This fine piece of artwork was made with the pen tool. I’m also pretty sure the artist used multiple layers while making this. One separate layer for each color, and one for the shape of the white beak and eyes. It’s made with straight lines and bezier curves. It’s a straight forward layout, but it embodies the strength and power of the mighty Atlanta Falcon. If I were to recreate this, I wouldn’t. It’s already perfect.
Dominique, I think is a very effective Adobe Illustrator piece as well. I agree with you when you said that this piece is primarily made from the pen tool. I think that the designer also dragged out the top corner of each feather in order to create that triangle-corner effect. Overall, the simplicity of this piece says it all.
I love how iconic this image is yet in such a simple way. This image would have been so easy to create with the pen and shape tool, yet it is this very fact that makes it so bold and effective. By using very clean lines and strong angles, there is no doubt about what this image is and what it represents. The red highlights each feather perfectly and the grey outline ties the entire image together increasing the strength and overall impact of the illustration.