Artist Response: Ernest Howard Shepard

I decided to do a second response to Ernest H. Shepard's 'Mr Toad' because I like the aspects of his work, particularly drawing animals in human clothing. My second response is of an owl. Again, like the first response, I searched on Google to find an image of an owl and then drew it in my sketch book in the style of Ernest Shepard.

Owl response in sketch book

This is the owl response that I did in my sketch book. I think that this is successful because it responds to Shepard's work well; it is an animal drawn in black, wearing formal human clothing, standing upright. I drew the same suit on the owl that is on the frog.

Owl response on Illustrator

This first version of the owl character that I did on Illustrator was an experiment with fast, scruffy lines. I did this because I thought that it might have given it a unique look, but unfortunately it wasn't successful and it looks very rushed and unprofessional. Because this response was so unsuccessful, I designed another version on Illustrator.

 

Owl response on Illustrator

As you can see, this is a very different response to the first, in terms of line and colour. This version is more successful than the first because it is more recognizable as an owl and as a character. The first one looks too messy and distracts you from the fact that it is an owl because you're focusing too much on trying to figure out what it is and why the lines are like that. This response has block colours, making it more attractive to the viewer because there isn't a lot going on and you can see distinctive detail whereas you cannot in the first response. 

My next step is going to be drawing more characters in the style of Ernest Howard Shepard and then experimenting with processes, techniques and materials as I have done most of my work Illustrator-based so far.