Adding colour to my Owls

I've decided that I will create an owl character influenced by Rayner. I already have the first hand sketches so my next stage is to paint a selection of the sketches and then decide which one has the most appeal. I will then develop that owl further sticking to the style of Catherine Rayner to create my character. When I feel that my owl character has a professional look I'll create the final illustration. 

Here are a few of the owls I've already painted I'll add more images when I've finished painting them. 

Adding Watercolour

While studying images done by Rayner I noticed that her images are made up of dark and light splashes of watercolour to made up the body. Rayner likes to use colours that wouldn't naturally be found on certain animals, like blue or green. To finish off her illustrations she outlines the painting with one of the darker colours used in the overall painting. 

e.g.

So taking in this information I decided to pick a few animals to practice Rayners style I used her main medium, watercolour.

These are images of two of my first attempts at Rayners style. I used splashes of water colour both light and dark and I outlined them using the darkest colour from each image just like Rayner. This is part of an unfinished study so you might see more of these images in the future.

Working Like Catherine Rayner

For me to learn and understand Catherine Rayners style I thought it would be best to go and take some first hand sketches just like Catherine Rayner would do at Edinburgh zoo. However I live a great deal away from a zoo so I went for the next best thing, an owl sanctuary. I went with a note book and artist pencils to take first hand sketches. Some of the owls sat nicely and I was able to take some nice sketches but other owls made it challenging. Overall I feel I got some decent sketches that where full of little details that I wouldn't have achieved if I'd worked from an image. 

I also took some photographs of the birds so I could work on the sketches later in watercolour using the style of Catherine Rayner.

Catherine Rayner

Catherine Rayner studied illustration at Edinburgh college of art.

Rayner is an award winning author and illustrator, she is best known for her children's books from which she has won most of her awards. She uses her pets as models for her illustrations and her inspiration comes from her love for animals. One of her biggest inspirations is her little grey cat Ena, she frequently studies her posture and movement. She then translates the sketches of Ena into characters such as dragons and hares.This is one of the main reasons her illustrations are so successful. 

For her first picture book 'August and his Smile' Rayner spent many hours watching and sketching tigers at Edinburgh zoo. She has filled many a sketch book studying different animals at Edinburgh zoo, another reason for her beautiful illustrations.