The goal of this project was to create a new eagle design, however the style and feel of the original painted seal needed to be kept. 

The original seal (created by a typemaker L. Johnson and Company) has been used as a set decoration for United States Presidential Debates since the late 1980s.

The engraved version created by L. Johnson and Company was likely hand painted and finished. The style of the seal is similar to some patriotic paintings painted by Norman Rockwell.

The base was this engraving. Likely made in the same period as the original one. This version had to be slightly modified in order to accomodate the lettering THE UNION AND THE CONSTITUTION FOREVER. The typeface used here is reminiscent of fonts like Playbill and other generic Western/Cowboy style typography of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The sketch was made in Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop was the only program used in this project.

To create the look and texture of the feathers special modified and custom brushes were used. The seal was drawn on a Wacom Cintiq pressure sensitive tablet.

The entire design is in layers. The color blending was the hardest part. What had to be done is to replicate a hand painted seal using brushes which proved to be quite a challenge but still the final result was just incredible!