how to paint with acrylics on fabrics. Usually when painting on fabrics, you use textile paints. But we're going to mix it up a little and use acrylics, because they are quite similar in texture and water resistance and on the plus side, they are more affordable and easier to come by. Why I've chosen to do this on a cotton cord bag, you can do this on a cotton T-shirt or other natural fiber materials like linen or denim, or even on paper or on canvas. Lately I've really been into drawing and painting cats of all shapes and sizes, which is why I decided to paint this adorable chubby cat grooving over a delicious doughnut. Through out this class, you will learn how to paint the cat and the doughnut from tracing a few lines for the sketch, applying the colors in layers, the blending process, getting a nice 3D effect to the finest details and finishing touches. By the end of this class, you will know how to paint your very own chubby cat that can become part of your wardrobe or a perfect perfect gift for a loved one. Well, with that said, let's go and get started. 2. Supplies: For this class, we will be using these materials. Titanium white, carbon black, raw umber, primary yellow, yellow napples cream, golden ocher, and the carmine red. These are all acrylic paints. Now, for the brushes, we have a big flat brush, small flat brush, and a teeny tiny brush for details. You're also going to need a plate to mix the colors, some paper towels, and the cup for water. The tote bag will be painting on, in this case, a black one, and it's 100 percent cotton, and that's all you need for this project. 3. Preparing the Tote Bag: Before this step, you want to iron the bag so it doesn't have any wrinkles, so it doesn't bother you while painting. Then, you can take a cardboard, wrap it in plastic foil, or Scotch tape, or any material that is waterproof so that the two walls of the bag don't stick together. The cardboard is slightly bigger than the bag, so it stays nice and stretched. After that, you can take a lint roller to clean any dog hairs, cat hairs, any lint so it doesn't stick to the paintbrush. Of course, if you do this painting on a canvas or on a paper, this step is not required. There you have it. Now you can start working on the adorable chubby cat. 4. Sketching the Cat and Donut: For the sketch, you want to use a white pastel pencil, or a white chalk. You begin by drawing a circle to indicate the head of the cat just a little lower than the center of the back. Don't worry if it's not the right size or shape from the start, you can fix them as you go along, for example, on the first layer of paint. Moving on, you can outline the body with two lines making them a little bit curved on the inside. Like I mentioned earlier, you can adjust the size of the head if you feel like it needs to be a little bit bigger. The ears you want to make them smaller than usual to give the kitty that cute and chubby aspects. Then you outline the doughnut just above the kitty's head making a smaller circle inside to indicate the hole of the doughnut. After that, you want to draw a line to indicate the middle of the face, keeping in mind that the head is slightly tilted because she's looking up at the doughnut, and then one line for the placement of the eyes. You can start drawing two circles for the eyes, the bigger the better, you can also adjust the eyes as you see fit. Then the nose, and you want to draw it closer to the eyes so it gives the perspective of the kitty looking up, and also it gives it that adorable look. Now, you make the mouth with just a little bit of drool coming out off the right corner. You can always come back and retrace any lines that you don't like, adjusting any shape that may have rough corners or making the circle more circularly. You should also draw two lines coming up from the nose to give it a little bit more shape. Now, for the twinkles in her eyes, remember that for any cute character you want to create, the more sparkles and twinkles, the cutter it would look. In this case, you want to make two stars and a dot for each eye, and now going for the left eye doing the same two twinkles and one dot. Another example of adjusting the lines if you feel like the cat isn't bulky enough, you can draw some stripes making the M-shaped ones on the forehead that all striped cats have, and then you can add some stripes on the sides of the cheeks. After that, when you are pleased with the final shape of the outline, you can start to trace it by pressing a little harder on the pastel making the shapes and the edges more visible, first with the ears, then the head. As you can see, the first line start to fade out leaving the final outline. After finishing with the kitty, you can trace the doughnut, and you can double the inside to make it look more three-dimensional. Moving on, you can add the glaze of the doughnut with a little bit of dripping on the bottom edge, and then place some sprinkles. There you go, your drawing of the chubby cat is done. 5. Applying the First White Layer: With the big flat brush, you can now take some water to mix with the acrylic paint to make it a little bit more fluid. You want to use the shade titanium white because it has more coverage than zinc white. You shouldn't add too much water so it doesn't come out on the other side of the bag. Don't worry too much about the application of this first layer, because this requires two layers of paint. At the bottom of the head, you can start to apply the white paint, taking more paint as you move up to the face of the kitty. As you get to the mouth, you should leave it uncovered because you're going to paint it later with another color and you can also cover the drill