How to Paint a Whimsical Owl

With Fall and the holidays close upon us, I thought I’d share with you a fun “how-to paint” tutorial that you may like to try out to use in your home.

Whimsical owls are classically popular, so I thought I’d take the time to share with you one of the ways I like to paint them.

You’ll notice I refer to the little owl’s parts as belly, toes, and ears. Yes, I know that’s not the technical terms for them, but hey, it works.

About this project, I don’t want you to be intimidated if you don’t consider yourself a painter, I’m convinced anyone can do this. I’ve taught this owl to many students in different classes, from the young to the not-so-young.

My best tips are-

1.) It’s paint. If you mess up, let it dry and start over.

2.) Don’t give up, just keep trying till you nail it, which you will! 3.) Each one is different. If yours doesn’t look just like mine, it’s okay. Each one of mine don’t look the same either.

I’m presenting you with two options- Easy and Super Easy.

Each owl takes about five different craft paint colors, here’s what I used-

Brown for the body
Dark brown for the wings
White for the whites of the eyes and highlight
Teal for the belly
Gray for the beak, eyelids, and toes
White, brown, and black Paint Pens for details and eye pupils

Step One- Basic Body Shape and Eyes

Option 1- Easy
Using a small flat brush, paint the basic outline of the owl body. It’s a bit of an hourglass shape, leaving white space for the eye placement, belly, and wings.
When that’s dry, use your white to paint two circles for the eyes. The white will be a bit transparent and you’ll be able to see the brown through it where it overlaps, but don’t worry about that for now, we’ll fix it later.

Option 2- Super Easy
Using a small flat brush, paint the outline of an oval.
With your brown paint pen, draw two triangles for placement of the ears.
Fill in with your flat brush and brown paint.

Paint a curved line at the top of the belly to define the space where the eyes will go.
Draw circles for the eyes with white paint pen.

Fill in whites of eyes with flat brush, as well as the area around the eyes with the brown.
Again, don’t worry about seeing the brown through the white, we’ll fix it later.

Step Two- Belly

Use your teal paint and flat brush and fill in the belly.
Don’t worry if your paint is transparent or unevenly colored at this point, we’re just working on the base colors for now.

Step 3- Wings
The wings are an upside down teardrop shape.

Option 1- Easy
Simply paint in the wings with your dark brown

Option 2- Super Easy
Outline the wings with your brown paint pen and fill in with flat brush and dark brown paint.

Step Four- Beak, Feet, and Eyelids

The beak is just a wide upside down triangle.
The feet are rounded on the top with a few little toes on the bottom.
Where the brown paint shows through the whites of the eyes defines where the lids will go (see, I told you we’d fix that).

Option 1- Easy
Paint all the parts with your gray paint

Option 2- Super Easy
Use your black paint pen to dray the triangle beak and the feet, then fill in with your gray paint. Don’t forget the eyelids.

Step Five- Highlight and Blending
Once the owl is dry, it will probably still look a bit flat and transparent in some places.
To fix this, add a bit more paint to each part of the owl (one part at a time) and while you still have your brush loaded with that color, dip into your white. Now, where your paint is still wet on the owl, add the white and blend slightly.
I like to start with the belly and work my way out towards the wings and body.
This step gives you dimension, highlights and shadows, and covers those areas where the paint was still looking thin.

Step Six- Final Details
It’s all in the details right?
Use your black paint pen to draw the pupil of the eye.
Leave a small white circle within the pupil for a highlight.
Use your white paint pen to add highlights on the ears, wings, and belly, and across the beak and feet.
Use a brown paint pen to add lines at the corners of the eyes.

That’s it! You’re finished!

This whimsical owl would look great on a piece of reclaimed wood, canvas, or any where
you’ll let you imagination take you. You don’t even have to use Fall colors if you don’t want. Try adding some polka dots to the wings, or swirls to the belly. Maybe even a branch for him to sit on.