How To Draw A Eagle Wings

How to Draw a Bald Eagle

Step 1

Start by drawing in the beak of your Bald Eagle.

Step 2

Next add the white head outline that is so typical of the Bald Eagle.

Step 3

After you finish your Bald Eagle drawing why not color it in like this!

Bald Eagle watercolor drawing by Patrick Livingstone

Click on the Eagle above to find out how I created these colorful images from my Bald Eagle drawing.

I used watercolor paints and masking fluid, both available from BLICK art supplies.

Click on any Bald Eagle below to see a bigger one!

Ideas and Techniques in graphite pencil for drawing a Bald Eagle

Pencil hardness for the bald eagle drawing

Once you have finished your easy to draw Bald Eagle there is a lot more to learn that would serve you well in your more advanced animal drawing. I recommend watching the video below of me drawing a DOG in graphite pencil. In the video, I am practicing a method whereby I initially draw the volumes of the animal with straightforward circles. This gives a solid foundation for your animal drawing, and also you can use precisely the very same strategy in your Bald Eagle drawing.

As soon as the circles are finished, you can join them up to create the right proportions of the body, neck and head of your animal. Then include lines to stand for the position and also the size of the legs and the tail. With this guide in position, you can relax in the knowledge that the general proportions of the animal, in this instance, a Rottweiler, are appropriate. From here on it's much easier to obtain an excellent likeness. Successful rendering of the qualities that we acknowledge in a drawing as being unique to a Bald Eagle, to offer one example, entails sketching the volumes correctly.

Once you have actually completed the line drawing of your Bald Eagle you can move on to the next step, the shading, and the portraying of the feathers of its plumage. Now, it's a good idea to discuss the different pencils readily available, and the methods you may actually find beneficial.

Graphite pencils are graded according to their approximate hardness. The harder the pencil, the lighter the line it makes on the page. The softest pencil will certainly make a very dark line, also having a variety of hardness will provide depth and also a more dramatic atmosphere to your Bald Eagle drawing.

To be more specific, pencils are rated for hardness and softness using the HB range. A normal set of 5 pencils appropriate for animal drawing as a whole, can typically vary from 8B, the softest, to HB, the hardest. You can acquire harder pencils than HB, however, these are better suited to technical drawing. When you try to make do with just a single HB pencil, you will certainly discover that you are pressing down too hard in a futile attempt to get a dark enough tone. Switching to a softer pencil is a far better solution, particularly as a collection of five pencils is not too pricey. You can see the difference it can create in the diagram below.

Do reward the artist in you with a decent set of pencils in a variety of degrees of softness, as it will certainly open a broad sphere of opportunities for you in all your animal drawing. I additionally suggest that you make use of a good paper or board to work on. This will help your drawing tremendously in regards to giving a top quality look to the completed product. If you want to frame several of your more successful drawings, they will look so much better if the paper is sufficiently thick to remain flat under glass.

Watch this video to get tips and learn techniques that you can apply, should you like to do a more advanced drawing of a Bald Eagle.

Choose Your Next Animal 2 Draw!

Ideas and Techniques in colored pencil for drawing a Bald Eagle

Ideas for easy Bird drawing in colored pencil

I'm a big advocate of colored pencils when it comes to sketching animals in general, and for including some color to your sketch of a Bald Eagle, they are simply the best. They are actually very easy to use, providing an amazing level of control, and also you can tidy them away quickly after you have finished drawing for that day.

They do not set you back as much as many other art materials, and also you can find a significant choice of colors to select from. They are absolutely perfect for newbies to explore the essentials of color theory, something that will certainly serve them well for the rest of their lives, likewise if it's not directly connected to drawing animals.

When you want to redecorate your home or condo or perhaps coordinating your selection of what you want to wear for the day, you will certainly be happy you explored the essentials of colour theory, and colored pencils are an excellent way to learn.

You do not have to acquire the most costly make of colored pencils for your Eagle drawing, yet you often get what you pay for, so do not go with the cheapest ones either. You can try out hard, soft, watercolor (these are soluble in water allowing you to paint over them with a brush filled with water to soften parts of your drawing) as well as oil-based pastels.

Make sure you recognize the distinction prior to buying, especially if you get your pencils or pastels online. Purchase 2 or 3 of each sort of coloured pencil to see which kind you prefer prior to investing in a total variety of pencils. If you get a blue, red, and a yellow pencil of each kind you can have a lot of fun blending them on a page to obtain a wide variety of shades of color.

Once you've selected your favourite kind of colored pencil you can go nuts by indulging yourself acquiring a large range of colors. As an experienced artist, among the great pleasures of my life is purchasing more colors than I strictly require, just because they are so rewarding.

WHAT PAPER FUNCTIONS BEST FOR YOUR BALD EAGLE DRAWING IN COLORED PENCIL?