for now. Take more paint and apply it to make this layer more opaque. You can now start working your way towards the cheeks and then under the eyes, first with the right one, and then to the left one. In between the eyes, you can start to put a little bit of paint, adjusting the shape as you go along and then outlining the eyes. You should be careful to make the outline a little bit precise so that the kitty can start to look cute from the beginning. Move at your own pace, adjusting the layer of the far, as you see fit. Just stroke, stroke, it's like patting the cat with the brush. You can now connect the bottom of the face with the top, keeping the outlines of the eyes and nose clean and adding more paint as you go along, moving over areas to make the paint more consistent. Try as much as possible not to get inside the eyes. It's just easier if you can do it from the beginning, but no pressure. Making some final touches to the face, under the eyes. Taking a little bit more paint for the white area of the neck and the chest of the cat. You now apply this layer. You can do it more quickly and then, there you go. You have now finished the first layer of white paint. 6. Applying the Second White Layer: After the first layer of white paint has dried, you can move on to the second layer applying it with a big flat brush over the first one, and making some small refinements of the face and of the body. Starting with the lower side of the body, you can move towards the head with some parallel brush strokes. You can make the shape of the white a little bit bigger, on the left and on the right side of the body. It can make a little bit more white on the brush, and start working on the second layer of paint on this area, making the chicks a bit fluffier. Going under the eyes, you can make the outline even more crisp, and also the bottom edge of the head needs to be sharper, plump up the cheeks even more with some fir. Taking some paint, you can go in between the eyes and then move your way up to the forehead. While the paint starts to dry, you will notice if there are some areas that are more transparent. After it has dried completely, you can add some more paint until you are satisfied with the opacity of the white. There you go, the second layer of white is done. 7. Applying the First Brown Layer: Using the big flat brush, mix the white with the golden ocher color, to attain this very nice shade of light brown. You can start applying the paint on the left side of the body going from bottom up. See here I added the Naples yellow green shade to give the color a more yellowish hue. You can always play with the mixture of colors to get more shades of browns, whichever ones you like. Using small brush strokes, go up towards the cat's neck and then move on to the right side. At the outline of the body, use the side of the brush for a more precise stroke. Then continue with the short brushstrokes. Make sure that the paint is wet enough so as to keep the outline clean. Carry on with the brushes side and at your own pace, define the counter of the cat's body. Then as you move on to the head, try to get as close as you can to the pastel outline drawing, going in with the circular motion of the brush. Add more color as your mixture gets used and then you can continue on the other side of the kitty's face, alternating the circular motions with the small brushstrokes. Keep adding and mixing colors when you run out. Dropped my brush there, no harm done. Just keep on blending. Then you can finish adding the light brown next to the eyes. Nice and steady. Left eye. Then the right eye. Then continue with the top of the head using that long circular motion. Oh my God , would you look at that? Look like the kitty is wearing a hoodie, that is so adorable. So now you want to continue adding color to the missing spots. Of course, don't forget about the cute little ears. You are done with this step. 8. Applying the Second Brown Layer: For this step, you will need to use the smaller flat brush after all of the paint of the brown layer has completely dried, and start to refine the outer edges of the right eye. Go on and start blending the two colors of the fur. Keep adding the titanium white, golden ocher, and Naples yellow green, to the mix when you run out, and continue to paint on the remaining uncovered areas, blending the light brown in with the white on the sides of the head, on the forehead, and on the cheeks. Add some light brown to the neck area, filling in the gap of left side of the cat's body, and also refine the edge of the head. Where the two shades meet, you want to add a little more white to the light brown mix. The transition of the color becomes smoother and gives it that 3D Look. At this stage, you want to blend in the colors while they are still wet, and little by little, add more white so you can achieve that soft blend. Next, you can move on to the body, and again, connect it to areas with the lighter brown, so the colors gradually go from brown to white. Using small brush strokes, go from bottom upwards. Then you can go on to the other side, continuing to use small brush strokes, all the while adding little by little, more white. Then move on to unite the white areas with the light brown ones on the forehead. Go from left to right in a radiating pattern with the brush. Now, while using the side of the smaller brush, you can really get in there to refine the shape of the eyes. Take your time with them because you want to end up with a nice crisp pitch. Keep in mind, when painting inside of the general outline, if your lines on the eyes or nose or whatever, are not as crisp as you wanted from the first try, don't despair because you can always