How to Draw An Owl in 5 Easy Steps

If you're looking for a fall themed art project for an elementary school class, or your own homeschool art class, this simple owl is easy and fun. Even kids in Kindergarten will be able to follow these directions. Older kids can make it more challenging by adding details, coloring or painting the owl, and adding a fun or spooky background.

But first, here are some fun facts about owls!

Many owl species have asymmetrical ears. When located at different heights on the owl’s head, their ears are able to pinpoint the location of sounds in multiple dimensions.
The eyes of an owl are not true “eyeballs.” Their tube-shaped eyes are completely immobile, providing binocular vision which fully focuses on their prey and boosts depth perception.
Owls can rotate their necks 270 degrees. A blood-pooling system collects blood to power their brains and eyes when neck movement cuts off circulation.
A group of owls is called a parliament. This originates from C.S. Lewis’ description of a meeting of owls in The Chronicles of Narnia.
Owls hunt other owls. Great Horned Owls are the top predator of the smaller Barred Owl.
The tiniest owl in the world is the Elf Owl, which is 5 – 6 inches tall and weighs about 1 ½ ounces. The largest North American owl, in appearance, is the Great Gray Owl, which is up to 32 inches tall.
The Northern Hawk Owl can detect—primarily by sight—a vole to eat up to a half a mile away.
Barn Owls swallow their prey whole—skin, bones, and all—and they eat up to 1,000 mice each year.

(Find more fun facts here: https://www.audubon.org/news/13-fun-facts-about-owls)

Now let’s get started with our drawing!

Supplies:

1 white piece of paper

1 pencil of any type

Instructions:

1. Draw two ovals overlapping each other on one part – the smaller one (for the head) on top of the longer one (for the body).

2. Make the wings by drawing a carrot-like shape on each side of the body.

3. Owls have four talons: two in front and two at the back. For the front talons, draw 2 rectangles at the bottom of the body with two inverted “U”s at the bottom of each. For the back talons, draw two small triangles on each side of the inverted “U”s. You can draw a line in between the two front talons to indicate that the owl is on a tree branch.

4. Erase the inside lines of the body to have a clean slate. Draw a small “t” in the middle of the head followed by two circles—one on each side of the “t”. Draw a black dot inside each circle for a pupil. For the beak, draw a small inverted triangle at the bottom of the “t”.

5. Draw two bigger circles around the eyes. Lastly, draw two lines from the upper tip of the ‘t' outward, then form two solid small triangles on top of each side of the head for the ears.

Now you can add details!

Feathers (upper body and wings)

Draw two upward curving lines– one where the neck would be and the other in the middle of the body. Draw continuous “U” patterns from the upper curve down to the top portion of the lower curve. Draw the same pattern on the wings.

(Note: Draw shorter feathers on the upper part and longer feathers as you go down the body.)

Feathers (lower body and head)

For the lower body, draw random small straight lines all over the lower half of the body. For the head, draw continuous small straight lines around the big circles surrounding the eyes and around the face.

Note: Draw vertical scribbles within the feathers for texture!

Tada! You’re done drawing an owl! You can also explore adding your own creative ideas in designing your owl or background. The possibilities are limitless!

Here are some of the cool owls that our students at Creativity School have made!

Want more free art tutorials for kids? Visit creativityschool.com/free for 5 free classes! Or sign up here to be the first to learn about our Black Friday deals!

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