Gripping an Owl
Music makers (composers) have what they call a “hook” described as …..
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to “catch the ear of the listener”. The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock, R&B, hip hop, dance, and pop.
And I think of art as having a similar focus that I like to refer to as a “grip”. A place that immediately “captures the eye of the observer”. On living things that is generally the eyes. The eyes are a sort of default area. The observer is usually predisposed to looking at eyes, and unless something else has the bravado to capture the attention, “the eyes have it”. But that doesn’t mean the artist should sit back and be lax in his presentation or them.
Owl Eyes ~ Eyes of Intensity
To begin with the eyes of a owl will capture the viewers attention. But how well they captivate or “pull the viewer in”, depends entirely how well they have been executed. So it is important for the artist to not hurry this area in his work. Time will be well spent in accomplishing precision in the placement and alignment of the eyes. If accuracy is not obtained in the final result the whole artwork will be lost. Second to that is attention to making them expressive, and the expression will be gained almost entirely from the treatment of the surrounding tissue of the eyes. In the orb of the eyeball only the relative size of the iris, really, generates any semblance of emotion. The rest will come from the immediate eyelids and eyebrows. Careful consideration of these features can produce enhancement to the eyes that will have the power to carry success to the entire piece.
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