A bicycle watercolor painting is one of those subjects that always looks sweeter than the effort it takes. A loose ink line, a quick wash for the frame and basket, a soft background behind it, and you already have a scene that feels like a postcard from somewhere lovely. That is the whole appeal: simple shapes, forgiving washes, and a huge amount of personality packed into two wheels.
Below you will find 29 little bicycle scenes, from a basket of tulips to a snowy lane, each one built to finish in a single sitting. Pick whichever one matches your mood today, keep your palette soft, and let the ink lines do the charm while the watercolor does the rest.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Start with the bicycle with a basket of tulips, the friendliest opener on this list because the flowers forgive any wobble in the ink. Draw the bike frame first in fineliner, keeping the wheels as simple circles and the basket as a loose trapezoid up front, then add a handful of tulip shapes poking out in different heights.
Paint the tulips before the bike: drop in pink, red and soft orange, letting the colors bleed slightly into each other while the paper is damp. Once that dries, wash the frame in a pastel color of your choice and leave the wheels as thin ink circles with just a touch of grey shadow underneath.
The basket is where beginners often overload the color. Keep two or three tulip shades instead of five, and the eye reads it as a bouquet rather than a mess.
If you are short on bright pinks, swap in a warm coral for the same cheerful effect without needing a separate red.
Palette: Opera Pink,Cadmium Orange,Sap Green,Payne’s Grey
Lean the bicycle against a Paris cafe wall next, a scene that trades flowers for atmosphere. Sketch the bike first, then a simple rectangle of wall behind it with a café chair or a window edge suggested rather than drawn in full detail.
Measure before you commit to the wall: the bicycle should sit no taller than about two thirds of the wall height, which keeps it feeling parked rather than oversized against the building. Paint the wall in a warm cream or dusty rose wash first, let it dry completely, then add the bike in a soft mint or butter yellow so it pops forward.
The common mistake here is painting the wall too dark, which flattens the whole scene. Keep it pale and let a few ink details, a shutter line, a café sign shape, carry the Parisian feel instead of heavy color.
Finish with one warm tip: a single terracotta flowerpot sketched at the base of the wall sells the whole setting instantly.
Palette: Naples Yellow,Dusty Rose,Mint Green,Burnt Sienna
Move into motion with a girl cycling along a canal, your first scene with a full figure in it. Keep her simple: an oval head, a loose dress shape, two bent lines for pedaling legs, and let the bike itself stay secondary to her silhouette.
Eye level matters here. Paint the canal water low in the frame and the sky taking up more space above, which puts your viewer at street level looking slightly down toward the water, exactly how this scene is usually seen in real life. Wash the water in a cool blue-grey with a few horizontal strokes for reflection, then add the girl and bike in warmer tones so she stands out against the cool background.
If the figure feels stiff, loosen the dress line with a single curved stroke instead of a straight hem, which suggests movement without extra drawing.
No blue-grey on hand? A diluted Payne’s grey does the same cool water job.
Palette: Payne’s Grey,Cerulean Blue,Yellow Ochre,Dusty Rose
Give the bike some company with a dog in the basket, a scene that lives or dies on the texture of that fur. Draw the dog’s head and front paws peeking over the basket rim first, then build the bike around it so the composition feels natural rather than added on.
For the fur, work wet-on-dry and use the tip of a small round brush to flick short dry-brush strokes outward from the dog’s outline once the base wash has dried. This catches on the paper’s texture and reads as fluff far better than a flat fill ever will.
Overworking the fur is the usual pitfall. Two or three layers of dry brush in slightly different browns is plenty; more than that muddies the shape entirely.
No round brush small enough? An old, slightly splayed flat brush works just as well for the dry-brush flicks.
Palette: Burnt Umber,Raw Sienna,Ivory Black,Sap Green
Reference a photo of a small terrier or spaniel for the ear shape if fur direction feels confusing; ears usually fall in one clear diagonal.
Carry that countryside feeling further with a vintage bike by a lavender field, a scene built almost entirely from repeated small marks. Paint the field first as a wide horizontal wash in soft violet, then once dry, stamp in rows of short diagonal dashes with a fine brush to suggest lavender stalks receding into the distance.
The quick version, done in about ten minutes, keeps the field as a single wash with a dozen dashes in the foreground only. The forty-minute version adds rows of dashes across the whole field, getting smaller and paler toward the horizon, which gives real depth to what is otherwise a flat background.
Vintage bikes usually have a curved frame and a basket on the front; keep the curves soft and slightly uneven rather than ruler-straight, which is exactly what reads as “vintage” to the eye.
Lacking a violet paint? Mix a little blue into red-violet for a convincing lavender shade.
