If you’re a beginner looking to learn how to draw an owl, you’ve come to the right place! This tutorial will guide you through the process of drawing a cute cartoon horned owl in just nine simple steps.
Step 1 – Begin with the Head & Body
Start by drawing the outline of the owl’s head, making it fairly wide and giving it a slight upward curve at the bottom middle. Then, add the body as one long curve, slightly flattened at the bottom.
Step 2 – Add the Wings
Extend lines down from the bottom of the head, overlapping the sides of the body to create the wings. Make them wider towards the top and narrower as they go down. Erase the parts of the body covered by the wings.
After completing this step, your drawing should resemble the image above.
Step 3 – Draw the Feet
Add the feet as two sets of oval shapes, with the middle toe being the largest and the ones on the sides slightly smaller. These will overlap the body, so erase the outline where they intersect.
Once you’re done with this step, your drawing should resemble the example above.
Step 4 – Create the “Horns”
As this is a horned owl, add “horn-like” shapes on top of its head (which are actually feathers) with a curved bump between them.
Step 5 – Draw the Beak
Draw the beak in the middle of the head. Owls typically have small and narrow beaks compared to the size of their heads. First, draw the outline, then add a split that goes down into a pointed tip.
Step 6 – Add the Face Pattern
Draw curved lines from the upper part of the beak towards the tips of each horn (without touching them). Then, erase the outline of the head between these two lines.
After cleaning up your drawing, it should look similar to the example above.
Step 7 – Draw the Eyes
Draw a pair of large round eyes that are characteristic of owls. Inside each eye, draw a smaller circle for the pupils, slightly closer to the beak. Add a small oval-shaped highlight overlapping each pupil. You can erase a bit of the outlines before adding these details.
Once you finish drawing the eyes, your owl should look like the one shown in the image above.
Step 8 – Finalize the Line Drawing
Outline areas along the owl’s head and body that will have feathers of a different color. On the head, draw a smaller inner shape that somewhat follows the main outline. Then, draw an oval-like shape on the chest/stomach area.
To complete the line drawing, trace over your pencil lines with a black pen or darken them with a pencil. You can also fill in the pupils of the eyes with black or dark pencil shading, leaving the highlights white.
Step 9 – Add Color to the Owl
Use paints, markers, colored pencils, or any other materials you have available to color the owl. Make the body brown, with lighter brown areas on the outlined parts. Color the beak and feet orange, and the eyes yellow.
Alternatively, you can choose to make the main body grey and the lighter areas a lighter grey.
Once you’ve finished coloring, you’ll have a beautiful drawing of a horned owl!
Conclusion
Drawing a stylized cartoon owl like the one in this tutorial is a fun and beginner-friendly project. As shown in the step-by-step breakdown, it’s best to start with the larger shapes and gradually add the smaller details.
I hope you found this drawing guide helpful and easy to follow. For more similar tutorials, check out:
- How to Draw a Penguin Step by Step
- How to Draw a Swan Step by Step
- How to Draw a Bird Step by Step
- How to Draw a Dog Step by Step
- How to Draw a Cat Step by Step
