How To Draw a Bicycle.

And Why It's Always Harder Than it Looks.

WELCOME BACK EVERYONE! - Today we’re doing a drawing class, and taking on one of the most ubiquitous, yet weirdly impossible objects to draw: The humble bicycle.

(Not actually that humble, some of those fast carbon fibre ones are totally full of themselves)

Anyway, enough chit-chat, let’s get into it!

First of all, you’re going to need an upside down triangle.

Then you’re going to need another triangle, and whack it onto the side here, because if there’s one thing better than one triangle, it’s a bisected diamond.

Then, draw another triangle on the other side, but you won’t need the bottom of it, so um… don’t draw that.

Oh and now that I mention it, that leftover line should be more of a curve. I know, I know, I should have told you earlier, but it’s a minor change, you can just draw it in anyway.

Then you just need some wheels, which are super easy.

Okay, so they’re not that easy. The first one was good but I’ll admit that back wheel is just absolute rubbish. But, like all mistakes in life, just ignore it, draw a better one over the top and pretend none of it ever happened.

Excellent work. Actually… The geometry of this frame is all wrong now that I look at it, but again that’s okay, you can fix that like so…

At this point, don’t forget to put your handlebars and saddle in, because if life has taught me anything, at a certain point everyone just wants somewhere to sit, and something to hold on to.

Ok, hold up! Quick little signup pitch for OUTLINED incoming! (feel free to click through to check out previous weeks!)

Ok, back to it! I would then highly recommend drawing heavily over parts of the bike you’ve drawn properly, this serves to distract the viewer from all the part you drew not properly.

This method is not dissimilar to wearing a cool thick-rimmed black glasses to make yourself look more sophisticated than you actually are.

Next up you need to put those pedals on and a drive chain in, while simultaneously thinking about your own lack of drive when it comes to this drawing.

But it’s okay!!! You’re about to put spokes into these wheels, and that always makes things look better.

Don’t forget that bicycle wheel spokes have a complicated system where they cross over each other to increase stability. To draw this, I’d suggest vaguely guessing a rough approximation of it and hope nobody notices your incompetency. Kinda like sex, dancing, or ordering food in a foreign language.

Right, onto the back wheel, and all you gotta know here is that it’s even more complicated that the first one. Like everything is. Everything always gets more complicated. Entropy is bullshit.

Christ. Look at this thing. What an abomination. Don’t worry though, like that late career change you’ve been putting off for years, we can still save this….

With Shooty Speed Lines.

That’s right! LOOK AT THAT THING! It’s going FAST now. This drawing is gonna be okay, it’s going to fine, EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE. You know what, we can do more! Take that approach you’ve always taken when things aren’t going great and just set it on fire! - Look!!!!

“That’s Fire Chef” - Oh, thanks Carmy.

See? I told you nobody can draw a bike. As such, I’d now suggest getting off the internet, walking outside, finding a bike, and giving it a good kicking.

Stupid bikes.

And that’s it for another week! - Catch you all next time, and if you haven’t already - Please do Sign Up, or Comment, or Like the post or even forward it on to your friends who also can’t draw bikes.

Thanks! - Chaz.