A great paper to choose is hot pressed watercolor paper, as it will certainly take a lot of layers of color and lends itself well to blending techniques. If you intend to re-work your animal drawing a lot when using a good board such as Bristol Board could be the very best way to go. There are two types of Bristol board to select from, the least textured surface is called "Plate", and it's also the best surface for blending as well as adding additional layers of shades of color.

The alternative surface is called "Velum", and it's not as smooth. This somewhat rougher board will certainly grip your pencil strokes better, and allow for a more distinctive appearance which could match your Anteater drawing far better, however it actually boils down to what type of look you want to attain ultimately.

As always there is no substitute for getting a few of each kind to experiment with. Only in this way will you be able to judge which board fits you best. Without a doubt, you may your choice of board in regard to the animal you wish to draw. I really do think the best strategy is trying everything out at the start, in the most cost-efficient way, naturally, to determine what your personal preferences are, both for your chosen selection of pencils and your choice of board and paper to work on.

One more possibility or paper you might have fun trying is charcoal paper. This is offered in a series of shades and has both a smooth as well as a textured surface.

Ideas and Techniques in Watercolor for drawing a Bald Eagle

Ideas for easy Watercolor for birds

Watercolor Brushes

Drawing a Bird in Watercolor is not as hard as it may appear at first glance. This is because you can use watercolor in several ways. You can use it with a huge soft round brush called a Mop, or a huge flat brush called a Wash Brush or just a "Flat". These brushes work well for backgrounds to your Bird drawing, enabling you to make use of a method called "wet in wet" which is great amusement as it is extremely easily done.

The next interesting brush for drawing Birds in Watercolor is called a Rigger. This is as it was initially designed to draw in the rigging of ships with sails. It's an elongated thin brush, not huge, yet it would be wonderful for the fine details of the feathers of the plumage of a bird . The brush you will certainly use for virtually all your other work is a number 4 or 6 "Round". This is the watercolor brush form of your pencil.

You can obtain brushes as tiny as 000, for the really finest of precise drawing in paint, and also professional wildlife artists love to use these brushes to paint in the individual hairs of the animal or animals they are painting, to obtain that exceptional look. The finest Watercolor brushes in the world are made from Kolinsky Sable. The hairs from these Martin like animals, initially from Russia, have a unique springiness which enables them to get back their form easily while holding a great quantity of watercolor or just water.

Watercolor Paper

You can select from 3 various types of watercolor paper. Let's start with smooth, additionally called "hot pressed" as it is flattened extremely smooth shortly after it comes off the rollers when it is still hot. It's wonderful for realistic work.

Next, we have a wonderful all-around paper, with a medium structure, called "Not", simply because it's likewise pressed to make it smoother, but "Not" when it's still hot, but instead after it's cooled off a bit. Lastly "Rough", which is left perfectly unpressed. Surprisingly you can still do a really realistically recreated drawing of your Anteater on "Rough" watercolor paper if you make use of a special way of working called "lifting off", yet more regarding that in the section about watercolor technique.

Watercolor Paints

By no means do you need to get "Artist's top quality" paint, to start with. It was four or 5 years after I began my professional job as an artist before I switched from student quality watercolor to Artist's quality. I would certainly, however, strongly suggest that you purchase well manufactured "student quality" watercolor paint when you draw your Anteater using Watercolor.

Personally, I prefer "Cotman" watercolor paint from Winsor and Newton in England. They can almost be used directly from the tube, as they are ready to use and already moist. In fact, it was Winsor and Newton that originated this invention of pre-moistened watercolor paint, innovating the idea in London England in 1835, not long after Queen Victoria assumed her position on the throne. This Old English firm obtained its very first Royal Warrant seven years later. I think the Queen must have liked their Watercolor paint!

Watercolor Technique

" Wet in wet" is the most fun you can have with watercolor, painting directly right into either moistened paper or a colored wash that has actually not yet dried. You can affect the outcome enormously by varying the amount of dampness when you paint right into the wash or damp paper. Experiment with this simply for the enjoyment on a scrap sheet of watercolor paper to acquire experience as well as confidence.

" Dry Brush" is the alternative technique, excellent for including the tiniest of detailed information, and a wonderful complimentary technique to Wet in Wet. It is exactly what it seems like, using a small amount of water and paint, on a 4 or 6 Round brush, it offers an optimum amount of control for little areas. You could use this technique to draw in the detailed information of your birds face, for example or the structure of its plumage. This is likewise where you can make use of a really little brush, such as a 000 Round for instance.

The next way of painting is just one of my personal favourites for the control it offers you for developing refined tones. Generally, you cover a section with flat hue or tone and you let it dry. Then, you take a clean wet brush and then you carefully lift off the shade or tone you want to make lighter. You can make use of different sizes of brush depending upon the effect you wish to accomplish. These are just a few of the methods you can use when drawing your bird in watercolor, so begin and also don't forget to have fun!