Palette: Lavender Violet,Sap Green,Raw Umber,Naples Yellow
Bring the bike home from market day with a bicycle carrying baguettes, tucked under a basket strap or poking from a paper bag over the handlebars. Draw the baguettes as simple tapered ovals with a few diagonal score lines in ink, which is all the detail bread needs at this scale.
Paint them in a warm golden brown, darker at the ends where crusts usually brown more, lighter in the middle. This single light-to-dark shift is the one hands-on trick that makes flat bread shapes look baked rather than painted.
Beginners tend to paint bread one flat color, which looks more like a wooden stick than food. Even a quick second wash on just the tips makes a real difference.
If you don’t have a warm ochre, mix yellow and a touch of burnt sienna for the same toasty tone.
Palette: Yellow Ochre,Burnt Sienna,Payne’s Grey,Naples Yellow
Stretch your composition sideways for a tandem bike on a country road, the first two-rider scene on this list. Draw the frame as one long shape with two seats and two sets of pedals, then keep both riders simple: round heads, simple torsos, no need for detailed faces at this scale.
Measure the tandem against a single bike first if it feels tricky: it is roughly one and a half times the length of a standard frame, which keeps the proportions from stretching too far or staying too short. Paint the road as a pale curving band leading off into the distance, with hedgerows in loose green dabs on either side.
If the two riders end up looking identical, vary their shirt colors or hair, which instantly reads as two different people rather than one figure copied twice.
For a quicker version, skip the hedgerow detail and let a flat green wash carry the roadside instead.
Palette: Sap Green,Yellow Ochre,Dusty Rose,Cerulean Blue
Park the bicycle in front of a pastel house next, a scene about color harmony more than drawing skill. Sketch a simple house front, one door, two windows, a peaked or flat roofline, then the bike leaning against the front step.
Choose the house color first, then pick a bicycle color that sits opposite it on the color wheel for contrast, a soft blue house with a coral bike, or a yellow house with a lavender frame. This one choice does more for the charm of the piece than any amount of detail.
Painting the house and bike in the same tone is the easiest way to lose the bicycle entirely into the background. Keep at least one strong value difference between them so the eye finds the bike first.
No complementary color chart handy? Pick whichever two colors feel most different from each other in your palette and trust that instinct.
Palette: Cornflower Blue,Coral,Naples Yellow,Sap Green
Carry the charm into the holidays with a bike carrying a small Christmas tree strapped to its back rack. Draw the tree as a simple triangle shape with a few jagged edges rather than individual branches, tied on with one loose rope line in ink.
Paint the tree in two greens, a darker shade in the shadowed inner triangle and a lighter one on the outer edge, which gives it shape without fussy needle detail. Add the bike in a cheerful red or cream so it carries the warmth of the scene even with snow nearby.
If the tree looks too neat and symmetrical, nudge a few branch tips off to one side; real trees, and tied-on trees especially, are never perfectly even.
Out of two greens? Add a touch of yellow to your main green for the lighter highlight shade instead of buying a second tube.
Palette: Hooker’s Green,Sap Green,Cadmium Red,Payne’s Grey
Shift the mood with a bicycle in the rain with an umbrella propped against the handlebars or held by an unseen rider just out of frame. Draw the bike and umbrella first, keeping the umbrella canopy as a simple dome shape with a few spoke lines.
Light source matters a lot in a rain scene: keep it soft and overhead rather than directional, which avoids hard shadows that feel wrong on a grey day. Paint the background in cool blue-grey washes, then once fully dry, flick a water-loaded brush or a toothbrush lightly over the sky area for a soft rain spatter.
Too much spatter turns rain into dirt; a light scatter in the upper half of the painting, kept out of the bike itself, reads far more convincingly.
Without a toothbrush, drag a nearly-dry brush bristle-side against your thumb pointed at the paper for the same effect.
You Will Need
- toothbrush or old splatter brush
Palette: Payne’s Grey,Cerulean Blue,Coral,Naples Yellow
Head somewhere brighter with a bicycle on a beach boardwalk, planks running diagonally beneath the wheels toward a strip of sea. Draw the boardwalk planks first as a few simple parallel lines in perspective, narrowing slightly as they recede, then add the bike standing on top.
This is a good moment to check proportion: the bike’s wheels should sit exactly on the plank lines, not floating above them, which is the detail that convinces the eye the bicycle is actually standing on the boards. Wash the sea in a pale turquoise band above the boardwalk, and leave the sand area nearly white with just a hint of warm yellow.
If the boardwalk looks flat, add one or two plank lines in a slightly darker brown for shadow between boards, instant depth with minimal extra work.
No turquoise on your palette? Mix blue and a touch of green for the same beachy tone.
Palette: Turquoise,Raw Sienna,Naples Yellow,Payne’s Grey
Lighten things further with a bicycle carrying a bunch of balloons tied to the handlebars, drifting upward out of the top of the frame. Draw the balloon strings first as loose curved lines, then the balloon shapes at varying heights so they don’t line up in a stiff row.
