I can tell you've been trying out various kinds of paper, and from the texture of it I'm guessing you've done a few of these on Canson Mi-Teintes (or however the heck they spell that name). I occasionally use that paper, but I use the "wrong" side, the one that's a lot smoother. The heavily textured side bugs me. The texture is just too obnoxiously obvious in the drawing. :-/

You seem to have come to the same conclusion, because I can tell with the cats that you're using something else. You've got a much nicer surface to work on.