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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132296
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:29am | IP Logged | 1
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So… the customer asked for Batman, Robin, and Batgirl, with the latter zooming in on her motorcycle. No problem! I grabbed a model motorcycle for reference, laid out the piece, and started inking. Now, as it happened, the motorcycle I used as reference was still in the box, so I could only see one side of it. Also no problem. One of my lesser mutant powers is that I can "flip" images in my mind -- draw them backwards from how they actually look. So that's what I did with the motorcycle. Got this far… 
…when what's left of my brain started working. Motorcycles are not symetrical! it whispered. D'oh!! I was drawing the left side of the bike as the right side. Any chance the elements might be similar enough that I could "fake it"? No. So, what to do? Start over? But I liked the layout, and I especially liked how well the bike was going so far. Solution… get out the lightbox, flip the piece over, and trace it onto the back. Which is what I did, producing this: 
So -- the customer gets a two-fer! The finished drawing and the pencils! How often does that happen?
11x17
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Eric Doyle
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 302
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:37am | IP Logged | 2
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I have a feeling very few could pull that off with out the drawing looking "off". Great piece! I miss Batgirl! I love her boots!
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Ryan Maxwell
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12937
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:39am | IP Logged | 3
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Ummm...can you mess up like that on the next one I order, please? Love the pencils and the final product. Thanks for sharing.
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Kevin Brown
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 May 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 8843
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:39am | IP Logged | 4
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Cool.
Now THAT is a great piece.
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David Henriot
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 October 2006
Location: France
Posts: 1111
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:39am | IP Logged | 5
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Wonderfull, really wonderfull, John !!!
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Kor Watkins
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 07 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 765
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:41am | IP Logged | 6
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Awesome piece! Love your Batgirl! (I miss her sooooo much!)
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Aric Shapiro
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4349
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:42am | IP Logged | 7
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Wow. Love hoe easily you seem to be able to draw Batman from different eras. This is just a fun looking piece. So nice to see Batgirl and the Robon of old. I don't recall his being featured this prominently in a commission before. Awesome job on the bike. The metal looks like metal and the glass looks like glass!! Great SA feel to the whole thing.
I hope someone claims this one, so we can congrtulate them
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Sam Houston
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 March 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1693
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:49am | IP Logged | 8
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I am still trying to figure out what you are referring to with the flipping of the motorcycle. All I know is that this commission looks great and the motorcycle, both versions, looks sleek. Great job!
Sam
P.S. JB, can you elaborate on the model you used as a referrence? You mention that you have a model, but it is in a box and you can only see one side. This sounds like a riddle of the Sphinx! Perhaps a pic of it?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132296
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 6:54am | IP Logged | 9
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I use hi-detail toys* for reference on a lot of vehicles. Better than photographs, because I can turn them to whatever position I need. In this case, the motorcycle is still in the box it came in, with clear plastic on the front, but not the back. So, since the bike is left-side-out, what I was drawing was the left side of the bike, which is different from the right side.
* After I first mentioned this, some fifteen years ago, an artist sent me some of his work so I could see how he was "improving". There was an airplane in one sequence. Looking at the art, I could only assume he had heard I use toys for reference, but missed the "highly detailed" part. So he'd run to Toys'R'Us and picked up the first PlaySkool plane he found.
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Vladimir Fiks
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 May 2004
Posts: 1138
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 7:03am | IP Logged | 10
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That's really a terrific piece John, wonderful composition.
Vlad
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Thanos Kollias
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 June 2004
Location: Greece
Posts: 5009
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 7:04am | IP Logged | 11
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This is probably the most fantastic motorcycle I have seen you draw, John. Congrats! Amazing piece. As I read the back-story, my mind started saying: "Lightbox!", and I was right (I am proud of myself!).
Great solution, by the way, but I guess it only works if you are John Byrne. It's incredible how well drawn this is, that it doesn't look at all odd when seen through a mirror (or flipped like John did).
John, you are trully a Master.
Edited by Thanos Kollias on 12 June 2007 at 7:07am
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William Roberge
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 July 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 11292
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| Posted: 12 June 2007 at 7:07am | IP Logged | 12
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Good job on remembering not to also copy Robin's "R" from the correct side to the wrong side of the chest!
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