come back after it dries and repair it. Moving on to the ears, you want to put on more of just the golden ocher shade to deepen the 3D effect. Keep using the side of the brush or their contour, and for the middle part, you can paint it with the flat side. Again, keep your hand steady so you get a clean outline of the ears, and be careful not to go over the outline. Continuing using the golden ocher for the outline of the head and body of the cat. Go with a thin stroke and the circular motion on the head. You want to use the side of the brush for the outline. Try and get that nice and crisp line. Next for the sides of the body, make sure the paint on your brush has enough water so that the whole realm of the painting will look nice and clean. Take your time with it, and if you accidentally go over the outline, just slowly incorporate the mistake with the rest using the side of the brush. Then continue blending the vertical stroke with the short horizontal ones. Carrying on with the right side of the body, gently define the head from the neck and body of our tabby cat. Defining the outline, go on and blend that stroke a little. Continue with the top of the head. Then give the kitty a chin using the whiter shade of light brown. That is that, you are done with this step. 9. Donut First Pink Layer: Further doughnuts, you will mix the carmine red with the white to get that glassy looking color using the big set brush. You want to put just a dash of red into the white, so you can gradually obtain your desired shade of pink. Then go on and apply the paint with circular motions and then carefully fill in that general shape of the doughnut. Make more mix if you run out. As you get towards the edges, make sure that your brush has plenty of paint on it so you can get a nice and crisp outline. Slowly follow the shape of the dripping glaze. It's okay if you don't get all of the edges perfect because we'll refine them with a smaller brush in the next video. That's it for this step. 10. Refining the Donut's Edges: Next up, you'll be needing the small flat brush. You just want to go on and cover every part of that place sketch outline with this delicious shade of yum yum pink. Follow the outline with the side of the brush. Take your time to really define the edge of the donut. Be careful when going in the smaller detail where the glaze is dripping from the donut in the outer and inner outline to really get that nice definition to the overall shape of the donut. When working on outlines, you don't want to have too much of a dry brush as it would give an uneven and cracked edge. You might think that you are done after just one there, but that is almost never the case. Especially when painting on fabric such as cotton and other natural fibers because they tend to absorb part of the paint. With that in mind, you have to wait until the acrylic paint has completely dried to see how opaque the layer is and if the fabric is showing through the paint. 11. Applying the Third Layer: While waiting for the glaze to dry, let's go on and apply the second layer of white with the big flat brush. Go over all the areas that need to be bright white, like the middle of the body, the chin, around and in-between the eyes, nose, mouth, and chicks. Then you can start mixing the golden ocher with the white and add two stripes on each side of the kiddos body. After that go to the sides of the face and add some of this shade to the cheeks up to the outer corner of the eyes. You can see it blending a little more. Then you can go above the eyes and add something there on the forehead and actually all of the cat's outline. In-between the stripes, blend a shape that is a bit brighter. Next, add some more of the golden ocher shade just on the edge of the sides of the body, and just a little into the darker stripes, then on the right side of the head, the left side of the head, going up towards the ears and the general outline. The brush stroke should be short. For this don't add water so you can get a nice texture effect for the fur. Mixing some more light brown, continue to add color where the blending is still rough and if you apply a shade that is too light for the area like I just did, you can easily blend it back while the paint is still wet. You can now blend the colors by dabbing with the brush on the sides of the head, on the sides of the body, and on the stripes. Again, use the brush without water so that the dub has a more pointless effect and you can even make some dots to unite the stripes from each side. Then add a few more on the sides of the chin and on the forehead, where we first sketched that M shape and wherever else you feel that a few more dots [inaudible] and finish with this step. Well done. 12. Dark Stripes: For this step, you will be using the raw amber and the golden ocher. First, using the big fat brush, get some raw amber and start to dab on the sides of the body and then the stripes then on the sides of the cheeks. On the outer corners of the eyes, you can make a longer line, like cats have. Then go to the top of the forehead and ears. Notice that the color doesn't go all the way to the edge of the cat, so it gives a nice glowing effect to the fur. Continue with the golden ocher and go on the same areas as you did with the raw amber and blend the two colors. The brush was not rinsed in the water cup, so both shades are now on the brush for better dotting purposes. Then you can add some Naples yellow green on top of the other two shades, and dab the lines and the sides of the forehead. The kitty is looking ever more, so stripy and cute. On to the next step. 13. More Details: With a little flat brush, you can take the titanium white, and start applying more white to the forehead, blending the area. Continue with the cheeks and right under the eyes. Then on the body, blending a little bit more on the stripes and adding more weight to the chin and any areas that need more coverage, like around the mouth and nose. Mixing a real golden ocher, and highlight the nose following the shape of the eyes, going under and then blending it with the cheeks. After that, take some more white and make some stripes on both cheeks and on the outer corners of the eyes, and then a little bit more on the stripes, on the back. Mixing again the white to the golden opera, you can give the base of the nose more depth. A few more strokes just above the eyes. I'm done with the steps. 