Not-Pink Motorcycle

 

Here’s another sketch I made when I took the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II Botanic set to Lighthouse Roasters. All the floral pastels in the set inspired me to make color choices based on values while ignoring the local hues. While I was making the sketch of the house I showed in the review post, a motorcycle rider parked his bike right in front of me. Although I knew he went into Lighthouse for coffee, I didn’t know if he was just getting it to go or was staying for a while, so I was under some pressure (Oh, goody! You know how much I like that kind of pressure!).

Very quickly, I used the light pink to block in the main shapes. This was not so much a value choice as simply using a pale color that would be drawn over later (one of Kumi Matsukawa’s basic principles of her urban sketching technique). Then I used the blue to draw the shadow shapes and dark parts of the bike. With that much drawn, I knew I could finish if the rider rode off with my model.

Since he was apparently having his coffee “for here,” I had more time to add the darker pink as the midtone. I was just adding details like the lights and spokes when he came out and rode away. (In retrospect, it occurred to me that it would be difficult for a motorcycle rider to take coffee to go!)

From memory, I put in the bike wheel’s shadow with the darkest crayon in the set, then realized I could use that color a second time (something I learned from Eleanor Doughty) as the background.

I really like how these thick, blunt crayons prevent me from getting into details and push me to see abstractions.

When I got home, I saw that the background needed to be darker, so I added another layer before scanning.