How to Draw an Owl

In this article, we will study a bird of prey which is not quite like the others, a lord of the night whose silent flight glides through many stories. It is shrouded in mystery and in the darkness, it mingles with the spirits of the forests. We are talking, of course, about the owl!

It should be pointed out that in reality the word "owl" does not correspond to a level of scientific classification. Owls are distributed into different genres, some of which have tufts on their head, which are a plume of feathers.

Please note that to illustrate my arguments, I will primarily use images of the Eurasian eagle owl which, standing 75 cm tall, is the largest nocturnal bird of prey in Europe. But you will also encounter someone else, the snowy owl, which has very small tufts of feathers that are folded on the head and therefore blend in with the rest of the plumage.

ANATOMICAL STUDY OF THE OWL FOR DRAWING

Let's start with the basics, the skeleton. It should be noted that we will first state elements that are valid for almost all birds.

 

Whether it's the wings or the legs, you will notice that the construction is similar to our own limbs.

In the legs, you find the same sequence of bones, with the difference that birds walk on their "toes." The pelvis, like in humans, is located at the base of the spine, and ultimately the legs are very long. They don't just give this impression because of the feathers that hide part of them.

The wings also have the same sequence of bones as our arms. You just have to imagine the hand part (dark blue) and the finger part (light blue) as a single block. This gives us three segments.

And here we reach a crucial and not always obvious point, the wings! Indeed, this is often a delicate issue in the representation of birds. While the bone structure is very simple, it's the arrangement of the feathers that can be a bit unclear. If you would like to have explanations on how to draw a bird, feel free to check out our article on our blog!

We will therefore simplify all this to give you a good foundation. If you embark on realistic drawing, I can only advise you to study your subject in more detail (the shape of the feathers, their patterns, etc...).

So, in the diagram on the left, the wing seen from above with the bones simplified in red. I've just indicated the main muscle mass in pink, at the shoulder level.

On the right, the same wing but with the feathers arranged in groups.

In blue, group 1 includes the block of feathers that make the connection with the rest of the body, the feathers that run along the top edge of the wing on what would be the arm and forearm (quite short feathers), and a smaller block at what would be the wrist. This last segment is often composed of few feathers but wider ones.

In green, group 2. This area consists of feathers of intermediate sizes. They run alongside the feathers of zone 1 and extend a little further, actually covering the bones that finish the wing.

Finally part 4, which actually includes two blocks of feathers:

• in violet, the feathers on the tip of the wing, which are long and slender.
  
  
• in pink, shorter feathers, often with a somewhat more "square" look, that finish the wing along its length but are completely independent from the torso.

From below, areas 1 and 2 are indistinguishable from each other.

To help you, we could consider dressing up our arm.

The feather lengths from zone 4 would come in the hand. Notice how your hand would be just covered by the feathers from block 1 and would disappear completely under the feathers from zone 2.

APPEARANCE OF THE OWL (EAGLE OWL)

The bird has a bulky silhouette. The highly mobile head is studded with large red-orange eyes, and the head is topped with clearly visible plumes (about 8 cm). The plumes are generally slightly curved backwards. Depending on the situation, they may be laid back or even vertical.

Note that the plumes play no role in hearing.

Enough chit-chat, let's look at our bird.

Diagram A:

The blue lines follow the structure of the skeleton, spine, legs, bones outlining the rib cage. The purple line follows the 3-segment construction of the wing and the light blue area outlines the mass of the wing.

See how the legs are much longer than they appear. In red the area of the skull, a shortened rectangle at the top, and in green the area of connection with the body.

Diagram B:

The head volume is maintained but I have simplified the body composition, in blue. It could be said it's a triangle with a rounding at the back. The wings attach at the top, a little past where they meet the neck (blue arrow).

In pink, the tail. In great horned owls, it is rather short. The feathers are quite compact.

The leg is also simplified, just a line for the axis, as the top, the thigh, almost disappears into the belly feathers.

One of the difficulties when you observe the bird and try to make out the structure of the animal can come from the fact that along the entire length of the "belly" there are many long feathers that hide and bulk up the shape of the bird.

THE OWL'S HEAD

DRAWING THE HEAD FROM THE FRONT

Diagram A:

In red we have the "rectangle" (shorter at the top) of the head. Draw a horizontal line in the middle of the rectangle, blue line, and this gives you the top of the beak.

From the beak, you can draw a triangle that doesn't quite reach the upper corners of the rectangle. With this triangle, you can position the eyes (which are above the blue line) and the tufts (diagram B).

In green the head/body junction area.

