So, I decided to try drawing bike pictures the other day. Just felt like it, you know? Thought it’d be a quick, fun little thing to do. Man, was I wrong. You’d think, “It’s a bike, how hard can it be?” Turns out, pretty tricky if you haven’t done it before, or at least, not since you were a kid scribbling with crayons.
My first few attempts? Honestly, they were a mess. Total disaster. The wheels were all wobbly, never the same size. One looked like an egg, the other like a deflated football. And the frame connecting them? Looked like a bunch of bent straws glued together randomly. Seriously, if that bike was real, it would have fallen apart before you could even sit on it. I was about ready to just give up and go watch some TV.
Getting Down to Brass Tacks
But then I thought, no, let me try to actually figure this out. I grabbed a fresh sheet of paper and my trusty pencil. This time, I tried to be a bit more methodical.
- I started with the wheels again. Just two circles. I spent a good while just trying to get them looking like actual circles, and roughly the same size. Lots of erasing happened. My eraser was the real MVP here.
- Once I had something that resembled two wheels, I tried to connect them with the frame. I looked at a picture of a simple bike on my phone, just to get the basic shapes in my head. You know, that sort of triangle thing for the main part, then the bit that goes to the back wheel.
- Then I added the handlebars. Just a simple T-shape, more or less. And a line for the seat post with a little blob for the seat.
- Pedals were next. A couple of small circles where they connect to the frame, then little rectangles for the pedals themselves.
- I even sketched in a rough shape for the chain, just a sort of loopy line going from the pedals to the back wheel. Nothing too detailed, mind you.
One thing I quickly realized was that pressing lightly with the pencil at the start is super important. Seriously, sketch it out like you’re barely touching the paper. That way, when you mess up – and you will mess up – you can erase it without tearing a hole in the page or leaving those annoying smudge marks. My first few bikes looked like they’d been through a mud fight because I was pressing so hard.
After a while, and a lot more erasing, I finally got something that looked… well, like a bike! It wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. An artist would probably laugh at it. But you could tell what it was supposed to be. It had two wheels, handlebars, a seat. It was a bike. And I drew it!
Felt pretty good, actually. Kinda satisfying to go from a wobbly mess to something recognizable. It’s funny how something so simple can be a bit of a challenge. Now I’m thinking maybe I’ll try to draw a different kind of bike, maybe one with more gears or something. Or maybe I’ll just stick to drawing stick figures for a bit. We’ll see how brave I’m feeling next time.
