Burrowing Owl Illustration
by Bryce W. Robinson
When I first began illustrating birds seriously almost three years ago, I spent the majority of my time on owls. For whatever reason, I was fascinated in the way their faces translated onto both canvas and paper. I remember when I realized the power that the eyes have for communicating the spirit of life within a creature. The exercise of illustrating owls taught me the importance of light and detail in the eyes of birds, especially raptors.
In the past I was focused on illustrating the face and busts of birds of prey. I stayed away from illustrating the full body of birds due in part to my fascination with the face, but also because I felt that I couldn’t create a proper and natural bird. Now I’ve started a campaign with myself to overcome my weaknesses and illustrate birds as a whole, either perched or in flight. While the exercise is to properly portray a bird in whole, I’ve made it a priority to take the lessons I learned from illustrating a birds face and invoke the same sense of life and attitude in the full-bodied bird.
Creating images of living creatures has more to it than I’ve ever thought. I see incredible paintings of Gyrfalcons in flight pursuing prey, or a Great Blue Heron stalking something in shallow water, and I can’t help but marvel at the mastery the artist holds over both their medium and their subject. I hope to reach even a fraction of the ability of some artists, but at the same time I’ve realized that perhaps the process is more enlightening and more worthwhile than the product. In the end, I’ll understand birds to a greater degree simply because I have put energy and focus into their details, and attempted to communicate their life and spirit through my own creative ability.
Superb
Thank you Jamie.
Awesome stuff B!
Thanks Neil
Great stuff Bryce!
Thanks Mia!
Bryce, this is the most stunning portrait I have ever seen of a little BUOW. I have loved these birds ever since the first day of my job studying them back in 2005 in southern Arizona. I would love to buy one of these prints from you if you ever sell one 🙂
Thanks for the kind words Rachel. Prints are in the works. I’ll be sure to notify when they are available.
Your illustrations are incredibly captivating because you do capture and convey the sense of life, power, and beauty that is inherent in your subjects. Thank you for sharing some of the process you go through to create such beautiful work.
I’m always happy to share my thoughts and process Jessie. Thanks for the kind words.
Brother Bryce, not only have your artistic abilities improved drastically, but your writing has, too. Looking forward to so much more. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much Mr. Boyd. Your words mean a lot to me, I hope you know that.
Awesome Bryce!
Thanks Jerry!