Feruginous Hawk

This serious guy is called a Feruginous Hawk and is a predatory bird as you can tell by his beak.  The hooded area over his eye helps to keep the sun out of his eyes and gives him that fierce look.  This drawing was very challenging for me.  Trying to get his head proportions correct and then trying to get the overall feeling of the pattern in his feathers.  Colored pencil does not erase very easily at all and the work is slow,  gradually building up layers until you get the look you want.

I am very satisfied with the outcome but I have not decided if this piece is finished or if I want to add some additional features like cutaways of his feet, wing feathers, etc.

In my initial drawing you can see that I have the head proportions a bit off.  The back of the head and body are much to narrow.  You can see how much better it looks after I corrected it in the final version below.

"Ferruginous Hawk"

11x14

Colored Pencil on Bristol Paper