Harley Davidson motorcycle - Work in Progress
![Photo of Bridlington Lifeboat that will be used for reference](/art2/Harley/Harley-reference.jpg)
This is a Harley Davidson Classic motorbike and it appeals to me from a drawing point of view because of all that chrome. As you will see, I'm using a grid. I don't mind admitting that there is no way I could draw this one freehand. There's a lot of intricate detail, especially in the engine and front wheel, and precise placement of the various components is more than my 'eye' can manage.
![Image showing first stage of drawing](/art2/Harley/Harley1.jpg)
As usual with a pencil drawing I will be working top-left to bottom-right in order to avoid smudging the graphite, but that isn't really a good thing with this picture as it means I'm starting with all that chrome around the lights and handlebar. At this stage I find it hard to judge if I have the right tones as there is no black in the scene. I think the chrome will look different when I start to add the blacks so I'm concentrating on getting the shapes and form right for now and I'll tweak all the tonal values at the end.
![Image showing second stage of drawing](/art2/Harley/Harley2.jpg)
Here I've only added the front suspension fork and part of the mudguard, but I spent quite a while fiddling with the chrome stuff. The whole chrome area may need lightening eventually but introducing some black has certainly made the chrome look more shiny.
![Image showing third stage of drawing](/art2/Harley/Harley3.jpg)
Looking from picture to picture I can see that the tones vary slightly from one scan to the next and I think that's a quirk of the scanner trying to do it's best to set the light levels. I only mention it because it looks as if I've darkened the chrome, but I haven't. Adding the blacks is certainly beginning to help the chromes stand out more.
![Image showing fourth stage of drawing](/art2/Harley/Harley4.jpg)
As you can see, I've now finished the leather seating and moved on to the engine parts.
![Image showing fifth stage of drawing](/art2/Harley/Harley5.jpg)
I've added more to the engine block and rear pannier but since I need to work left to right, the next job is the front wheel and that's going to be quite tricky I think.
![Image showing sixth stage of drawing](/art2/Harley/Harley6.jpg)
So the front wheel is done now. It's not a perfect copy of the original and I had to fudge a few things here and there, but I think it looks authentic enough to be believable, and that's what matters.
![Image showing seventh stage of drawing](/art2/Harley/Harley8.jpg)
Once upon a time I'd have been content to call this 'finished' but experience has taught me that there is still a lot of drawing to do. So I've actually now finished what I like to call 'the first pass'. All the main components are in place and rough tones have been established but now I need to work my way over the entire drawing again bringing in the sparkle and shine that we have in the original. I'll be lightening highlights, adjusting mid-tones, sharpening edges and bringing in the darkest of the darks. So far I've only used a 2B pencil (well, 2 actually - a 0.5mm and a 0.7mm) but now it's time to sharpen up my 8B and also put a keen edge on my eraser.
Another thing I need to do is 'ground' the bike with a shadow. I'm unsure whether to attempt to draw a bit of gravel, whether to do a sharp shadow as in the reference photo, or whether to just make up a blurry shadow beneath the centre of the bike. To help me decide I'm going to print out the drawing on a sheet of A4 copier paper and try a few ideas.
![Image showing eighth stage of drawing](/art2/Harley/Harley.jpg)
So here is the finished drawing. I had a problem with my soft pencils in so much as I don't have an 8B any more, and the 6B didn't seem to be darkening the tones as much as I wanted. Strangely, I found that I got on much better with my 2B, adding extra layers to build up the darks. It's probably worth mentioning that I use Pentel Ain Stein Leads in my mechanical pencils. They are advertisd as being stronger, smoother and darker than other leads, and I can't fault those claims.
Anyway, hopefully you can see the difference that the final work over has made. Those extra darks have allowed me to bring out a bit more detail and have also allowed me to bring out the 'shine' of the paintwork.
The paper I used is A4 size (8.3"x11.7") Daler-Rowney Smooth Cartridge paper and it's the first time I've used it. This is 90lb weight and I normally use the heavier 135lb. For a smooth paper it took many layers of graphite quite well and I can recommend it.