Bike Motif
Charcoal on Strathmore 300 series, 11"x 17", July 2019. Drawn from life.
This drawing was done in twenty minutes, as a study of the idea of motifs in art. It is of multiple bikes chained to a bike rack. I decided to omit the bike rack as I felt it would distract from the pattern.
This drawing allowed me to explore a new, more free type of shading -- since the bikes were so small from where I was sitting, rather than trying to capture the exact image, I captured the general form and essence of the bikes through shadows. When drawing the lighter bikes, I avoided too much detail as I wanted to ensure that they did not distract from the main bike motif in the center.
This exercise made me draw bikes from many different perspectives and angles to keep the pattern interesting. I also purposely left a large amount of space around the drawing itself so as to imply the feeling of continuation of the pattern, rather than boxing it in to make it feel as if it were finished.
This drawing allowed me to explore a new, more free type of shading -- since the bikes were so small from where I was sitting, rather than trying to capture the exact image, I captured the general form and essence of the bikes through shadows. When drawing the lighter bikes, I avoided too much detail as I wanted to ensure that they did not distract from the main bike motif in the center.
This exercise made me draw bikes from many different perspectives and angles to keep the pattern interesting. I also purposely left a large amount of space around the drawing itself so as to imply the feeling of continuation of the pattern, rather than boxing it in to make it feel as if it were finished.