Diagram B:

The tufts are placed at the top corners of the skull. Note that they are not on the top of the skull, they remain on the front of the bird.

The violet construction frame gives you the structure around which you can shape the light green tuft. In reality, they can be divided as follows: a stronger, very dark feather that forms a base underneath, in dark blue. In light blue, you will find shorter and lighter feathers.

The small arrows are there to show you the point around which you can adjust the orientation of the tufts.

Let's continue our observation.

 

Let's look at the two simplified images simultaneously.

In red, the "mask" resembling a sideways figure of 8 that is characteristic of owls. The feathers spread outward.

In blue, the area of the upper part of the beak. The feathers come from the eyes and go towards the tip of the beak.

Below in purple, the lower part of the beak. Even if the lower part of the beak is not visible, a series of feathers are linked to it. Here, a small series of feathers go towards the hidden tip of the beak.

In green, the neck area. I distinguish this area because the feathers there are a bit longer than on the rest of the head and also because they may have a different orientation. Indeed, they are anchored on the skin of the neck and not on the skull itself. This could be important if you are making a drawing with a significant twist of the head.

In light pink, the feathers on the top of the head. Note that depending on the species, the feathers of the mask (red area) will include a more or less significant part of the feathers in this area, above the beak.

DRAWING THE HEAD IN PROFILE

From this angle, the head always retains its compact side. Only the tip of the upper beak, in blue, is visible.

I traced the middle line of the skull in black, which allows me to place the beak, the eyes and the tufts. Here, we see that the tufts are well forward on the skull. They originate at the junction of the pink line (triangle constructed earlier in frontal view) and the red line (the boundary of the facial mask).

You will find the red block of the head and the neck area in green.

DRAWING THE OWL'S EYE

The owl's eyes are large and round. The outlines are sharp and distinct.

The edges of the eyelids (in red) are thin and without eyelashes. The upper eyelid may partially cover the top of the eye, but it remains very thin. In the context of a realistic drawing, you will need to take into account the implantation of feathers on the "muscular" area of the eyelids (hatched areas in orange).

The pupil is round and very black. In the eagle owl, the iris will have orange hues, which can lean towards a light red or a deep golden yellow.

THE OWL'S BEAK

Like a typical jaw, the beak consists of an upper part (blue) and a lower part (green). In owls, the lower part remains invisible most of the time. It is slightly shorter than the upper part and fits perfectly into it.

The beak is generally dark, black to dark gray. The inside is pink.

I'm taking this opportunity to go over some things already seen but adapted to another owl. Note that the snowy owl has a much rounder head shape. We find the figure-of-eight mask, which is a bit more extended. Under the beak, cross-hatched lines mark the feathers of the "under-beak" area. In purple, the neck area.

DRAWING THE TALONS

Drawing A. shows us a left leg with few feathers. This could be the leg of a young individual. Drawing B shows us the left leg of an adult, almost entirely covered with feathers.

The feet have four toes equipped with highly developed claws or talons.

On a wide surface, when it is walking or in an attack position, toes 1, 2 and 3 are turned forward while toe 4, which is a little shorter, stays behind (drawing A).

When the bird rests on a small surface, like a thin branch, the third toe can move to the back, next to the fourth toe, to ensure stability. Thus, the grip is made with two toes on each side of the branch.

In the middle, we simplify the form.

You see two "balls" below, they correspond to joints (blue arrows). In green, at the base of the claws, you can see a small excess of skin, like a sheath. In orange, I highlight the scaly composition of this area. Along the entire length of the leg, the skin has this scaly structure.

DRAWING OWLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS

It is high time now to draw the animal in its entirety. Unusually, we're not going to draw one, but two owls! A Eurasian eagle owl and a snowy owl. Actually, I'm making this choice so that we can depict one bird in flight and one on the ground.

In both cases, we will not create hyper-realistic drawings; the patterns of the plumages will remain suggestive.

DRAWING AN OWL IN FLIGHT

Step 1: The head rectangle.

Step 2: I'm just giving it a bit of volume since we won't be in a front view but at a ¾ angle.

Step 3: I locate the middle on the top of the skull, blue arrow, and from there I draw the back line. In full flight the body will be horizontal.

Step 4: I close the body while keeping a vaguely rounded triangle shape at the top. Indeed, I slightly elongate the shape due to the ¾ view distortion. From the back line, I draw the guiding line for the tail.

Stage 5: I place two points (in pink) for the thighs. We remember that the upper part of the legs is not really distinct. To help myself, I look for the midpoint of the body length (blue lines).

