Owls: Easily Offended

Whenever I'm working on a new design for something I spend some time playing around with options.  Well today I was thinking in terms of owls, and here is the resulting page from my sketchbook (complete with informative factoids):

Three guesses which is Nathan's favorite.  (Hint: I used it as the title for this entry.)

As you can see, I not only try out different images, but also different styles, searching for what will fit best with what I have in mind.  It's possible (probable) that I won't end up using any of these particular owls for my project- but they plant seeds that will blossom into future ideas.  For instance, "Death Heart Owl" up there made me think, "Ooo, what if I did a cool, stylized-in-a-Victorian-valentine-heart-type-way owl?"  What, indeed.