How to Draw an Owl

Pa etap

1. Eta 1

   Block in the body as one egg shape.

   Nearly every bird is one egg-shaped mass with everything else attached to it. Draw the egg in one motion and let its tilt say what the bird is doing.

   Gade deyò Building the body from several small arcs.

   Tcheke The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. Eta 2

   Draw the skull as a small circle above the body.

   Bird heads are smaller relative to the body than beginners expect - usually about a quarter of the body length. Measure against the egg before you commit.

   Gade deyò An oversized head, which turns the bird into a cartoon.

   Tcheke About four head-widths should fit along the body.

3. Eta 3

   Run two lines from the head down into the body.

   Even a short-necked bird has a neck: two curves joining head to body, front and back. Without them the head floats and the bird reads as a snowman.

   Gade deyò Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   Tcheke Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. Eta 4

   Add the beak, which is what makes it a owl.

   The beak grows out of the skull rather than sitting on its surface, and its angle continues the line of the head. Shape and size are the strongest species cues on the whole bird.

   Gade deyò Sticking the beak flat onto the front of the circle.

   Tcheke The top edge of the beak should line up with the skull.

5. Eta 5

   Add the eye - small, and nearer the beak than the back.

   A bird's eye sits high and close to the beak. Small, dark, with one highlight - and its position matters far more than its rendering.

   Gade deyò Placing the eye centrally, which deadens the whole face.

   Tcheke The eye should be nearer the beak than the back of the head.

6. Eta 6

   Put the wing on so it crosses the body outline.

   The folded wing lies ON the body, crossing its outline. That overlap is what attaches it - a wing drawn inside the body outline reads as a pattern, not a limb.

   Gade deyò Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   Tcheke The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. Eta 7

   Sketch the feather groups on the wing.

   Feathers come in groups, and the groups are what you draw - two or three curved rows, not individual feathers. The eye supplies the rest reliably.

   Gade deyò Drawing every feather, which turns the wing into a fence.

   Tcheke You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. Eta 8

   Place the legs under the body, toward the rear.

   Legs attach much further back than they appear to, because the visible leg is really the bird's foot and ankle. Get the attachment point right and the balance follows.

   Gade deyò Legs planted centrally, which makes the bird tip forward.

   Tcheke The legs should attach behind the middle of the egg.

9. Eta 9

   Add the tail and its angle.

   The tail continues the body's line rather than being stuck on the end. Draw it as one shape - separate feathers come last if at all.

   Gade deyò A tail at war with the angle of the body.

   Tcheke The tail's top edge should flow from the back line.

10. Eta 10

    Shape the chest and underside.

    The breast is the fullest curve on the bird and it carries the pose. Round it generously - a flat chest makes any bird look deflated.

    Gade deyò A flat front, which loses the bird's volume.

    Tcheke The chest should be the roundest curve on the drawing.

11. Eta 11

    Add the identifying markings.

    Markings follow the body's form - they curve as the body curves. Flat pattern drawn over a round form cancels all the volume you just built.

    Gade deyò Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    Tcheke Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. Eta 12

    Texture the breast lightly, curving with the body.

    Three or four short V-marks down the breast, each curving with the chest rather than sitting flat, and the whole bird reads as feathered. They also confirm the body's roundness - marks on a form must bend with it, which is the same rule as every stripe and patch on the site.

    Gade deyò Covering the breast evenly, which turns the bird into a pinecone.

    Tcheke The marks should bend the same way as the chest outline.

13. Eta 13

    Anchor the bird: ground line, then shadow.

    One line under the feet and one flattened shadow arc beneath the body, darkest between the legs. A bird with no ground floats in white space no matter how well it is built - and the shadow also confirms where the legs actually are, which birds hide well.

    Gade deyò Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

    Tcheke The shadow should sit directly below the body's widest point.

14. Eta 14

    Go over the keepers and erase the guides.

    Weight the silhouette and the beak, keep the feather marks light, erase the construction. The contrast in line weight is what separates finished from traced.

    Gade deyò Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    Tcheke Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.