Caroline
Eagles are one of the most magnificent and regal bird species in the world. These predators have a sense of pride and power about them, and the bald eagle is even the national bird of the United States.
While eagles may not be beloved by small rodents around the world, they are certainly adored by many bird lovers.
If you have also been captivated by the eagle before and would like to draw one, then we have the guide for you.
We created this guide on how to draw an eagle in 7 easy steps to help you draw this wonderful bird of prey!
How to Draw An Eagle – Let’s get Started!
Ways You Can Prepare For This Drawing
We’re all set to begin this guide, but we wanted to give you a few things to keep in mind before you start the drawing. Bearing these tips in mind will help you to make learning how to draw an eagle much easier.
They can also help you to make your drawing more unique, so let’s see what we can do. One way you can make your drawing easier is by being as prepared as possible.
We have a series of images in the guide to show you what to do, but you can use more pictures you find yourself to make it even simpler. You will find many photos of eagles online, for example.
They don’t have to be identical to ours, but if you can find similar ones then even better. Try to pay attention to the posing and finer details of the eagle, and then see how you can incorporate them.
Also see the general shape of the eagle, how the wings relate to the body and how the feathers react to movement. You can also look at the general shape and then quickly sketch it out roughly.
You don’t have to make it perfect, as this is just so you can get an idea of the shape and general structure. Try to have a different selection of pencils of various shades that can allow you to sketch and add details in layers.
As you can see, the general idea is to be as prepared as poosble as you create this eagle drawing. This will help you as you move through the guide and maybe make you more confident when adding your own details and ideas.
With all that said, let’s begin the first step of the guide.
Step 1
In this first step of our guide on how to draw an eagle, we will start on the head and beak of your eagle.
To start with, you can use a curved line to make the neck of the eagle. Then, carefully draw some thinner curved lines to form the slightly open beak as it appears in the reference image.
Step 2 – Next, draw the eye and wing
To continue with your eagle drawing, for this step we shall add the eye and wing. The eye is a simple black circle with a small bit of white within it.
Don’t forget to add a line for the nostril! Then, it’s time for the first wing. This will start with a long, curved line extending up from the end of the neck.
You can then bring it down again with lots of jagged edges for the feathers of the wings.
The feathers should start to become less sharp and jagged the further down you get, however, and near the end of the wing they should start looking more like bumps.
Step 3 – Now, draw the body of the eagle
Eagles are more than just a head and wing, so in this step of our guide on how to draw an eagle, we will start on the body of your eagle.
To start, carefully draw a curved line coming down from the beak of the eagle. They will end at some straighter lines that will make up the top of the legs as they appear in the reference picture.
Once you’re happy with it, we can move on to the next step!
Step 4 – Draw the tail and another wing for your eagle
You’ve already drawn one wing for your eagle drawing, so in this step we shall draw another one.
This wing will be on the other side of the body and will be slightly smaller to show perspective. Other than that, it will be very similar to the wing that you drew earlier.
Once you have that draw, you can add a wide tail using two straighter lines that are joined by a bumpy line to suggest feathers.
Step 5 – Let’s give your eagle some talons
Eagles are well known for many things, and one of them is their efficiency as predators. They use their sharp talons to catch prey before they know what’s even happening!
Your eagle needs some talons, so we shall draw some in this step of our guide on how to draw an eagle.
As you can see in our reference image, they will start thin for the leg and then extend into curved, sharp lines for the ends of the talons. With the talons done, your eagle drawing is really taking shape!
Step 6 – Draw some feather details for your eagle
You’re almost ready for the coloring stage of your eagle drawing! We will be adding many lines in this step, and while it may look intimidating in the reference picture it will be easier than you think.
Details can make all the difference in an image, even if they’re simple. The feather details will be mostly concentrated in the wings to give them some depth.
You can use some sharply curved lines in a row to create some feather detail and then extend some lines inward from the tips.
Finally, you can add some details as you wish to the rest of your eagle drawing! We concentrated most detail on the body and tail of our eagle, but you should add any details that look good to you!
Step 7 – Finish off your eagle drawing with some color
Your eagle has been drawn, and now comes the fun part of coloring in your beautiful drawing!
For this step, you should let your creativity run wild and use your favorite colors and art mediums to finish it off.
Eagles come in many different varieties, and that means they come in many different colors! You have many options if you ish to keep the color scheme realistic, but don’t feel constrained by that!
You could also create a stylistic eagle using your favorite bright colors.
Once you’ve decided on your colors, which art mediums will you use to finish it off? Will you go with a painterly style by using acrylics and watercolors or go detailed with colored pens and pencils?
There are many more options too, and we can’t wait to see what you choose!
3 More tips to make your eagle drawing easy!
Take flight for smooth flying as we show you how to make this eagle drawing even easier.
Eagles are truly beautiful, majestic creatures, and they can be quite a challenge to draw. There are lots of elements such as their feathers, wings and talons that have to look just right.
Even though we helped you with these in the guide, you can still make it even easier by using some reference images.
Using some photos of eagles along with the steps in our guide can make it so much easier to draw any tricky parts.
It would also help when portraying fine texture details such as those on the feathers. With a reference and the images in our guide, you will find this an easy to draw eagle!
The steps in this guide were specially created to walk you through the process in a way that would be fun and easy.
We would recommend really looking closely at the images in our guide as you create this drawing of an eagle.
You should also be sure to take your time with it and go slowly to make sure that you don’t draw anything you didn’t mean to.
Drawing is never a race, and it’s fun to just take your time and make sure that you end up with a truly stunning image!
Drawing with ink is always thrilling, but it ratchets up the pressure immensely. We always recommend using a pencil to draw at first, as you can erase any mistakes.
If you want to make this eagle as accurate as possible, then you can start out with light pencils and do several layers over with progressively darker pencils.
Then, once you are happy with the lines, it’s time to get your pen out and draw over the final lines. It’s just a matter of erasing your pencil after that!
Ink can sometimes take a while to dry, so make sure to let the ink dry completely before you erase it. It would be a pity to smudge ink all over your hard work!
Your Eagle Drawing is Complete
That brings us to the end of this step-by-step guide on how to draw an eagle! When you saw how detailed this drawing was going to be, it may have seemed like an intimidating drawing challenge to take on.
We hope that by using the steps of this guide while taking it slow, you came to realize that it can be easy if you know what to do!
We created this guide to be both informative and fun, so we hope you had a great time with it!
Now it’s up to you to put some finishing touches on your beautiful drawing.
Whether you do this with extra details, some beautiful colors, the art mediums you use or maybe even a stunning background, there are no limits to the creativity you can use for this artwork of yours!
Your drawing journey doesn’t have to finish here though! Be sure to check out our site often, as we constantly upload new step-by-step drawing guides like this one!
We would be thrilled to see your amazing eagle drawing, so once you finish it we hope you will share it on our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to enjoy!
