Peregrine Falcon Drawing

This 5" x 5" drawing is in ink on Ampersand Claybord.

I almost always use the Claybord instead of Ampersand's Scratchbord because I want to start with a white surface and add the black where I want it. The Scratchbord is already pre-coated with black ink.

I came across the reference photo via a forwarded e-mail. I contacted the photographer, Gregg Thompson, to ask if I could use his photo as reference for the drawing and he kindly agreed. Please note that the photo (and versions of it) are Gregg's and may not be copied from this site or used in any manner without permission.



I was going to teach a scratchboard class a few months after I saw the photo and thought the falcon would be a great demo drawing. I use square Claybord in my classes, so I cropped the photo to 5" x 5" and focused on the bird's head.


In addition to cropping the photo, I also sharpened the contrast


Greyscale version of the cropped photo. This helps me see the tones better since the drawing is black & white.


A detail of the drawing. I decided not to draw the wing feathers as dark as they appeared in the greyscale photo. I wanted a little more detail, so I also referred to the color photo.