Wood Burning – realistic Barn Owl

This is not a tutorial blog.  Instead, this is just an easy way for me to provide the reference material, patterns, and YouTube link for the artwork.   That said, I will provide some progress photos and discuss a couple of things. 

I apologize if you already received this post.  I had a weird glitch on my website that removed this post, so I had to recreate it. 

Click on the video thumbnail to watch the YouTube tutorial.  Or click on this link:  https://youtu.be/mQwrnHZZbWI

The artwork is based on this Pixabay photo I modified. 

In the original photo, the perch is barely visible, so I photoshopped a perch from another artwork I did onto the photo.  Also, I cropped most of the background from the photo. 

The only reason I did the photos shop work was to show the customer what I planned to do.  It’s much easier to edit a photo than it is pyrography artwork. 

Here’s a link to the photo on Pixabay:   https://pixabay.com/photos/barn-owl-bird-owl-perched-2988291/

This is a black and white version of the photo.

I do not have a pattern for this artwork. 

Instead, all I have is this photo of the artwork after I burned in my trace lines. 

This is as close to a pattern that I have. 

Below are options for other barn owls.  Be aware that the techniques I explain in the video tutorial can be used with any of the barn owl patterns.

This is a photo of a barn owl that I took at the Oregon zoo.

Here’s the pattern for the photo:  Barn Owl pattern

Here’s my version of the owl.  This was my first attempt at creating an owl. 

I did this artwork back in 2015, so it’s been a few years. 

There are a lot of things I’d do differently now.  One of the main things I’d do is reduce how dark the background is.  The dark background makes it difficult to see the details on the face.   The face looks like a ghost with tiny black eyes.

I also have two patterns for barn owls available on my Etsy page. 

Owl looking down.     https://www.etsy.com/listing/732459775/barn-owl-pyrography-pattern-wood-burning

Side view of an owl.   https://www.etsy.com/listing/756106102/barn-owl-ii-pyrography-pattern-wood

The Etsy patterns will have watermark free images, and a line drawing for the pattern.  If you happen to buy a pattern, thank you!  YouTube keeps changing things, so the revenue continues to decline despite the fact that I have more subscribers.   So purchasing a pattern helps pay for this website.

Let’s talk about the owl’s face.  The face has the most feather direction changes on the entire owl.  The face is also the focal point, so it’s important to replicate the main features of the face.

The green box (upper right) has green lines drawn over the face.  The lines represent the direction the feathers are growing.  Notice how they radiate outward from the eyes.

The black box (left side) has black lines along the edges of the nose feathers marked.  These feathers radiate out from the eyes, and met along the top of the nose ridge.

The blue box (right center) shows the direction I burned the feathers around the eye.  I started the burn strokes very close to the eye and pulled the nib outward toward the edge of the face.   

The red box (right bottom) shows the other direction I burned the feathers on the face.   In this case, I started the burn strokes on the edge of the face and pulled the nib towards the eye.

Why?  I was using pull away strokes as my burn method.  Pull away strokes start darker than they end.  This made the area around the eye darker than the rest of the face area.  That helps recess the eyes down into the face surface.   The darker the area is around the eyes, the deeper or more recessed the eyes will seem.

I also burned pull away strokes along the outer edge of the feather.  This made the center of the feathers darker than the edges, and that creates a bowed appearance.  I didn’t do a lot of reburning along the outer edges, so the outer edges aren’t very dark.  As a result, the bow on the feathers is slight.

I think the thing that most people are interested in is how to create the texture found on the wings.  This image shows my 3-step process that I used on the dark areas of the wing.   The top row shows individual steps.  The bottom row shows how the texture looks as each step is layered on top of the previous step.

Box 1 show a patch of circular motion.  I used the flat of a shader while burning and purposely incorporate tonal variety.

Box 2 shows a bunch of squiggly lines.  The lines were created using a writer nib.

Box 3 shows more circular motion.  The difference is that I burned small patches of dark circular motion here and there.  I did not adjust the heat on my burner for this.  Instead, I either slowed down my hand speed, or reburned over an small area several times.

In this progress photo I have blocked in most of the darker markings on the flight feathers (long wing feathers). 

I have created the dark texture on the shoulder or back of the owl next to the background.  This area isn’t that noticeable, so it’s a good spot to start burning the dark wing texture on. 

I would also recommend practicing the texture on scrap wood before using it on your artwork.  This is something I always tell myself I should do, but never seem to.  At least I do try to test out ideas in the inconspicuous areas.   

The wing has a number of white spots with dark rings.  I used a writer nib to burn around each white spot.  When burning over the rest of the wing, I was very careful to avoid burning over the white spots.

More of the wing has been burned in. 

With the wing, I tend to work small areas at a time.  I think this helped me work out any problems with the texture I wanted to create.  Plus, it allows me to see how the texture is taking shape and make sure that this is what I want on the entire wing.

Another thing I like to do is work my way down the wing burning one row of markings at a time. 

For me this is makes it easier to keep my place when consulting with the reference photo.   

I did a lot of consulting with the reference photo.  More than I normally do because the artwork was commissioned.  I wanted to do my best to replicate the photo the customer had selected.   

Honestly, I think that a lot of the details I added in the artwork went unnoticed.  Regardless, I enjoyed creating the details.

I should mention that I with the tan areas on the wing I just burned circular motion.  I didn’t add the squiggly line or the dark patches.  I did make sure to incorporate tonal variety.

In this photo, the owl has been blocked in. 

Notice how the really dark background adjacent to the face makes the face stand out. 

The background gets lighter the further from the face you get.  That also helps keep focus on the face.   

If you have a pale subject, I highly recommend using this approach.   Dark by the face, and lighter in color the further away from the face you get.   If you subject is dark in color, then do the opposite.  Light in color by the face, and darker the in the color the further away from the face you get.  The reason is that this creates high contrast near the face helping remain as the focal point.

The owl’s perch is barely visible in the reference photo, and I didn’t like that. 

My solution was to create a bark-less tree stump.  I didn’t bother with tree bark because I wanted the stump to be noticed and then quickly ignored.  Keeping the stump fairly basic ensured that this happened. 

I want to point out the dark border around the edges of the artwork.  If you look, you can see areas where the border isn’t completely burned in.  I use those areas to blot (rub) the nib before I start burning. 

Every time I consult with the reference photo, I light the nib up and away from the board.  During that time, heat begins to build up on the nib.   The excess heat will create an extra dark burn result when you first resume burning.  I blot the nib on the border to remove the excess heat.

This photo shows the owl after I’ve done a few rounds of re-burning.  I do a lot of reburning to slowly build up the color.  I seldom adjust the heat setting on my burning.

Here’s the final artwork. 

I used a combination of pyrography and a heat gun to create the background.

I like using a heat gun on backgrounds because it usually turns the wood a different color than the pyrography does.  I think this helps the subject stand out more.  I do have a product review blog on the heat gun.  Here’s a link:  Heat Gun Review 

Here’s an Amazon affiliate link to the heat gun: https://amzn.to/3QZq0KE

Below are the particulars for this artwork.

Size:  8 1/2″ wide x 12″ tall (21.6 x 30.5 cm)

Burn time: 20 ¼ hours

Wood: Basswood (also called linden, common linden, or common lime)

Date Completed: July 19, 2022

IN CONCLUSION

That is it for this blog.  Even though it wasn’t a tutorial, I hope the information and photos were helpful.

Brenda

Nov 11, 2026

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