Anthropomorphism & Owls

Since I've finished uni I've been incredibly happy that I can draw what I want, do what I want, in any style/media, without feeling like I'm not adding to a project that demands something specific, or without knowing that some all knowing lecturer is going to whisper in my ear that, no that will not get me marks, and yes it is pointless. Despite this, one of the best things I learnt when I was there, and from probably the weirdest tutor too, was about anthropomorphism, which is when you attribute human characteristic to something not human, things that don't live or are from a different species or are inanimate in real life. Greek mythology and illustration have roots in anthropomorphic objects as well as lots of other lines that I can't be bothered to go over, there are deeper meanings included in the same realm, religion for instance, but that's not what I'm interested in. In literature, fairy tales have pretty much made the idea popular, Alice in Wonderland for instance, in which someone like the White Rabbit speaks like a human and has little human quirks and disorders. Since I now all the time to draw what I want I like the idea of expanding on all the creatures I made for other projects. All my work from 2008 onwards has been about other worlds, utopias and dystopias, so I frequently made beings to inhabit it (most probably because drawing figuratively bores me mainly.)

This is one of the newest drawings I finished yesterday, which is meant to depict an owl, although the human hands are part of the wings. It's not really anthropomorphism in that the owl has a personality and the quirks of a human like the White Rabbit, but more that the human form is literally part of him. I think I'm going to carry on with a set on them based on other animals or insects. I do like drawing insects. This also reminds me of the book Gethin bought me The Owl Service, which is a Welsh legend about a woman turned into an owl for punishment. Although, for some reason I think my owl looks like a man, haha.