Richie's Eagle

Richie brought in his red 1956 F1 Ford Pickup for Shawn to airbrush. The truck is one of many in Richie's impressive auto collection, and he completely restored it himself, along with the help of friends and neighbors. Richie has had the truck for nearly 2 years, and for the last year and a half, he has been working to make it look as it does today.

Richie told Shawn that he wanted to go with a patriotic theme. He wanted a soaring eagle with a waving flag in the background.

Shawn begain by taping off the doors, and putting a plastic protective sheet over the rest of the truck. He sanded the doors, and began working on the body of the eagle.

After Shawn finished the general layout of the eagle, he began working on the flag. He began with the union, then laid out a mask to do the stripes.

Shawn added shadows and highlights in appropriate places, making the flag wave, as if in the wind. Then, he used a brush to give the eagle finishing touches. With each stroke, he created the layers of feathers and brought them out with highlights.

Then, Shawn shadowed around the head of the eagle, making it more 3-D, and then added white star bursts.

An angled view of the passenger side door. Shawn had to switch the direction of the flag, so that it was correct on both sides, with the union on the left.

Shawn kneels next to his artwork on the drivers side.