How to Draw an Eagle

 

 

Today, we are going to study the eagle, this majestic bird. Feel free to check out the article on how to draw a bird, available on our blog.I have decided to teach you how to draw it. But before that, we're going to examine its anatomy to understand and construct the animal. Here is the description we can give of the golden eagle.

 

The golden eagle is a dark brown bird of prey with more golden-brown plumage on the head and neck. With its speed, agility, and extremely powerful talons, it catches its prey: rabbits, marmots, squirrels, and large mammals like foxes, wild and domestic cats, young mountain goats, young ibex, and young deer. It also consumes carrion if prey is scarce, as well as reptiles. Birds, including large species such as swans or cranes, crows, and seagulls have all been noted as potential prey.

He defends a territory that can reach 155 square kilometers. He is monogamous and a couple can stay together for several years or even for life. They nest at high altitudes, in cliffs, trees, or on human structures like telephone poles. The females lay one to four eggs, and both parents incubate them for 40 to 45 days.

 

We will look at the dimensions that a golden eagle can reach.

 

 

 

 

STUDY OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE FOR DRAWING

 

The golden eagle has wide wings. Its size varies: it measures from 66 to 100 cm in length, and its wingspan is generally between 1.8 and 2.34 m. Males and females weigh 4.05 kg and 6.35 kg, respectively.

 

In flight, its large wings and tail, as long as the wings are wide, characterize it. The wings becoming slightly narrower near the body, their trailing edge shows an "S" profile. It has powerful flight, punctuated by gliding; from the front, the dihedral is a flattened "V", but the raptor can also fly with flat wings or in a bell shape. It generally flies at a speed of 45-50 km/h, but can go up to 130 km/h. In a dive, its speed can approach 320 km/h.

 

We now move on to the feathers of this one.

In adults, the background plumage is mainly fairly dark brown, with the feathers on the top and back of the head and nape (the mantle) a light reddish-brown or yellowish-brown, earning it the name "golden eagle," and while they can vary in color from one individual to another, they do not change with age.

The remiges and rectrices are gray at their base, marked with a few dark bars, and the worn and faded feathers form an irregular pale area on the wings; the underside of the wings is generally more reddish than the rest of the body. Some individuals have white "shoulder marks" (actually wrist feathers); the feathers on the tarsus vary from white to dark brown.

 

The chick is entirely white; the juvenile has fairly uniform plumage and is darker than the adult, without any pale areas, which in mature individuals is due to feather wear. The primary and secondary externals have a white base, forming a white area on the top of the wing, interspersed with black, and on the underside a large "shield", sometimes reduced to a simple spot. The base of the tail feathers is also white, and only their tip is black, forming a dark band at the end of the juvenile's tail, fading with the years.

Over time, the white gradually disappears, with that on the tail sometimes remaining while the wings no longer have it; adult plumage is generally reached by the fifth year. When perched, the tip of the adult's wings reaches near the end of the tail, whereas in the juvenile it reaches higher.

 

 

Now that we know more about this animal, we are going to draw it. To do this, we will take a reference image to understand how to draw an eagle. Here is the reference on the side.

 

 

 

 

By carefully observing the reference image, we notice that the eagle has a rounded body. It can be represented as an oval. The animal's neck will be represented by a cylinder, thus connecting the eagle's head and body.

 

 

 

 

DRAW THE HEAD

 

We will now focus on the head. First, we will look at its anatomy. As you can see in this reference image, the skull is slightly rounded and its end is triangular in shape. The eye sockets are slightly recessed and are located on the sides of the skull. They can be represented by circles.

 

 

 

 

We will break it all down by making a circle for the base of the skull, and the beak will be represented by two triangles whose ends will be curved. To draw the eyes, which are quite close to the beak, just draw a circle the same goes for the animal's pupils. After that, make two rectangles perpendicular to themselves to represent the eyebrow arch.

 

 

 

Now that the head is done, we will move on to the member that allows flying.

 

 

 

 

THE EAGLE'S WINGS

 

The eagle has large wings. On these are arranged the feathers that allow it to fly. We are going to see how this is constructed. First, we will do some anatomy to understand well. The feathers attach directly to the muscle, which is connected to the animal's pectorals. As you can see in this reference here.

 

 

 

We will represent the wings with thin, long triangles to give them that particular shape. We will place them perpendicular to themselves, once again. The plumage can be represented by a half-circle or a simple curve. The feathers overlap each other and will be detailed later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE DESIGN OF FEATHERS

 

Let's move on to feathers. We notice that all the feathers go in the same direction: downwards, perpendicular to the ground. We observe that the shape of a feather can be broken down into several shapes:

 

Its base is made of a triangle

Its environment will be represented by a rectangle slightly rounded at the corners

Its end can be drawn by an oval in which we will insert triangles to give it a feathered look.

We can also see it in this reference. Here is another way to see how feathers can interlock with each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a way to build a feather. But it can also be rectangular with rounded corners. You can also discover another type of feather thanks to the article how to draw a feather, found in our blog ;)

This brings us now to making the eagle's legs.

 

 

 

 

 

THE EAGLE'S CLAWS

 

The legs will be represented by two deformed cylinders for the thigh followed by other straight, long cylinders for the base of the animal's leg. It consists of a small rectangle perpendicular to the thigh. Lastly, the claws will be shaped into several triangles, which are then rounded off to give them a pointed and claw-like appearance. Here is a reference image to help you visualize the eagle's claws.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To conclude, we will talk about the raptor's tail.

The tail is made up of fan-shaped feathers. To draw it, we will construct an arc of a circle and place perpendicular lines on it. These lines will allow drawing the feathers in the shape of rectangles with rounded corners, adding a triangle to draw the tips of the feathers. The feathers all point in different directions as shown here; they are represented by the lines drawn inside the eagle’s wings.

 

 

 

 

 

FINALIZE THE EAGLE DRAWING

 

Once all the basics are laid, we can draw the animal's curves

 

 

 

 

Now you know everything about this bird of prey. One rule for good drawing: observe the simple shapes around us that can be found in various objects, animals, or other things. Here to finish, a golden eagle.

 

 

 

Observation is the key word to be able to draw. During this article, we can see that it is always necessary to start with a general shape before moving on to the details. Detail is very complex and it's the first thing one wants to highlight. Big mistake! It's better to forget them when starting out. You can begin to add details gradually, once you are more comfortable with your pencil.

 

 

 

Illustrator and writer: Laure-Hélène