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Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub
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This snowy owl comes from Rob at Art for Kids Hub. He keeps the lesson easy for young artists, but it holds up for grown-ups too. You draw a chubby white owl with big round eyes, sitting on a tree stump with a cap of snow. It takes about seven minutes with a black marker, then a few colored pencils.
Already drew our regular owl? Think of this one as the winter version.
Real snowy owls are mostly white. Males get paler with age. Females and young birds carry dark brown bars and spots across the wings, back and head. They have bright yellow eyes and a small dark beak tucked into thick feathers.
The cartoon keeps it simple. A plain white body, a scatter of dark spots on the wing and head, and a few zigzag lines for fluffy chest feathers. Rob colors the eyes a warm orange brown. Swap in yellow if you want it closer to the real bird. Either way, the spots are what tell people this is a snowy owl and not a barn owl.
A white bird on white paper can vanish. The fix is pale blue. Shade the edges of the owl's body, the underside of the wing and the bottom of the snow cap with a light blue pencil. Leave the middle of each shape white. Now the owl looks round and cold, and the snow looks like snow.
A dark brown stump gives the white something to stand against. For more winter, add a light blue sky behind the owl, a few falling snowflakes, or a bare branch.
This owl fits a folded card well. Draw it on the front with a little snow on the ground and write "Whooo loves you?" inside. Smaller owls make sweet gift tags. Cut them out, punch a hole above the head and tie them on with string. A row of colored owls taped to a window makes a cheerful winter scene that lasts all season.
Older artists can draw the same pose with a graphite pencil. Make the head wider and flatter, shrink the eyes, and add a facial disc around them. Build the dark bars with short curved strokes in rows that follow the feathers. Keep the white areas clean and shade only the shadow side. Our guide on how to shade covers the soft blending.
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Draw a cute snowy owl on a snowy tree stump in 10 easy steps. An easy project: about 20 minutes. Materials cost about $5 to $10. You need 4 things, including drawing paper or drawing pad, black fine point permanent marker and pencil and eraser. The 10 steps start with draw the Snowy Owl's Snow-Capped Tree Stump Top, draw the Snowy Owl Stump Sides, Cut Branch and Bark Lines and draw the Snowy Owl's Curved Talons on the Snow.
10 steps, about 7 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
Tick each step off as you go.
Start in the middle of your paper, a little below center. Draw a straight line for the top of the stump. Then draw a wavy line underneath it that curves down and back up, connecting the left end to the right end. That wavy shape is a thick cap of snow sitting on the stump. Leave plenty of room above it for the owl.
Use two sheets of paper if you draw with marker so the ink does not soak through.
Draw a line down from the left end of the snow cap for one side of the stump. Make the right side shorter. From there, draw a little stub sticking out, like a branch that got cut off, and bring the line back to the stump and down. Then add a few short vertical lines inside the stump for bark texture.
Vary the bark lines. Some long, some short looks more like real wood.
On top of the snow cap, a little left of center, draw an upside-down U. Draw a second one overlapping behind it. That is one foot with two toes. Repeat it on the right for the other foot. Draw a smaller U inside each toe, then a little V below it. Color those V tips black so the talons look like they curl over the edge of the stump.
Pause the video any time you need more time on a step.
Put your marker next to the left foot. Draw a big upside-down J. Go up, round over the top for the head, and hook back down on the right side. Stop partway down. Do not close it, because the wing goes in that gap. This one shape is the owl's head and body together, so make it tall and round.
Make the top wide and round. A narrow top looks more like a ghost than an owl.
Draw a sideways U for the wing. Start at the open end of the body and swing it out to the right, then back in so it meets the body again. Tilt it a little on the diagonal. Add a zigzag line along the tip of the wing for feathers. Yours do not need to match Rob's. A few points or a lot of points both work.
Keep the zigzag on the outer edge so the wing looks like it is folded at the owl's side.
Only the shoulder of the back wing shows, because it tucks behind the body. Draw a small curved bump on the left side of the owl. Then go to the right side, right above the stump, and draw a short tail poking out from under the wing. Finish it with a small zigzag for the tail feathers.
Small is right here. A big back wing makes the owl look lopsided.
Draw two big circles near the top of the head, right next to each other and the same size. Inside each one, draw a crescent shape like a moon for the pupil, facing opposite directions. Add a small circle in each pupil for the light reflection. Color the pupils black and leave the reflection circles white. Big shiny eyes give the owl its sweet look.
Draw one eye, then match the second to it before you color anything in.
Draw a small V right between the eyes, add a short line across the top, and color the beak in. Then add the fluffy chest. Start on the left side of the body and draw a zigzag line across to the wing. Draw a second zigzag below it, then one more under the neck. These rows turn a plain shape into a soft feathered owl.
Uneven zigzags look more like real fluffy feathers than neat ones.
Snowy owls can be pure white, but many have dark markings. Add short spots on the wing by wiggling your marker back and forth in tiny strokes. Put a few on the back shoulder too, then scatter a small group on top of the head. Keep the spots small and spaced out. Too many and the owl stops looking snowy.
Group the spots in loose rows so they look like feather bars.
Grab colored pencils. Shade the edges of the owl's body and the snow cap with light blue and leave the middles white. Color the eyes orange or yellow. Then fill the stump with brown. Rob goes back over the stump with a darker brown for shadows and adds a little darker blue under the wing and snow. Skip the shading if you want to keep it easy.
Press lightly with blue first. You can always add more, but you cannot take it away.
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How to Draw a Snowy Owl
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