How to Draw an Eagle

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1. Қадам 1

   Draw the body as one oval and stop there.

   Nearly every bird is one egg-shaped mass with everything else attached to it. Draw the egg in one motion and let its tilt say what the bird is doing.

   Ескерту Building the body from several small arcs.

   Тексеру The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. Қадам 2

   Draw the skull as a small circle above the body.

   Bird heads are smaller relative to the body than beginners expect - usually about a quarter of the body length. Measure against the egg before you commit.

   Ескерту An oversized head, which turns the bird into a cartoon.

   Тексеру About four head-widths should fit along the body.

3. Қадам 3

   Draw the neck on both sides.

   Even a short-necked bird has a neck: two curves joining head to body, front and back. Without them the head floats and the bird reads as a snowman.

   Ескерту Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   Тексеру Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. Қадам 4

   Add the beak.

   The beak grows out of the skull rather than sitting on its surface, and its angle continues the line of the head. Shape and size are the strongest species cues on the whole bird.

   Ескерту Sticking the beak flat onto the front of the circle.

   Тексеру The top edge of the beak should line up with the skull.

5. Қадам 5

   Draw the eye, then fill the pupil.

   A bird's eye sits high and close to the beak. Small, dark, with one highlight - and its position matters far more than its rendering.

   Ескерту Placing the eye centrally, which deadens the whole face.

   Тексеру The eye should be nearer the beak than the back of the head.

6. Қадам 6

   Draw the wing over the body.

   The folded wing lies ON the body, crossing its outline. That overlap is what attaches it - a wing drawn inside the body outline reads as a pattern, not a limb.

   Ескерту Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   Тексеру The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. Қадам 7

   Sketch the feather groups on the wing.

   Feathers come in groups, and the groups are what you draw - two or three curved rows, not individual feathers. The eye supplies the rest reliably.

   Ескерту Drawing every feather, which turns the wing into a fence.

   Тексеру You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. Қадам 8

   Add the legs - further back than they look.

   Legs attach much further back than they appear to, because the visible leg is really the bird's foot and ankle. Get the attachment point right and the balance follows.

   Ескерту Legs planted centrally, which makes the bird tip forward.

   Тексеру The legs should attach behind the middle of the egg.

9. Қадам 9

   Draw the tail as one shape, not separate feathers.

   The tail continues the body's line rather than being stuck on the end. Draw it as one shape - separate feathers come last if at all.

   Ескерту A tail at war with the angle of the body.

   Тексеру The tail's top edge should flow from the back line.

10. Қадам 10

    Shape the chest and underside.

    The breast is the fullest curve on the bird and it carries the pose. Round it generously - a flat chest makes any bird look deflated.

    Ескерту A flat front, which loses the bird's volume.

    Тексеру The chest should be the roundest curve on the drawing.

11. Қадам 11

    Block in the eagle pattern.

    Markings follow the body's form - they curve as the body curves. Flat pattern drawn over a round form cancels all the volume you just built.

    Ескерту Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    Тексеру Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. Қадам 12

    Suggest the breast feathers - three or four V-marks.

    Three or four short V-marks down the breast, each curving with the chest rather than sitting flat, and the whole bird reads as feathered. They also confirm the body's roundness - marks on a form must bend with it, which is the same rule as every stripe and patch on the site.

    Ескерту Covering the breast evenly, which turns the bird into a pinecone.

    Тексеру The marks should bend the same way as the chest outline.

13. Қадам 13

    Put the surface in, and the shadow under the body.

    One line under the feet and one flattened shadow arc beneath the body, darkest between the legs. A bird with no ground floats in white space no matter how well it is built - and the shadow also confirms where the legs actually are, which birds hide well.

    Ескерту Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

    Тексеру The shadow should sit directly below the body's widest point.

14. Қадам 14

    Weight the outline and lose the construction.

    Weight the silhouette and the beak, keep the feather marks light, erase the construction. The contrast in line weight is what separates finished from traced.

    Ескерту Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    Тексеру Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.