Paint each balloon a different color, working wet-on-dry so the colors stay clean and separate rather than bleeding together, then add a tiny white highlight left unpainted on each one for shine. This small reserved-white trick does more for the balloon’s roundness than any shading.
Crowding too many balloons together is the common misstep; five or six with visible gaps between them reads as festive, while a dozen crammed in just looks busy.
If your paper is already painted on by accident, lift a small white highlight back out with a damp brush and a tissue instead of relying on reserved white.
Palette: Opera Pink,Cerulean Blue,Cadmium Orange,Lavender Violet
Settle the bike into a bicycle at a farmers market, baskets front and back overflowing with produce. Draw the bike first, then sketch simple round and oval shapes for vegetables and fruit spilling from the baskets, apples, a bunch of carrots, a loaf of bread.
Work from the back basket forward so overlapping shapes stay logical: paint the furthest items first, let them dry, then layer the closer ones on top with a thin white gap left between to keep each shape distinct. This order is the one trick that keeps a crowded basket from turning into a blur.
If the produce starts looking like unidentifiable blobs, add one or two ink details after the paint dries, a carrot top, an apple stem, just enough to clarify each shape.
Short on basket space? Three or four items is plenty; a market basket doesn’t need to be full to read as a market basket.
Palette: Cadmium Red,Cadmium Orange,Sap Green,Raw Sienna
Move into cooler color territory with a bicycle resting in a pile of autumn leaves. Draw the bike first, then scatter leaf shapes around the wheels and across the ground, a mix of simple ovals and a few five-pointed maple shapes for variety.
Paint the leaves in at least three different autumn tones, letting a couple bleed softly into the ground wash while others stay crisp, which mimics how real fallen leaves vary between fresh and faded. The autumn sketchbook approach of mixing warm and muted tones in the same scene works just as well here.
If the leaf pile looks like a solid orange mass, break it up with a few leaves painted in a cooler brown or muted green, which adds the variation a flat wash can’t give on its own.
No maple leaf shape memorized? A simple oval with three small points at the top reads as a leaf just fine at this scale.
Palette: Burnt Sienna,Cadmium Orange,Raw Umber,Yellow Ochre
Pack up for a bicycle with a picnic basket strapped behind the seat, lid slightly open with a cloth and a bottle peeking out. Draw the basket as a simple woven rectangle, a few crosshatch ink lines suggesting wicker texture without drawing every strand.
Paint the basket in warm tan first, then once dry, add a gingham cloth in red and white, two simple stripes crossing each other is enough to suggest the pattern at this size. The bike itself can stay a soft, quiet color so the basket remains the visual treat of the piece.
Overdoing the wicker texture is the usual trap; a dozen crosshatch lines across the whole basket is plenty, more than that and it starts to look scribbled rather than woven.
No red and white gingham in mind? A simple blue and white version works just as sweetly for the cloth.
Palette: Raw Sienna,Cadmium Red,Sap Green,Naples Yellow
Zoom out for a bike rack in Amsterdam, several bicycles leaning together along a canal railing rather than a single one. Draw three or four simple bike silhouettes overlapping slightly, varying the height and angle of each so they don’t look stamped from the same shape.
Keep the row receding slightly in scale, bikes further down the rack drawn a touch smaller, which gives the row a sense of distance without any complicated perspective lines. Paint each bike a different pastel shade so the row reads as cheerful rather than cluttered, then wash a simple canal and tall narrow house shapes behind in muted tones.
If the bikes start blending into one shape, add a thin white gap between each frame before painting, which keeps every bicycle distinct even when they overlap.
Short on time? Two bikes side by side still reads perfectly well as “a rack” at this scale.
Palette: Cornflower Blue,Coral,Naples Yellow,Payne’s Grey
Soften the mood with a bicycle under cherry blossoms, branches arching overhead and a few petals drifting down. Draw the bike first, then a simple curved branch shape reaching across the top of the frame, nothing more structural than a single bending line with smaller offshoots.
Paint the blossoms with a dry-brush dabbing motion using the side of a round brush loaded with pale pink, tapping rather than stroking, which creates clusters of soft petal texture instead of solid pink blobs. Let a few petal shapes drift loose in the air and on the ground near the wheels for movement.
If the branch ends up too thick and heavy, thin it with a dry brush dragged along one edge once the paint is still slightly damp, which softens the line into something more delicate.
No pink in your set? Mix white gouache into a touch of red watercolor for the same pale blossom tone.
Palette: Opera Pink,Raw Umber,Sap Green,Naples Yellow
Turn up the warmth with a bicycle carrying a bundle of sunflowers in its basket, tall stems leaning out at different angles. Draw each sunflower head as a simple circle with a ring of pointed petals around the edge, keeping the petal count low, eight to ten is plenty at this size.
