After more or less "accidentally" watching an episode of Springwatch last week, I developed a sudden and unexpected infatuation with the magnificent barn owl in particular and owls in general. Never before had I realized how wonderfully funny and weird they looked - their faces must be one of the most expressive ones in the animal kingdom. No wonder they have always been a popular character choice for animated films.
However, I was quite surprised to find that there is so little variation in how owls are portrayed by, for example, Disney. From Bambi's "Friend Owl" to Fox and the Hound's "Big Mama" and Winnie the Pooh's "Owl", there is fairly little variation in their design, and also the characterization of owls usually follows the stereotype of "wise old owl" (although Archimedes in The Sword in the Stone is a bit of an exception). The only "evil" cartoon owl character that I have found is from Rock-A-Doodle (let's face it, a pretty crappy film). But owl faces, as found in nature, are PERFECT for crazy/evil characters in my opinion. I have also been unable to think of a white owl character, such as the barn owl or snowy owl, in any well-known animated movie (perhaps they exist and I just haven't been able to them).
So as a tribute to owls, I wanted to create three distinct owl characters.
First sketch:
However, I was quite surprised to find that there is so little variation in how owls are portrayed by, for example, Disney. From Bambi's "Friend Owl" to Fox and the Hound's "Big Mama" and Winnie the Pooh's "Owl", there is fairly little variation in their design, and also the characterization of owls usually follows the stereotype of "wise old owl" (although Archimedes in The Sword in the Stone is a bit of an exception). The only "evil" cartoon owl character that I have found is from Rock-A-Doodle (let's face it, a pretty crappy film). But owl faces, as found in nature, are PERFECT for crazy/evil characters in my opinion. I have also been unable to think of a white owl character, such as the barn owl or snowy owl, in any well-known animated movie (perhaps they exist and I just haven't been able to them).
So as a tribute to owls, I wanted to create three distinct owl characters.
First sketch:
Inked with my Wacom Intuous 4 tablet:
Colouring in Photoshop:
Simple background and the finished result...
I admit they ended up a lot less cartoon-y than I first planned. I might draw a more cartoonized version of Alfie, Crazy and Angry some other time.
Hope you enjoyed.
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