...in 2009 I began pestering friends and random strangers. I would walk up to them with a pen and a sheet of paper asking that they immediately draw me a men’s bicycle, by heart. Soon I found out that when confronted with this odd request most people have a very hard time remembering exactly how a bike is made. Some did get close, some actually nailed it perfectly, but most ended up drawing something that was pretty far off from a regular men’s bicycle.
Little I knew this is actually a test that psychologists use to demonstrate how our brain sometimes tricks us into thinking we know something even though we don’t.
I collected hundreds of drawings, building up a collection that I think is very precious. There is an incredible diversity of new typologies emerging from these crowd-sourced and technically error-driven drawings. A single designer could not invent so many new bike designs in 100 lifetimes and this is why I look at this collection in such awe.
I was unaware that so many people don't know how a bicycle works. Love some of the designs though. I'd like to have the one by Fiorenza with the pedals at the bottom of the triangle with no bar to...
I was unaware that so many people don't know how a bicycle works. Love some of the designs though. I'd like to have the one by Fiorenza with the pedals at the bottom of the triangle with no bar to the rear wheels (though it needs gears that are not 1:1).
I'd have had more an issue with the men's part. I was thinking it'd be hard to draw the differences, then remembered the step-through use to be a women's bike, not sure how I forgot that.
Small tangent, but I love how human sketches of mechanical objects they don't understand is on par with bad AI image generation. From fingers to bicycles. Kudos to this artist painstakingly...
Small tangent, but I love how human sketches of mechanical objects they don't understand is on par with bad AI image generation. From fingers to bicycles. Kudos to this artist painstakingly rendering these sketches by hand.
Thank you! Can you switch my link in the post to this one? I didn't see a link to his site and I think this is much better with more renderings and information. I particularly like the one where...
Thank you! Can you switch my link in the post to this one? I didn't see a link to his site and I think this is much better with more renderings and information.
I particularly like the one where the person has the frame suspended in mid-air over the wheels so he rendered wires holding up the frame.
Sure, changed the link. Here's the originally submitted one, in case anyone prefers it: https://www.behance.net/gallery/35437979/Velocipedia The Behance post is actually from the artist too...
There are a few more renderings and a 'making of' video on the artist's site. Basically everything in the "Bonus designs and Making Process" section and below. The artist's site also has a few...
There are a few more renderings and a 'making of' video on the artist's site. Basically everything in the "Bonus designs and Making Process" section and below. The artist's site also has a few more interesting things on it too though, like photos from the Velocipedia IRL exhibit.
Honestly, the majority of my tags are from a cheat sheet of sorts. I often look up older posts I remember that focused on similar subjects and then just copy the relevant tags over to the new...
Honestly, the majority of my tags are from a cheat sheet of sorts. I often look up older posts I remember that focused on similar subjects and then just copy the relevant tags over to the new topic. :P
The AI drawings of those creations are pretty amazing. But mostly I want to know why, when not given any parameters, that 75% of the bikes were drawn facing left and only 25% facing right. I...
The AI drawings of those creations are pretty amazing.
But mostly I want to know why, when not given any parameters, that 75% of the bikes were drawn facing left and only 25% facing right.
I thought about that quite regularly when I used to constantly draw cars. I almost always drew them facing right and could make them quite realistic. But facing left I struggled with proportions and realism. Its like my brain only worked with right facing cars.
No AI here, these are all images made by the artist based on the sketches by the human participants. At the bottom of the artist's site that @cfabbro linked above there's a video showing the...
No AI here, these are all images made by the artist based on the sketches by the human participants. At the bottom of the artist's site that @cfabbro linked above there's a video showing the creation process.
In areas like Italy where people drive on the right, bikes travel with the flow of traffic, on the slowest/righthand edge. As such, you're way more likely to see a bike facing left if you see them...
In areas like Italy where people drive on the right, bikes travel with the flow of traffic, on the slowest/righthand edge. As such, you're way more likely to see a bike facing left if you see them while driving.
Am originally from England; would draw the bike facing left. Taking a cursory look at road signs on Google shows almost all the bicycle pictograms facing left.
Am originally from England; would draw the bike facing left. Taking a cursory look at road signs on Google shows almost all the bicycle pictograms facing left.
I was unaware that so many people don't know how a bicycle works. Love some of the designs though. I'd like to have the one by Fiorenza with the pedals at the bottom of the triangle with no bar to the rear wheels (though it needs gears that are not 1:1).
I'd have had more an issue with the men's part. I was thinking it'd be hard to draw the differences, then remembered the step-through use to be a women's bike, not sure how I forgot that.
Small tangent, but I love how human sketches of mechanical objects they don't understand is on par with bad AI image generation. From fingers to bicycles. Kudos to this artist painstakingly rendering these sketches by hand.
Link to the artist’s portfolio site:
https://www.gianlucagimini.it/portfolio-item/velocipedia/
Thank you! Can you switch my link in the post to this one? I didn't see a link to his site and I think this is much better with more renderings and information.
I particularly like the one where the person has the frame suspended in mid-air over the wheels so he rendered wires holding up the frame.
Sure, changed the link. Here's the originally submitted one, in case anyone prefers it:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/35437979/Velocipedia
The Behance post is actually from the artist too though, BTW.
Are they actually different? Your link is from the original author, and I can't tell them apart.
There are a few more renderings and a 'making of' video on the artist's site. Basically everything in the "Bonus designs and Making Process" section and below. The artist's site also has a few more interesting things on it too though, like photos from the Velocipedia IRL exhibit.
Figured you'd be here again. Kind of weird what things hang around in my head.
Yeah, I remembered this from a few years ago too. Which also saved me having to come up with tags for it. :P
Well that certainly made that easy 😅 I had no idea what labels to use lol if only I'd known there was a cheat sheet........
Honestly, the majority of my tags are from a cheat sheet of sorts. I often look up older posts I remember that focused on similar subjects and then just copy the relevant tags over to the new topic. :P
The AI drawings of those creations are pretty amazing.
But mostly I want to know why, when not given any parameters, that 75% of the bikes were drawn facing left and only 25% facing right.
I thought about that quite regularly when I used to constantly draw cars. I almost always drew them facing right and could make them quite realistic. But facing left I struggled with proportions and realism. Its like my brain only worked with right facing cars.
No AI here, these are all images made by the artist based on the sketches by the human participants. At the bottom of the artist's site that @cfabbro linked above there's a video showing the creation process.
Amazing. I saw the pics and thought, there's no way someone would take the time to shop all that. Very impressive and a ton of work.
In areas like Italy where people drive on the right, bikes travel with the flow of traffic, on the slowest/righthand edge. As such, you're way more likely to see a bike facing left if you see them while driving.
I have the same problem with horse faces.
I wonder if it's because the driver's side is on the left. Would it be different someplace like England?
Am originally from England; would draw the bike facing left. Taking a cursory look at road signs on Google shows almost all the bicycle pictograms facing left.
When I Google "bike pictogram," six of the first seven are facing left...but then all of the next seven are facing right.
I hadn't thought about road signs. If we were to look at children's books I'll bet we'd find the same thing.
Maybe because most people mount the bike as it faces left?