Falcon

My name is Ezra Elisoff, I am half Alaskan native and I created this piece originally for Thunder Mountain High School. This art form is called formline, and there are lots of different styles and interpretations from different indigenous groups. I first learned how to draw in formline in July of 2019, and it sort of just took off from there. The piece is a falcon interpreted in traditional Tlingit (Kleenkit) formline. I started from just a rough sketch in pencil on a separate sheet of 9×12 sketch paper, from there I got the basic outline and shape of the body and feathers. Then I added the details in the falcon, such as the U shapes in the body of the falcon that represents feathers on the body, from the main joints of the wings that connect to the body, I added human faces that represent the students and teachers of our school. Once I was satisfied with the final draft of the sketch, I then used tracing paper to transfer it to a better piece of paper, I used strathmore mixed media paper for the final draft. I started fine lining with a royal blue fine liner and a sky blue fine liner, the royal blue for the main body and my primary color, the sky blue for my secondary colors such as the details of the feathers and the head feather of the falcon. I used alcohol based markers as my media of choice, for the primary color I used a royal blue and as my secondary color I used sky blue. For the tongue in the mouth of the falcon, I used a red fine liner and a red alcohol based marker, the tongue’s are important in the Tlingit culture because it helps define which birds are which. For example, the tongue design I went with is like that of a thunderbird, but what differentiates my design from a thunderbird is the head feather itself, where the feather is longer and smaller. Whereas the thunderbird would have a taller and thicker head feather. Thank you for taking the time for looking at my piece