Repainting the Beach Cruiser. Part II - The Chain Cover

Now that the primer coat and basic paint job were done it was time for the fun stuff. I started with the chain cover since it was removable, fairly flat and the easiest part to work with.

First I traced the shape onto tracing paper so I could play with a few different designs.

Once a sketch was decided on I busted out the paint pens. First I transferred the design onto the actual piece making adjustments as I went. Once the sketch was on the chain cover I filled in all of the large areas of color working from dark to light.

Then I added in the eyes and the sea foam, again blending colors from dark to light.

Once I was happy with the colors I laid in the basic outline with a bold black paint pen.

Then came the part that makes it all come together: the details. Working with fine and extra fine black paint pens I laid in the detail work. One of the keys here is to have lots of variation in the thickness of the outlines.

I also added in highlights with an extra fine white paint pen to really make it pop! Once I put the chain cover back on I decided to add a few extra water splashes to tie the chain cover to the bike.

Next up... flaming fish skeletons!?