Fiery and Brown eagle takes to the air!

Posted 24 Sep 2018

Isaiah 40 – Fiery Eagle (Version 01 – Crystallized backgnd with text)

Follow this link to see this Bible Cartoon on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Isaiah 40 – Fiery Eagle (Version 01 – Crystallized backgnd with text)

Isaiah 40 – Fiery Eagle (Version 02 – Crystallized backgnd without text)

Follow this link to see this Bible Cartoon on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Isaiah 40 – Fiery Eagle (Version 02 – Crystallized backgnd without text)

Isaiah 40 – Brown Eagle (Version 03 – Smooth backgnd with text)

Follow this link to see this Bible Cartoon on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Isaiah 40 – Brown Eagle (Version 03 – Smooth backgnd with text)

Isaiah 40 – Brown Eagle (Version 04 – Smooth backgnd without text)

Follow this link to see this Bible Cartoon on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Isaiah 40 – Brown Eagle (Version 04 – Smooth backgnd without text)

I created this scene for my wife. I’ll get it printed on to a canvas for her to hang on a wall at work. It only took a few hours to complete version 01, which is pretty fast for me! My wife decided she would like the eagle to look browner; more like the bald eagle in real life, which the eagle is based on. So version 03 & 04 were created with that in mind.

Here’s the initial colour pencil rough sketch that led to the final designs:


Fiery Eagle sketch with Isaiah 40:31 text.

I really enjoyed drawing this scene directly on the computer – using only a reference photo of a bald eagle to help me approximate that bird’s features. I loved drawing the fiery edges of the flight feathers on its wings.

I normally have a black keyline (outline) around the figures and objects in my scenes. Only the first version of the 4 scenes (see above) has that characteristic outline feature. And, in fact, I only added it after I’d finished the picture, whereas I normally draw the keyline first, scan it in on my computer and then colour up a scene.

You may not be able to see this, but I used a crayon stencil nib when adding the finishing touches to the eagle, which gives a broken line quality that I really enjoyed producing. It gives the effect of a hand drawn quality, which is rather nice.

The background was drawn with smooth, flowing lines, and coloured to create a contrast to the eagle. The yellow lower right hand corner is reminiscent of the sun, whilst the blues and purples in the background hopefully translate as sky tones.

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