Leaf - Speedbike Vehicle concepts

Recently, Amanda asked me to generate concepts for an illustration project she was working on. A music artist called Leaf wanted an album cover featuring his persona speeding by on a fast, sick ride, but he wanted the motorcycle to be a permanent addition to his character - so it couldn't be just any bike.

Amanda decided to refer him to me for this task. He gave us the details and design ideas he had in mind at first, so I started broad and ended up with something specific and to his liking. It's not the final illustration, but it helped Amanda complete hers.

Here are the first explorations, batches A and B:

Some of these ended up with interesting forms that I may use for my own projects someday, so even though they never ended up as the final design, they'll still be useful.

For the first two batches, I went with as much variety as possible within his parameters. He then added that this bike shouldn't envelop the driver so he can remain visible for the most part. Thus A4 ended up being the first step for the next phase.

He specified that this bike should closely resemble those in Tron (which are awesome, but very much iconic), so for phase C everything began rounding out:

Among his favorite features were the overall shape of 2, the details on 1 and 6, and the minimalist wheel structure on 4. I added all these parts together and ended up with this basic concept:

The bike is meant to match the character's colors and overall design aesthetic. This was the first (and final) color arrangement and construction for Leaf's speedbike, with only minor adjustments to make it perfect for the music artist. It was fun and challenging to find the sweet spot for his character, and I'm glad to have worked on it.

-Kez