Long Island Cooper’s Hawk

MEDIUM: Digital Painting | STYLE: Painterly Realism | SIZE: 8 x 10 | ORIENTATION: Landscape | TOOLS: Procreate, 13″ iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro | AVAILABILITY: Prints available.

A Cooper’s Hawk landed in a Silver Maple tree in the artist’s backyard, alert and searching for a meal. The hunt was unsuccessful for the hawk that day, but the rare, close encounter proved irresistible inspiration for this piece.

ARTIST’S PROCESS: Long Island Cooper’s Hawk was painted in Procreate on a 13″ iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil Pro. This technique replicates traditional painting’s depth and texture through layered digital brushwork. The process began with careful structural drawing, followed by multiple rounds of color blocking, value refinement, and detail work on feather texture to capture the species’ appearance and temperament. Shadow and light were built up using multiple Procreate layers and specific brushes, and the background stays true to the original reference photograph used as a resource.

CHALLENGE: The rusty brown pattern on this hawk’s chest, which extends down to the legs, appears structured at a casual glance, but is actually random — determined by the edge of each feather and where it falls above the skin in different areas and movements. A Procreate brush was modified with a similar bristle pattern to create randomly shaped horizontal strokes across the base of each chest feather, recreating a pattern that reads as ordered to the viewer while remaining true to the bird’s natural randomness.

SUBJECTS AND THEMES: Wildlife Art — Species Study — Painterly Realism — Nature — Wildlife Habitats — Birding — Cooper’s Hawk — Raptor — Bird of Prey — Procreate Artwork — Long Island Wildlife