A falcon coming to land

A study of a landing falcon with spread wings, reaching talons and a fanned tail on textured paper. Map the body, both wing joints and tail fan.

A way into the drawing

1. Establish the construction

   Map the body, both wing joints and tail fan.

2. Resolve the main structure

   Build overlapping flight-feather groups from shoulder to wingtip.

3. Develop the detail

   Place the hooked bill, facial markings and two reaching feet with talons.

4. Control the values

   Group the feather values to separate the near wing from the body.

A small thing to tryKeep both wing shapes connected to the shoulder joints before adding feather tips.