Drawing Tula

Francesco Puppo

During the six years Tula has been with us, I’ve tried multiple times to represent her on paper or screen, using multiple techniques.

Some of these attempts I consider more a success than others, but overall I’m quite satisfied with each of the images you see below.


A first attempt I made probably 4 years ago, in Procreate. Tula’s pattern adapts well to a minimalistic, two-colours approach.

I then moved to watercolour on paper (like in the old times!), which is probably my favourite technique to draw/paint with but I never experiment with enough.

Going back to a cleaner approach, I went as minimalistic as I could, using only black and white and drawing only the essential lines I thought were needed.

This has then evolved in what I think it’s maybe the attempt I’m happier with, since it perfectly fits into a circle, thanks to the donut shape she gets when sleeping in her bed.

Of course, since I was exploring a minimalistic black and white approach, I had to try and imitate Timo Kuilder beautifully smooth drawings.

That smooth style doesn’t really fit with me, so I tried a rougher one, which I have to say I like a lot more.

Finally, the attempt I’m least satisfied with, but decided to publish anyway since it captures her puppy-face pretty well, I think.


For reference, here’s Tula, busy hunting mice.