Learning to draw the head of an eagle can be as easy as baking an apple pie.  Follow directions, practice, use your senses, and enjoy!  

 

Bald eagles and apple pies are typical American symbols.  Bald eagles are our country’s symbol of freedom and apple pie is the symbol of being, well, 'as American as apple pie!'

 

A symbol is something that represents something else, like the stars on the flag represent our 50 state and the stripes, the 13 original colonies.  We see symbols everywhere, in the classroom, in our school, our neighborhoods, on our roads. 

Recipe for Bald Eagle (Drawing, that is!)

To draw an eagle like in the example above that I did with my 3-6^th graders, here's what you can do.  (We drew on brown construction paper and used oil pastels to color him in but the sample drawing are on white paper so you can see the steps better.)  I think the beak is the most challenging part so we started there.  Try taking our "baby steps" and have fun!!

1.  Divide your paper into thirds lengthwise and then thirds again widthwise so you have a total of 9 equal rectangles.

2.  Find where the intersection of the lines meet in the upper left side. 

3.  Draw a short line downward and then make a right triangle out of it.

4.  Next round the triangle so it starts to form a beak.

5.  Draw a line from the bottom of the triangle out to the right, the same length.

6.  From the top of the triangle, draw a slightly concave line that connects forming a slightly concave triangle!

7.  Now draw the rest of the mouth by connecting the curved tip of the beak to the bottom end of the mouth.  There you have your eagle's beak!

8.  Find the intersection of the lines that come out from the top of the beak and the bottom of the mouth.  Draw a circle there for the eye.

9.  Draw a line from the top of the beak over the eye to form it's "focused" look and add the pupil.

10.  Notice where the left side of the mouth, the left side of the eye are and draw a guideline straight up.  This will be where the head starts to curve. 

11.  Now draw a line up from the top of the beak straight up and then start to aim it toward the guideline you just put in.  Stop.  Take a deep breath.   Now bring that head all the way over to the right third of the page and finish up the feathered head!

12.  Go to the bottom of the initial triangle you drew for the beak and begin your downward line that will finish off the white part of the eagle's head.  It stops right around the intersection of the bottom third.  Connect the bottom feathers to form his complete white head.

13.  Finally add the body as in the diagram.

14.  Time to add the flag behind him.  Notice where the stars and stripes fall? 

15.  To color him in, I used oil pastels and a gentle touch so he had a loose feel to his feathers and so did the flag.  After all, this was a demo for my young students, not a gallery painting, so he is loose, free, and FUN!  His eyes I intially colored in with lime green.  Then I added yellow and white to the eyes to add the hightlights. A final dab of orange to the left of the pupil tops off the eye.  The beak is a combination of yellow, orange and white for highlights.  His feathers are white with a touch of light orange/peach for dimension.  Drawn on brown paper, we let the brown show through to add value as well and unify our drawing.

 

That's it!  Simple as baking an apple pie.  Follow directions, practice, use your senses, and savor the beauty of our national symbol of freedom!  Remember if you don't like your drawing, it's simple to change it or do another.  You'll get it if you keep trying.  YOU CAN DO IT!  Relax.  Enjoy.  God bless America!

 

 

These are just a few eagles from my 3-6th classes at Circle Christian School after we studied John James Audubon ... aren't they sweet?