Project Owlbear

Thought I'd actually show how I do a piece from beginning to end for once. In this case it's the upcoming Owlbear challenge for ArtOrder. The brief was to try to reinvent the critter away from it's previous versions. Now, this is a fairly classic monster. Usually portrayed as a really big bear on all fours with an owls beak and head. My thought was to move more into humanoid territory, changing to an upright posture, but still very ursine and awkward. I'll try to get rid of any fur and have them completely feathered, using patterns of Great Horned Owls. (There are few more foul tempered birds I can think of, which fits the Owlbear as well.) So here is the drawing of the three, composited from three separate drawings I did during the week. I will update as I go along here on the sketchblog.