14. Eyes First Layer: After the acrylic paint has completely dried, you can move on to the eyes. You'll want to use the small flat brush and with the carbon black start to fill in the eyes. This step will be just for the pupils that are extremely dilated because of course, though not. For the outline, take your time, so you will get a clean line and you should leave some space on the bottom to later paint the iris. At the lower right side of the eye, you can put some red over the still wet black to give the eyes a little more definition. Then clean the brush, put some more black and move on to the other eye. At the edges, if you're not satisfied with the overall shape, you can modify it. Going very slowly as not make them too big. In my case, I made them of a slightly different shape, so I will be rectifying that. Then again, take a little red and put on the lower left side of the eye, is not very visible on the camera, but you will notice the difference. I'll leave that to dry and let's get onto the next step. 15. Refining the Stripes: Using the side of the small flat brush and the R-amber, you can highlight, again, the very middle of the stripes. Redraw the M shape on the forehead, a little on the top of the head and on the ears. Carrying on to the stripes of the body, continue with small strokes and that being of the brush. As you can notice, to obtain a more vibrant kitty, you need to put on a lot of layers, especially on this [inaudible] material that has a higher level of observance. You can also add a darker line that defines the shape of the head and the chin and separates the neck better with another stripe. Then add a little more golden ocher here and there, a bit of white. Then for the finishing touch of this step, unite the sides of the nodes with the inside corner of the eyes using the rho amber and done. 16. Donut Second Pink Layer: Now that the first layer of the doughnut has completely dried, you can apply the second layer. For this, the thicker the mixed pink, the better. You don't have to put 10 layers, just to get that optimum opacity. Keep using the big flat brush for the overall shape. But if you feel like you're not very steady on the edges and on the dripping parts of the glaze, take the smaller brush to be safe. Then you can continue with that same color and fill in the nose slowly and at your own pace. Of course, if you see any blurry lines on the outlines of the doughnut, you can fix them using the side of the small flat brush. Try and use long and circular strokes that go alongside the round shape of the doughnut, for a better glazing result. Leave that to dry and you are done with this step. 17. Eyes Iris First Layer: Mix the yellow with the naples yellow green so you can obtain a cooler and more opaque shade of yellow because the yellow is semi-transparent and the naples is opaque. After you are happy with the shade, clean the brush so it doesn't have too much color on it because you need to be a little more precise with the stroke. Go on and trace the iris of the eye from one corner to the other using the side of the brush. At your own pace with steady small strokes, go along the shape of the eye. Don't worry if the edges are not sharp enough. You can fix that after the paint dries by refining the shape with some black. Then continue with the other eye and repeat the same process nice and steady. When you are satisfied with the overall shape, again leave that to dry. We will carry on in the next step. 18. Eyes Iris Second Layer: After the yellow has dried out completely, take the thin brush and go on to fill the second layer of yellow, carefully painting in the corners of the eyes for a crisper outline. That's it with this short step. Great job. Onto the next. 19. Eyes Second Layer: Take the small flat brush and add a little more of the red and black mix to the lower parts of the eyes. Now is the moment to define the corners of the iris, and the outline of the pupil. Please excuse my head getting in the way. When you are pleased with the roundness of your pupils, you can stop right there. You are done with this step. 20. The Eye Twinkles: With the zoom in place, and of course, after the eyes have completely dried, we can move on to the twinkles in the eyes. Take the thin brush and with the titanium white, start to paint the four-cornered stars. Going from one corner to the other, make the sides slightly curved. After that, make a smaller one on the bottom right side of the big star. Add more white if you feel the need, but the best time to see that is after the paint has dried. Then you can move on to the other eye and repeat. Because I'm left handed, I usually go from right to left, especially if I'm doing something in detail and I rest my hand on the surface so as not smudge the area I just painted. If you are also left handed, it's best to do the same and if you're right-handed, go from left to right. Getting back to the eyes, after you finish with the stars, make a dot on the left side of the twinkles on both eyes. Done with this step. See you in the next one. 21. Donut Highlights: Now to bring them donut to life, using a darker shade of the pink, by putting more red in the mix of red and white. Paint a line on the inside of the donut's hole. Then put some shadows on the right side of the drippings and of the doughnut. Make sure the edges of the shadows are sharp. You can add some more pink if you see some uneven spots and if you want to make the edges of the shadows sharper. Then for the highlights, make a thin white line on the middle of the upper left side of the doughnut, just next to the shadow, and then another one on the lower right side. Then after this, you are done with the glaze. 