This Instructable, step-by-step tutorial will show you how to draw and color a realistic (more or less) cougar.

Step 1: Materials

1- blank piece of paper

2- colored pencils

·black

·red

·pink

·dark brown

·light brown

·orange

·tan

·peach (or apricot)

·yellow

3- regular pencil

*Make sure you have an eraser nearby*

Step 2: Guides for the Body

a) Start with the blank paper

b) Draw a light circle for the head (should be slightly oval-shaped)

c) Draw a smaller oval on the bottom of its head as a guide for the muzzle

d) Draw 2 triangle shapes on the head (that will later become ears)

e) Draw an egg shape from the ear on your right to about the center of the muzzle (it becomes the shoulders and part of the upper body)

f) Draw a line dipping down from the shoulder a little bit and have it come back up, circle it around, and connect it near the bottom of the egg shape (this is the rest of the body)

g) For the leg in the very front, have it almost come straight down but have it come slightly to the left (so it looks like it's walking). A little after the bottom muzzle line, have it come diagonally to the right (but not too much because it would look unnatural). Reference picture #7 for guidance on how it should look.

h) For the other front leg, just make a curved line that comes off the right side of the egg shape, then it connects to the first front leg that was drawn. After that, start a line almost where the bottom of the chest and the first front leg meet, forming a leg. You can shape it however you wish, but the way I did it is in the picture. Again, reference picture #8 for help (if needed).

i) For the back leg, draw a line that comes off the bottom of the back shape and goes down. Then make it slope less steep for a little bit (not only does that make it look like fur, it also creates the cougar's leg joint). Be sure to draw in the other side of the leg, synchronizing with the other side of the leg for the joint portion of it. Picture #9 can help clarify meaning.

j) In between the front leg and the back leg, sketch in the final leg by drawing a diagonal line that goes down to the left. Then finish it off by connecting it to the front leg with a diagonal right line. You can make it as steep as you want, but follow those guidelines to make it look like a leg. Refer to picture #10 for help.

k) For the final guide, the tail, draw a u-shaped line. But make sure "u" is very narrow, as this will be the tail and you don't want it to be too wide. You can shape it to fit your desires, but you're welcome to do what I did. See picture #11 for guidance.

Step 3: Developing and Finishing the Uncolored Cougar

a) Erase the head, muzzle, and ears. There should still be a faint outline to follow.

b) For the eyes, draw football shapes that are facing each other, then add a little bit of markings on the pointy parts of the eyes (that will make the cougar's eyes more realistic). Then draw in the pupils, shaped like little slivers. The nose will be shaped like a triangle, but with a tiny dip on the top. Draw it where the muzzle guide was. Then, connect the nose to the points of the eyes using short, quick strokes to make it look furry. Refer to picture #2 for assistance.

c) To draw the mouth and muzzle, make a line coming straight down from the bottom of the nose a little bit and split it into 2 lines, each one the same, short length at the same slightly obtuse angle. Curve it around as big as you want (this determines the mouth size), and connect the 2 lines together. Following the muzzle guide, draw the cougar's lips. Then, from about 1/3 or 1/4 up from the bottom of the head on both sides, follow the head guide and connect it to the top of the mouth. Draw as many or as few whiskers as you want. I put 5 long ones on both sides of the face. To see this, check picture #3.

d) Continue up the head guide. When you reach the ears, shape them so they are realistic. Add lines though the ears to show the inside of the ear. Finish drawing the head. For an idea on how to make them look, look picture #4.

e) Erase the front 2 legs.

f) Follow the first leg guide from the very top until you reach the foot. Add toes, and continue up. To make the leg look bigger, make straight lines instead of curved ones. Add short strokes on the shoulder, front and back. Where the front of the leg bends, draw a little curved line just above it so it looks like it's bending. Again, picture #6 to show what it's supposed to look like at this stage.

g) For the other front leg, follow the guide.

h) Erase the body and back legs, but keep the tail.

i) For the stomach, follow the guide until the back leg starts. For the back, follow the guide until the tail starts. Reference picture #9.

j) For the first back leg, follow the guide, adding a furry texture. The toes are made by doing 2 curved lines spaced evenly apart on the foot. Again, for the other back leg, follow the guide and create a furry texture.

k) Erase the tail.

l) To finish this step, follow the tail guide and create a furry texture.

Step 4: Coloring the Cougar

a) Color the inside of the mouth black. Don't forget to color around the teeth.

b) Color in the nose with pink, then go over it lightly with orange and red.

c) Color the eyes yellow, then go over about 1/3 of the eye (1 corner of the eye) with orange, then repeat on the other eye.

d) Color the outsides of the ears and top of the head black. Also, make a line that goes halfway across the face vertically (a little bit away from the eyes), down the center of the face. For the inside of the ears, color the top half of them pink. Leave the other half white. Do this to both ears.

e) Color the rest of the face tan, leaving the areas by the whiskers and ears white.

f) Make an"m" on the face using dark brown, having the eyes in between the"m."

g) Make the "m" on the face a little bit darker. Then, using the tan on the front leg on the other side, make it fade into white with the tan on the right and the white on the left.

h) Except for the leg that's already colored, color everything else up to the shoulder tan. On the chest, make the tan fade into white, with tan on the top near the head. Add some dark brown above the foot on the first front leg.

i) For the first leg that was colored, darken the tan near the head with the dark brown. The other front leg needs color on the middle of the leg, dark brown. Then put a little bit of dark brown on both the shoulders. Put some dark brown above its head (above the line on its head), but only a little bit.

j) Do the same thing to the other back leg as you did the first colored front leg.

k) Color the rest of the body (except for the tail, stomach, and other remaining back leg) the same way you did before, with the dark brown on the top of the back, getting lighter as you continue down until it's white at the stomach. Then, going along the back, color it dark brown, then light brown. The white on the stomach and should now be colored peach.

l) Color the remaining leg as you did the first colored front leg, but leave no peach or white.

m) Use the black to color the tip of the tail. Make the black fade into tan, and the whole tail tan (except for the black part). Then at the top of the tail, put dark brown at the very top, with light brown just under it.