Man and his motorcycle

I've been intensely involved in research involving 1929 Harley Davidson Flathead bikes and the WW2 veterans that rode them because I was asked by the son of a WW2 82nd airborne vet to do a pic with his old man and one of these bikes and thought that because of the limited success of this thread I would show you guys from the ground up how I work.






Ill do my best to give you all a play by play of this piece it will take me along time to do from beginning to end

you can see better images than the ones linked in the OP
HERE

In this particular instance I do realize that the man is too close to the motorcycle as far as depth and proportion I sketch this way because for me to play with parameters allows me to find the limits of allowed and just does not fly, this does not fly. I will continue to manipulate one sketch and then erase it over and over and over again using the same piece of paper.

reply to post by Brotherman



The same piece of paper? Man you must be an easy eraser because I could never do that. I prefer to do a new sketch on a new piece of paper for each iteration.

reply to post by wtbengineer


I suggest you dont do that and do what I do and use the same piece of paper, as a matter of fact I tend to think it helps you make a better piece this way but then again to each his own here in a few minutes ill be posting the erased paper cause I am actually still erasing it now

this is for a sense of scale this is the comparison between an 8inX11in to an 18inX24in I always prefer to work as big as possible I encourage it as well it gets a mind away from photograph and magazine size and really allows you to challenge and manipulate your media this piece I am still showing study sketches I believe I may do this on canvas with a 36inX48in no border edge to edge but still have not made up my mind how i want to do this whether it is going to be paint, quash/watercolor, charcoal, pencil, or marker yet certainly not digital though

reply to post by Brotherman


I guess that makes sense in a way. I know that every time I start a new one I might improve on some point that I sought to, but I invariably will lose something else that was in the original. And with each iteration so it goes...

Now that I have erased the first sketch now I can start sketching back over it and start correcting some of my mistakes and really start to learn this piece





Now to start sketching again using the same piece



more to come...

You can go HERE to see these images in full along with some of my other works. Thank you again for stopping in here and showing so much love!

Now Im starting to add a little finer detail sketched in, its at this point you have to be careful how tight you make things in relation to each other especially if you still have no idea how your going to finish it out. This is still a preliminary study sketch Ill bring to near completion before I even think about more expensive canvas, this is your time to learn your subject inside and out this is where you play with things and get creative because once your on canvas you want to have a plan.

Also I want to add some of the methods I use to check my work since more likely then not I work on my own without anyone to check my work

1: Use a mirror to get a reverse image this will help you in 2 ways firstly being that it will make proportion imperfections blatantly obvious and secondly it will also expose bad usage of shadow and contrapasta

2: always work around a piece so you dont get to intimate in one area and not in another causing an imbalance in the natural flow of the composition

3: draw what you see not what you think you see take the extra time to really observe and fix things as you move across a piece. Most of the time I also work on multiple sketches of the same piece in different angles, dimensions and conditions

more to come...

reply to post by Brotherman


That's really cool man. I like the sketches so far. And thanks for the tips you are giving, they seem very helpful.

This thread is gonna be cool. I can't wait to see the finished work

-nat

reply to post by natalia


Ive been working on this very intently alot of my study isnt even on the paper its in other images, texts, and people I can read look and learn from far before a pencil hits the paper. This is truly the ultimate learning experience I wish all people would embrace such immersion in this type of study.

I hope the thread is ok even if no one looks at it, it'll be here

reply to post by Brotherman


I really do want to start painting and drawing again. I seem to lack the motivation though. I know that once I start drawing I will get back into the flow of it. Like my writing, I lacked motivation, then I got a journal for Christmas and have been writing ever since. Maybe I need to get a sketch pad to get me started oh but the lack of funds kinda hinders that too! Grrr..oh well. I can get one next week

This thread is fine IMO. I think people will check it out. We have artists around here and curious folks as well.
-nat

reply to post by natalia


Its there somewhere inside, somewhere inside all of us some people have vision and skill to create the power of an artist is the ability to take something they can see in their own eyes heart and mind and bring it into the physical realm by a whim. the lines between science and art are so blurred in my opinion to me its obvious the two are married and always arguing

Id prefer you go HERE and make the image as large as possible to see and understand how i do mechanical parts artistically without making it a mechanical/technical drawing. When you begin to understand you dont see every fine detail in a whole subject you observe it becomes easier to represent what you see without singular focus on one object, it will pay off in the end or at least it does for me.

I've been sketching generic material I will get back to in a bit but to stay fresh since mainly Ive been showing the motorcycle I am going to present a composite I've been sketching of the man that goes along with this bike.



Sorry for the random format of this thread for anyone who may stumble upon it

reply to post by Brotherman


Good job on the guy
He's nicely drawn
-nat

reply to post by natalia


Its being sketched right now as we speak kitty Nat I sent you a poem the other night too btw, thank you for listening and Im glad someone is viewing this thread. I have done so much research into these old motorcycles as well as the unit that this individual (my friends dad) served with. Funny story as ironic as it is check this out, a coffin company started building gliders for the 82nd AA they were a glider division (short lived) anyways the coffin company decides to show the gubbment how safe their gliders were so they take a few senators up in a glider. It crashes and kills everyone on board, shortly after gliders were approved as an insertion method, it may have been Emerson or Huxley that said "irony is the glue that binds the world"

Thank you for listening

reply to post by Brotherman


Very nice! You have the ability to put life into your drawings. I used to draw and paint, but it kind of got put on a back burner because I do so many other things too.

reply to post by wtbengineer


its 2am im still working on sketch studies and writing editing IDK why but I took this project because I think that it helps define a principle in me somehow I wouldnt other wise have the ability to do inside my own premise. its strange where things take you I am going to bring these sketches to close to real as I need to I will post the 1930s the 1940s the 1970s and 90s till modern days of this old war horse that I am working on along with all the drawings of his 1929 flathead harley. to be honest im trying to be an author with paint i am telling a story about how a man defined himself through a war and found himself through a machine and made a family and now its a machine that holds them together in a sense hard for me to explain when i think about it, to many things come to mind at once so I need to draw it from the beginning I am sorry for the sporadic nature of this thread but will say I am greatful someone is watching.