22. Donut Bread: For the bread of the doughnut, take the small flat brush and with the golden occur, paint the inside of the doughnuts hole using the edges of the brush for the colors. After that, take the thin brush and paint a little bit of bread that are uncovered by the glaze. Done. 23. Mouth and Nose: For the mouth, take an even darker shade of pink and paint it with the thin brush. After you fill in the mouth, take some red and paint a little cute tongue. Then with a lighter shade of pink, cover the nose with a second layer. Make the bottom of the nose a bit wider and fill in the shape of the nostrils. Add some more white to give more definition to the outline of the mouth. After that, you can go upward with the white on the sides of the nose and on the outline of the eyes. Put a little more golden Auger on top of the white on the brush, if you need to add any more definition to the outer corners of the eyes, and that's it for this step. 24. The Face Contours: With a thin brush and the raw umber start to draw the contour of the lower part of the eyes, moving slowly and trying to keep the same width of the line. You can correct any uneven lines along the way wherever you see it. Then paint the nostrils and the contour of the rest of the nose and mouth. With a very thin line, define the middle of the nose and put the finishing touches on the mouth. You can further blend the tones of the nose and add a little more white on the inside corners of the eyes, and finished at this depth. 25. Donut Sprinkles: Now for the sprinkles, take the thin brush and with a generous quantity of acrylic, start to paint some sprinkles. You can choose whichever colors you like, in this case, I chose; white, yellow, and red. For the sprinkles to look realistic, you want to paint them at different angles, some longer, some shorter, and go with them right through the edges. It looks like a proper doughnut now. Makes me want to eat one actually. You can also treat yourself with one because you deserve it because you finished with this step. 26. The Whiskers: For whiskers use the thin brush and some whites and trace them slowly but as continuously as you can. Make some longer and some shorter. The paint should have just a tiny amount of water in it because if it's too watery then the whiskers will be too transparent when they dry. After you are done with one side, go onto the other one and try to make them as similar as you can with the others, number and length wise for the sake of symmetry. You are almost there. Just a few more details. 27. Ears and Eyebrows: For the final touches on the ears, you'll be taking some pink and filling in the inner parts of them using the thin brush. After that, you can highlight the middle of the nose a little bit to blur that dark line. Then rinse the brush and using the white, make some eyebrows just below the ears. After that, you can also paint some hairs coming out of the ears. Then if you feel like the sparkles aren't sparkly enough, put some more white on them. Don't worry if you draw outside the lines, you can correct that with some black afterwards. 28. The Drool: Now, for [inaudible] make a light gray by mixing the white and a tiny bit of black, and paint a drool coming out of the right corner of the kitty's mouth. Then on top of that paint with the white, but leave the edges uncovered like a contour. Blend them in a little, and there you go. Your drool is done. 29. Sketching the Wings: Now you can leave your chubby cat like this, or you can add, like I felt the need, or some adorable angel wings. If you want to make them, then take the pastel pencil and sketch the wings. After you do one, measure it, and trace the other one. Don't stress if you didn't make them symmetrical from the first trial, you can modify the shape until you are happy with the result, and even erase and retrace. Okay. So excited. One more step, and the kitty will be complete. 30. Painting the Wings: With a big flat brush, take a thick coat of white and start to paint on the shape of the wings. Now in contrast to the many layers that were used to create our chubby cat, for the wings you can use a single layer to differentiate the textures between the fur and the wings and to give the wings a more ethereal appearance. Just try and have the layer nice and even and get in the small corners. There you have it, the chubby angel cats is complete. 31. Ironing: After the whole painting is completely dry, you want to heat-set the painting to the material so it will be wash resistant. For that, take out the cardboard that was inside and make sure that if some of the paint got through to the other side, it is also dry. Place the bag with the painting facing down and iron it at cotton temperature for about two minutes. Keep the iron moving. It's important to do it for at least two minutes so that the paint will really stick to the material and will last longer. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of your own chubby angel kitty tote bag.