Realistic bird illustrations like Audubon’s need to be accurate, so I tried to draw the owl accurately. Firstly, I estimated the height and width of the owl. Then I put marks with my pencil where the major features were. For example, I marked where the tail started, the height of the eyes and the size of the talons. This made it easier to draw the owl because I knew where the parts of it started and stopped.
Me starting to draw between the marks. 
My finished drawing of the owl.
