The kestrel is coming along nicely now: the first pass of detail has gone in over the back and down the left wing. Still rough, but the essence of it is there. At this stage it gives a really good indication of how light or dark I need to go over the rest of it, as the wing has the darkest tones of all the feathers. Important to get the right balance between tone and detail still, so I’ll make sure the texture is present before I call this one finished. Next stage is to work over the tail feathers.