Are you captivated by the wild beauty of eagles, hawks, owls, and falcons? Their fierce demeanor and spunk have fired the imaginations of kings and falconers since the Middle Ages. If you've ever yearned to capture that incredible spirit on paper or canvas, you will be delighted with what you can learn in this Drawing Eagles, Hawks & Owls Workbook.
This is a completely revised and greatly expanded version of Irene Brady's How to Draw Raptors (no longer available). It is, in fact, barely related ~ having been totally disassembled, reworked and improved to encompass many new illustrations, fresh concepts, step-by-step tutorials, anatomy details, and a copy-right-free photo gallery.
If you already have a copy of How to Draw Raptors, you will find that this one takes you considerably further along the path. Look here at a sample page from this new workbook.
That sample page is the second of three tutorial pages on planning and executing a sketch from a live bird. It features an owl photo, but if you have access to a live model, you could use that. The gallery of copyright-free photos features a great horned owl, red-tailed hawk, and bald eagle for you to practice on ~ including large versions of the owl photos on the sample page.
This workbook is just FULL of good information about how to sketch these birds, how to get the effects you want with your pencil, and how to nab the moment before the bird moves to another position (and what to do when it does).
But that's not all. Because some knowledge of what's under the feathers is vitally
important to enable you to draw a convincing bird, there is a section on anatomy that
may leave you open-mouthed: did you know raptors can't move their eyes (and how that will affect your drawing)?
Did you know that a barn owl has a greatly warped skull because its two earholes are entirely different sizes and shapes?
Learn how to draw feathers that look real, and to position them realistically on wings and tails.
Learn how raptors can fly silently and how that effects what you draw when sketching them.
Other things are covered, too:
- how can you tell if the vulture you are sketching is upset?
- is it okay to handle and sketch a bird that hits your livingroom window?
- how can you jump-start your sketches so you don't waste time?
- how can you draw in a convincing eye if you are working from a stuffed bird?
- what do you need to know about talons and raptor feet to make them look real?
- what do falcons and kestrels have up their noses? (is that a trick question?)
- what happens if your sketchpad slants when you are drawing?
Supplies you'll need to complete the projects in this workbook include:
Recommended, but perhaps not essential:
- spiral sketchbook with heavy paper pages
- .5 mechanical pencil loaded with HB lead
- .5 mechanical pencil loaded with 2B lead
- kneaded eraser
- white clickable eraser
- small tortillon (also called stump or smudger)
- ballpoint pen with black ink, fine to medium point
- Umbrella, folding chair, cushion, water bottle.... whatever you need to make you comfortable during a sketching session with a raptor.