How to Paint Watercolor Cat Bookmarks
Add some purr-sonality to your bookmarks with this quick and easy tutorial! Using artPOP! Watercolors and Fineliner Pens, you’ll learn how to paint colorful felines and fill them in with adorable details. At the end of the project, you’ll end up with functional bookmarks you can use yourself or give away to friends.
What You’ll Need
- Watercolor Half Pan Sets - Set of 24
- Watercolor Pad
- Premium Plus Synthetic Watercolor Brush – Set of 7
- Fineliner Pens
- Pencil
- Tape
- Hairdryer (optional)
Tips
Tape your paper to the table you’re working on so it doesn’t wiggle around. After painting your bookmarks, you can use a hairdryer to speed up the drying time.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1
Grab your watercolor pad and use a pencil to sketch out your bookmark sizes (ours are 2” x 6”).
Step 2
Crack open your watercolor pan and activate your colors by adding a little drop of water. If you don’t know what colors you’ll be using yet, go ahead and moisten them all!
Step 3
Start on your first bookmark, painting the body color first with your Wash brush. You can use a single color or combine multiple colors for a tie-dye effect—have fun with it! If you want your cat to have a white bib or cheeks, leave those spaces unpainted. While the paint is damp (not wet), add in any stripes or triangles that you want to have a soft edge with your Round brush.
Step 4
While your first bookmark is drying, skip over to another bookmark and follow the same process. Be sure not to paint bookmarks from left to right in a row, as the colors might accidentally bleed. Always skip a space from the freshly painted cat.
Step 5
Once all your cats are completely dry, you can start on the line work. Grab your Black fineliner pen and make a simple X in the middle of the cat’s face for the nose and mouth. Color in the top part of the X for a nose and add eyes on either side, followed by whiskers on each cheek.
Step 6
Draw hairs. They can be a group of hairs on the bib, tufts of hair in the ears, or chin hairs—anywhere you think your cat needs a little detail.
Step 7
You did it! Now’s the time to cut your bookmarks out. Do a basic rectangle shape or add ears for some extra cuteness.