I found this source image where the line of the beak went right in to the line of the eyebrow and it seemed cool and different from I es I’d been studying.
So I drew another couple eagles from that.
And this one. I noticed a curve in that ridge on the beak I wasn’t getting right before. Although I guess each eagle could be different but in the one I noticed the s-curve in a new way to my eye.
I did a 60 second sketch yesterday of a lion and then did a real one tonight and spent idk an hour maybe.
Here’s a few of the making of, and the one of the final version. I used a photo for reference on my iPad (mini), and here’s a similar one of Luke on Flickr.
I always start with the eyes and build out the rest from there.
I like the partially done versions.
For these drawings I added black feathers around the head, which helped to show off the contrast of the white head feathers.
A couple more from my sketchbook.
I’ve only done this once I think, where I made a black background to help make the white head of the eagle stand out…
Recently I saw this person’s drawings that are done with white “ink” on black paper. I found it to be different and really liked their drawings. 😉
I did these 3 drawings a while ago. They’re posted in the order I drew then about a week apart for each.
Normally I draw in pencil, but for these I used a black pen.
With pencil I erase and smudge the drawing. With pen those don’t happen…
Growing up we had a sailboat and this image is what it looked like.
This eagle portrait was not based on a specific source image, and I like the bit of crazy / unkempt it conveys.
I started to use a smaller sketch pad that I got a while ago, I brought it with me to a coffee shop and somewhere else so I could draw more.
Here are a couple of drawings from yesterday and one from today.
Yesterday was 2 takes on the same source image Cooper’s hawk.
I like the first one better. The closely placed eyes are true to the little bird’s place in the raptor pecking order…
The second one didn’t quite work out line weight and “feel”-wise.
This one I like, it’s pretty dark and matches the coloring of the source image well.
Both source images were taken in Cape May during the fall migration.
I’ve started a slightly new way (to me) of learning to draw a new bird. I’m doing small versions right next to each other. This makes it easier to iterate and compare each version. It also means I can draw each one quicker because they’re smaller 😉.
Here’s the source image.
These are the two side by side versions, the one on the right is my second try.
Trying to figure out the size and placement of features.
And then getting it better. I think I really improved. There so much feather and hair detail around the eye and beak that’s easy to miss or overlook.
One thing I want to get better at is capturing the essence in fewer lines/strokes.
Noodling around and drawing this small part of a photo, working on the female osprey’s head…
I made 4 small sketches and like the first and last ones best.