Step 6: I draw the legs. In blue, I draw two lines at half the length and width of the head rectangle.

Step 7: The junction of the lines on the head allows me to place the top of the beak. From there I draw the triangle to place the eyes and tufts. On the back, I place the wing attachments. I set back the attachment slightly from the rectangle of the head because I am taking into account the space for the vertebrae of the neck.

Step 8: I draw the wings. I remind you about the structure. The difficulty here comes from the ¾ view. The bird's left wing is slightly more facing us, so its line appears straighter while we can guess the curve a bit more on the other wing.

Step 9: I am drawing the wings. I will specify the areas seen in the construction of the plumage. Notice how the feathers at the end of zone 4 are elongated compared to the others (pink zone/see wing diagram). I am also taking this opportunity to check the legs by placing the bones of the lower thigh, calf and foot/toe.

Step 10: Now that the construction drawing is completed, I plan on cleaning it up. Under the neck (in pink) and under the belly (in green), I intend to flesh out the silhouette. We remember that these areas are puffed up with dense plumage. I find that the left wing is a bit thin, and I plan to stretch it out a little (blue area), while maintaining our point of view that makes us see it more from the front.

Step 11: I redraw over the construction lines. In green, I show lines I made to suggest muscles where the wings attach. In purple, I highlight the areas that I've fleshed out. I made sure there are no demarcations between the back of the leg and the start of the tail. On the back, just after the wing, the feathers tend to be short and fluffy under the wing itself.

Step 12: The defining features.

Now the coloring:

Step A: I'm applying the flat coat, a fairly soft one.

Step B: I lighten the mask of the head, the underside of the wing, the tail, the throat, the belly and the legs.

Step C: I color the eyes and the beaks. With a fairly dark gray, I lay the base of the plumage. I highlight the edge of the mask. I darken the tips of the feathers as well as the joining areas between the different parts of the wings (zone 1, 2, and 4). I also draw a black "line" at the end of the tail.

Step D: I suggest the bird's pattern with some almost black spots. I'm just giving you a small zoom on the tail design. I highlight the eyes by also rimming them in black.

Step E: I add some shadows at the bottom of the wings, under the belly, and finish with a few touches of white (mainly on the right wing of the bird) for the light.

Let's move on to the second bird.

DRAWING AN OWL ON THE GROUND

Step 1: The head, still our rectangle, slightly more rounded on top for this bird.

Step 2: The thickness of the neck.

Step 3: The middle of the head.

Step 4: The middle line of the length on the head allows me to place the line of the spine in blue.

Step 5: I quickly highlight the bird's skeleton. Just after the neck, the ball will be the wing attachment.

Step 6: I outline the structure of the wings (in 3 parts, in A. that would be our elbow and in B. our wrist). From the center of the head, I position the beak, which helps me place the eyes. In red, I draw the belly line, keeping in mind that it will be fluffed up by the presence of numerous feathers.

Step 7: I draw the wings around the bone structure lines.

Step 8: From the line of the column, I draw the line of the tail (blue arrow) continuously, and I place the tail feathers.

Come on, we're almost there!

Step 9: For the final tracing I should not forget the long feathers under the belly (blue lines).

Step 10: I draw the final lines according to the construction lines in red. With the red arrow, I show you the rear area of the legs. I make sure that there is no too sharp demarcation with the start of the tail.

So I go back up with short strokes towards the tail to suggest the dense and somewhat "blurry" plumage of this area. With the green and blue arrows, I show you strokes that result from the structure of the wing. These arrows correspond to the zone1/zone2 boundary.

Step 11: I'm cleaning up the drawing.

Coloring to finish.

Step A: I'm applying a light gray coat.

Step B: The light is behind the bird. I shade the areas on the other side.

Step C: I color the eyes on a yellow base. I tint the beak and claws with a very dark gray.

Step D: I apply a touch of light color to darken certain areas, the feathers under the belly, the legs, and under the tail.

Step E: With a pure white, I create some volume by going over the mask on the head, the mass under the neck, and the wings. Hence the reason for starting with a slightly gray base.

Step F: With touches of dark gray, I create the bird's pattern and outline the eyes in black. I color the irises with a dark orange. I just finish by reinforcing my shadows, especially under the belly, the tail, and I also place some under the wing. Ah! And I place shadows on the ground.

Here you go! Lots to remember and two exercises to complete! It might be interesting, when you look at pictures of owls (or any other bird), to have fun identifying the structure of the wings, bones, and feathers. This will gradually help you become comfortable with this tricky part.

Illustrator and Writer: Elo Illus