How to Draw a Bike Step by Step

by easylinedrawing

This guide show how to draw a bicycle by adding it’s major parts in eight steps. It provides simple examples and quick instructions.

The bike drawing is done in a slightly simplified style. Also, some of the very small details that such vehicles have are omitted to make the drawing process easier. The guide shows how to draw the bike’s wheels, frame, handle, seat, wheel hoops, chain, pedals and spokes. It also shows how to apply some basic color to the drawing.

The tutorial consists of a lot straight line and circles. You can optionally use a ruler and a compass to help create these. However, it’s recommended that you draw things by hand if you want to work on improving your skill as an artist.

Start the drawing in pencil and make lightly lines as you will need to erase small sections of it when you add the bike’s various parts throughout the steps. You can darken your lines by tracing over them before coloring.

Step 1 – Outline the Bike’s Wheels

Begin by drawing a pair of circle for the bicycle’s wheels. Space these in a way where the distance between them is less than their diameters.

Step 2 – Draw the Frame

In between the wheels draw the frame. You can start with the parts that support the seat and the handlebars and then add the sections that connect these together.

Step 3 – Draw the Handle Grips & Seat

Draw the the hand grip (only one is visible in this example) shaped like a cylinder angled slightly upwards, backwards and towards the viewer (as shown in the example).

After drawing the grip, add the seat. Make it’s front end narrower and it’s back end wider. Also, draw the front end curving downwards and the back end raised upwards.

Step 4 – Draw the Inner Parts of the Wheels

Draw the wheel hoops (the inner metallic parts of bicycle wheels). Create these by adding a pair of circles inside the outline of each wheel (a smaller one inside a larger one). Be sure to to draw them in a way that makes the rubber part of the wheels is significantly wider than the metal.

In addition to the hoops also draw the little discs at the center of each wheel.

Running between the lower middle and the back of the frame draw the bicycle chain and the disks that it spins around. Again, you will need to erase parts of the bike’s frame when adding this in.

This part of the bike is fairly detailed so you can see a step by step breakdown of drawing it shown above. Begin by outlining the disks, afterwards draw the chain and then add the inner details of each disk.

Step 6 – Draw the Pedals

To add the bike’s pedals, first, outline the clank arms (the metallic parts that they are attached to). Draw these facing in the opposite directions and make the one in the back slightly shorter to create some sense of perspective (objects farther away appearing smaller). You will need to erase a little bit of the surrounding disk/chain when adding the foreground arm.

Onto each arm add a pedal. Draw the pedals shaped like small rectangles with rounded corners and position them to be parallel to the ground. Make the pedal in the foreground (closer to the viewer) slightly larger and the one in the background smaller (to again show perspective).

Step 7 – Draw the Spokes

Finally, draw the spokes. The thin metallic rods that hold a bicycle’s wheel in place. As mentioned, this drawing is somewhat stylized/simplified so the spokes are not draw exactly the way they appear on a real bike. However, drawing them in such a way still creates a believable overall appearance.

After drawing the spokes, trace over your lines to darken them. You can either do so by pressing harder on the pencil or by using a thin black marker.

Step 8 – Color the Bike

You can make the bike’s frame any color you like. In this example it’s blue. Make the rubber parts of the wheels, the seat, hand grip and pedals black or dark grey. Make the wheel hoops, the disks that hold the chain and the clank arms a light grey (as these parts are often unpainted metal).

As you color the frame leave some thin white strips along it’s various sections. These will show reflections and will help give the frame a smooth and more three dimensional appearance. Also, leave some white strips curving along the opposite ends of each wheel. However, slightly darken these by going over them with some grey afterwards so that they don’t appear as bright as those along the frame (rubber is generally not as reflective as glossy paint).

Conclusion

This guide show how to draw a bicycle by gradually adding it’s various parts in different steps. As already mentioned, the example drawing is done in a somewhat simplified style and omits some of the smaller parts that bikes tend to have. However, overall it still quite detailed and fairly realistic.

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