Marc Häberlin's artistic practice developed from animal painting, which he learned as a youth from the painter, graphic artist, and draftsman Willy Bär (1909–1977). Watercolor painting gave way to the masterful combination of charcoal, chalk, and colored pencil, which today is part of Häberlin's artistic signature. What remains is the detailed interpretation of complex structures and the subtle color gradients that lend his works a special magic and fragile vibrancy.

In the course of his artistic development, which only resumed in his mature years after a decades-long hiatus, the artist increasingly moved away from the lifelike depiction of the animal world. He experimented with abstract color gradients, explored the microcosm and the essential nature of his subjects in close-ups, or placed them in a surprising context.