Bastien portrait

I've always wanted to base Bastien on the Philippine Eagle or Harpy Eagle, and after using a lot of ref pics, I decided he looks best with the Philippine Eagle's crest. Guess when he ranks up far enough to get a mutation added this is the crest he'll get on his import. For now, this was just an exercise to get used to my ipad and to try to learn eagle anatomy- beaks are the bane of my existence lol. I might come back to this and try to do layered feathers or shading the feathers. But for now, every attempt just ruins it. Any links to tutorials would be much appreciated!

Design notes:

That fluff isn't thick like a royal or silken, but he does have a ruff/mane-like thickening of feathers from between his eyes down his neck and over his shoulders.

His Nokt can change the way it lights up, like bioluminescense, or not glow at all and just sit there as shiny little beads of gold on his runes.