Bike City!

Jessica over at New York Press asked me to do the cover for their bike issue which came out today. Obviously I said yes. I ride my bike most places and this was perfect project to usher in the spring season with. The concept was a sort of bike utopia where the cars were relegated to a single side lane and bikes were given the lanes cars would normally occupy. Utopia indeed.

I sent 2 sketches. This first one is a wide shot of a variety of bikers. I was going for kind of a New Yorker cover vibe.


The second sketch is a cropped version of the first, allowing the biker characters to really shine.


Jessica went with the second sketch and I got started. I tried to portray the plethora of bikers that occupy New York City. Here are some in progress shots of the drawing:






Here's the final illustration I sent over:


And the final printed version in all its glory: