Eagle Wildlife

First, put the outline stencil from the "Eagle Wildlife" stencil set on your painting surface. Then spray very little highly diluted black or gray along the stencil’s contours. This serves primarily as a means of positioning the motif on the canvas. The following stencils can be adjusted to this and thus arranged correctly.

Then position the beak stencil. Best secure it with weights. Apply a first layer of paint, with a mixture of canary yellow and water (1:1). Water makes the color transparent, this way it is easier to spray and will later 
be erasable. Make sure that the beak’s upper edge runs out a little brighter, so that it will later appear rounded and nicely curved. For the lighter shades in the beak’s bottom area, mix some canary yellow, sienna and purple (4:1:1). Add a few drops of water for the color to become even more transparent..

We will continue with the plumage/details stencil. Position it on the beak’s edge, so that the nose bulge and the beak opening are correctly positioned. First spray a light brown consisting of canary yellow, sienna and blazing red (1:1:1) onto the stencil’s nostril and beak areas. Then create a little more depth with a mixture of brown and black coffee (1:1). With this mixture spray along the upper edges of the nose bulge on the right and the beak opening on the left.

With an eraser pencil you can etch highlights into the upper beak area and you can indicate additional structures and light edges around the nostril. Carefully scrape a light edge along the beak’s edge using a scalpel.

In this step, you can add additional structures with an electric eraser and an eraser pencil. Also, you may want to dissolve the stencil’s edge with the electric eraser, so that the transition towards the plumage will appear a bit more realistic.

Next, use the beak stencil once more to spray the outlines of the eye and the pupil. First, add the beak’s color mixed from canary yellow, sienna, purple and water. Then gently spray some coffee brown onto the stencil’s edge, so that only a small hint of color will enter the eye’s outline. Fill the pupil with black.

The dark areas left and right of the iris can be easily realized with the crescents left out in the stencil using black.

Then color the iris of the eagle’s eye with a transparent brown. Take special care of the lighter and darker areas. With a scalpel and an eraser pencil you can now add some beam-like structure lines and add a highlight to the pupil.

For the bright plumage area switch back to the plumage/details stencil. Place them accurately and mix a greyish color using a drop of black and a couple more drops of water. Then spray the dark plumage structures over the stencil. Loose strokes are sprayed in the direction of growth within the masking, also indicating plumage

Now use the eagle’s contour stencil in order to add some color shades to the head and plumage. Spray some bluish and violet colors (mixing ice blue, magenta and water) left and right.

Spray the dark plumage areas around the eye with a mix of coffee brown, black and water (1:1:3). The whole thing becomes even more realistic, if you spray a few smaller lines in the direction of growth. With eraser pencil and scalpel you can also etch and scrape a bit of color in the upper plumage area in order to add a few more details to the plumage.

The stencil for the lower plumage area can be found within the beak stencil. Spray with dark brown in the direction of growth to indicate plumage structures. Notice the subtle shadows from the upper white plumage onto the underlying dark plumage.

Then work out the plumage a bit more with the scalpel. Thin scraped lines will be visible as quill and barbs of the pennaceous feather. To bring the eagle to advantage, now spray the background. For this, mask the eagle’s head with a piece of masking tape. Then cut some jagged contours as close to the outer feathers as possible.

Spray the background evenly with your airbrush using opaque black.

When the paint is dry, remove the masking tape. Add some plumage details with a fine brush and white paint.