Octopus on Bike

I'm currently working on a submission for a friend of a friend's bike magazine, whose next issue will have stories on biking in New York City. I love biking in New York City, and as the temperature gets warmer, it's time for me to dust off my bike. I'm a warm- and dry-weather leisure biker, not very hardcore like the messengers you see tearing down Broadway during rush hour with no helmet on, bus bearing down upon them. I got my big yellow bike with upright handles, helmet on my head, NYC biking map in the bag, big fat chain for locking up, going at my own pace either across the greenway of Queens or down to the Atlantic Ocean through Brooklyn. One of my biking goals this summer is to circumnavigate Manhattan. Speaking of circumnavigating Manhattan, this Saturday is Shorewalker's the Big Saunter, where participants will circle Manhattan along its shoreline (wherever you can) on foot, about 35 miles total, starting at 7:30 am. Website is here for more info: http://www.shorewalkers.org/.

So the first thing that came to mind for this illustration was an octopus on a bike (a get-up which I have donned before for a Seattle city ride, my big octopus on my head, sock nautiluses tied all over my bike, devil ray perched on the handlebars leading the way, etc.).



So first I came up with the sketch.



Then I dug around for an old sketch I did of a herd of devil rays swimming through the ocean.



Then I put the two together into one layout:



And came up with this after many hours and layers of acrylic paint (click on image to enlarge, it's fun to see it big):




The coral in the bottom right and upper left went through the most changes from the original sketch, becoming quite blurred and undefined. The coral wasn't turning out the way I wanted it to, so I just started loosening up and slapping paint on, blurring as I went and adding layers and colors. It freed me up a little, which you gotta be when you're an octopus riding a bike across the ocean floor.