How to do Squeegee Art Cat Portraits!

How to do Squeegee Art Cat Portraits!

Learn how to do simple squeegee art cat portraits!

Make a cool pop-art vibe art piece of your favorite little felines.

This cute cat art uses a squeegee technique that is so much fun!

Once you get started, you'll want to make a cat portrait for everyone you know.

These little critters would make great handmade Valentine gifts too!

Supplies Needed for Squeegee Art Cat Portraits:

• Squeegee (This one is from Dollar Tree)
• Plaid FolkArt Acrylic Paint
• Plaid Fine Tip Tops
• Watercolor or Mixed Media Paper
• Painters Tape
• Tombow Colored Pencils
• White Plaid Paint Pen
• Gold Paint Pen

Step 1: Prep

Begin by taping one piece of mixed media or watercolor paper down on your worksurface with painters tape.

How many cats are you painting on this single page?

I am doing 4 and will show you the technique for all four of them.

If you are just doing one, it's much faster to tape off and swipe a couple times and it's done!

If you plan on keeping the border, make sure you mark each edge and tape it down evenly.

I trimmed my edges off when I was done painting.

Mark the center on all 4 sides, if you are doing a 2x2 grid like mine.

Step 2: Background Paint

Tape off the center lines with painters tape, so the top left grid is ready to fill with background color.

Pick a background color for the first box and squeeze a small bead of paint along the top edge of painters tape.

Step 3: Squeegee

Next, place the squeegee right above the paint line on the painters tape, and slide it down the page, pulling the paint as you go.

Stop the squeegee as soon as you get to the painters tape at the bottom of the grid box.

Step 4: Cat Ears

The acrylic paint dries surprisingly fast!

Once the background is dry, screw the squeeze top on the desired paint, the base color of the cat you are painting. 

I am using white.

Squeeze out the paint to create the top headline.

The squeeze top is easy to work with, just draw an ear point, flat line and other ear point.

Then place the squeegee above the cat hair line and pull the paint down the page again with the squeegee, creating a little cat!

It's so cute already!

Because the background is a darker color, I repeated the white cat twice to give it a little more pigment on top of the red background.

Step 5: Next Box Background

Remove the painters tape and get a fresh piece to go down the center of the paper.

Overlap the tape on the first box just painted, so the new background matches right up to it.

Then repeat the background swipe with a new color of paint, in my case, teal.

Then make the next kitty base.

This time I am using an antique white as the base and wiggling the squeegee back and forth gently to make a fluffy outline.

This is for our little Siamese cat.

I did a couple layers on him, but not until later in the process.

Step 6: Next Background Box

Remove the center tape lines and replace with fresh tape, overlapping paint as necessary to frame in the next box.

Repeat the squeegee process for the next background color, in this case, pink.

Then select the color for the body, this one is black.

Same technique to draw the top of the kitty head, this time slightly smaller, as she is the only girl cat and she is tiny compared to the boys.

The swipe technique gives a really cool pop-art vibe that wouldn't work the same if the background and cat bodies were just painted with a paintbrush.

I love squeegee art--there are so many fun variations to this technique, so get creative!

Finally, overlap the tape on the painted areas and squeegee the last background.

I didn't quite match up the tape line for this one, so there is a slight gap. 

Just go with it.

And then draw the little hairline of the cat.

This is another white base kitty.

Step 7: Details!

Now use the colored pencils, paint/paintbrush and acrylic paint pen to add all the fun kitty portrait details.

If there is a place where a swipe makes sense, like the white front of this little tuxedo cat, do a swipe!

Color in hairlines, special markings, all the fun features that make your little fur baby, your little fur baby.

Paint the eyes with a paintbrush.

I did big circles for the eyes, giving it a little chibi flair.

Paint some light pink in the ears with the paintbrush.

Little dots in the eyes.

Little noses and mouths.

Maybe your cat has a distinguished little mustache like a famous dictator...

Then add some whiskers with the white paint pen.

You can write their names in gold if desired too.

This is a fun craft for kids to help with too!

They will love squeegee-ing a little cat on their paper!

It's way faster if you just make one little cat portrait, rather than griding off the 4 squares.

I love the Beatles vibe this is giving off!

That's it!

My squeegee art cat portrait paper went directly to the fridge for all to see and admire.

The squeegee technique is so much fun, it's perfect for any skill level and great to let the kids help with too!

After swiping a few cats, you'll think of lots of other cute animals to create!

Like, Pin and Save!

Check out this fun Cat themed craft too!

(can you see the cats I painted in the squeegee art in the boxes?)

Cat in Boxes Miniatures!