The drawing I’m currently working on is this Northern Goshawk, something that I’ve been requested to draw for a commission. The recipient is an expert on the species, so I need to make sure it’s anatomically as accurate as I can make it, and also shows the intensity of the stare that is characteristic of the Goshawk. It’s very important to me that I only draw wild subjects, just as it’s equally important to follow that principle with my photography too. I’m fortunate in that I’ve managed to photograph Goshawk at a relatively close range here in the Forest of Dean, but I didn’t have any photos that were suitable to use as a reference. I’m grateful to those who kindly offered me permission to use some of their own photos as a reference, but in the end the only photo I could find of a wild bird that was close enough to the images I was looking for was taken by a Dutch photographer called Arno van Zon, and I’m particularly grateful to him for letting me use his amazing work for reference. There’s still a lot of detail to add to the work I’ve already done on this, and the eventual drawing will probably extend to the very edge of the paper.