Paint the centers first in a deep brown, let them dry completely, then paint the petals in bright yellow working outward from the center so no yellow paint drifts into the brown. This order is the one trick that keeps sunflower centers crisp instead of muddy.
If the petals look too uniform, vary a few in size and angle, real sunflower petals are never perfectly even, and that slight imperfection is what reads as hand-painted and charming.
No deep brown on hand? Mix burnt sienna with a touch of black for the same rich center tone.
Palette: Cadmium Yellow,Burnt Umber,Sap Green,Raw Sienna
Find some stillness with a bicycle by a lake, parked at the water’s edge with a reflection shimmering beneath it. Draw the bike first on the shoreline, then a simple horizon line across the middle of the page separating water from sky.
Paint the sky and distant hills first, let it dry, then paint the lake as a near mirror of the sky colors but slightly darker and broken by a few horizontal wavy lines where the bike’s reflection would ripple. This reflection is the detail that makes a lake read as water rather than a flat colored shape.
If the reflection looks too solid and mirror-perfect, drag a dry brush horizontally through it while still slightly damp to break up the edge, which mimics real water movement.
No hills in your reference? A simple soft green or blue band along the horizon works just as well.
Palette: Cerulean Blue,Sap Green,Payne’s Grey,Naples Yellow
Bring back the full figure for a girl in a dress riding a bike, this time as the clear focus of the whole piece rather than a background detail. Draw her first: a simple oval head, a flowing dress shape that widens at the hem, and arms reaching to the handlebars, then build the bike around her pose.
Measure her torso against the bike frame as a quick proportion check: her seated height from hip to head should roughly match the height of the front wheel, which keeps the figure from towering over or shrinking beneath the bicycle. Paint her dress in a bold color against a softer bike and background so she reads as the subject at a glance.
If her legs look stiff, curve the back leg slightly behind her and the front one bent toward the pedal, which instantly suggests motion rather than a static pose.
Not confident with faces? Leave her features as the barest suggestion, a dot and a curve, and let the dress and motion carry the charm instead.
Palette: Coral,Cornflower Blue,Naples Yellow,Raw Sienna
Cool everything down with a bicycle in snow, parked against a softly falling white backdrop. Draw the bike as usual, then paint the ground and sky in one continuous pale blue-grey wash, leaving the paper itself untouched in patches to stand in for snow rather than painting white over the wash.
This reserved-white trick is the one hands-on method that makes snow convincing in watercolor: plan the untouched shapes before you start painting, since you can’t add white back in easily once a wash covers it. Add a few small dots of masking fluid first if you want crisp snowflakes floating in the air, removing it once everything else is dry.
If the snow looks grey and dull rather than bright, check that your background wash is pale enough; snow scenes need a lot more white paper showing than most beginners expect.
No masking fluid? Simply paint around small flake shapes by hand with a fine brush instead.
You Will Need
- masking fluid (optional)
Palette: Payne’s Grey,Cerulean Blue,Cadmium Red,Raw Umber
Settle into something quieter with a bicycle carrying a stack of books in its basket, spines facing outward in different colors. Draw the books as simple rectangles stacked at slightly different angles, never perfectly square to each other, which keeps the stack looking casual rather than stiff.
Paint each book spine a different color, working one at a time so wet edges don’t bleed into the next, then add a single thin darker line near each spine’s edge for a quick sense of thickness. The cozy library illustration approach of mixing warm spine colors against a soft neutral background works nicely transferred onto a bicycle basket.
If the stack looks like it might topple, widen the base book slightly compared to the ones on top, a visual trick that reads as more stable even though nothing is physically different.
Running low on colors? Three spine colors is enough; repeat one of them rather than reaching for a fourth.
Palette: Sap Green,Burnt Sienna,Cornflower Blue,Raw Umber
Give the bike a job with a bicycle delivery of flowers, a wrapped bouquet balanced across the handlebars or tucked into a long box strapped to the back. Draw the bouquet wrap first as a simple cone shape in brown paper or patterned wrap, then the flower heads poking from the top in a loose cluster.
Paint the wrap before the flowers so the paper color sets the stage, a warm kraft brown or soft pastel pattern, then add three or four flower types in quick contrasting colors on top once dry. Keeping the flower varieties different, a rose shape here, a daisy shape there, reads as a fuller bouquet than repeating the same flower five times.
If the bouquet looks too stiff and symmetrical, let one or two stems and flower heads lean outside the main cluster, exactly how a real hand-tied bouquet behaves.
No kraft brown paint? A diluted burnt sienna makes a convincing wrapping paper tone.
Palette: Burnt Sienna,Opera Pink,Cadmium Yellow,Sap Green
Take the bike to the coast for a bicycle by a lighthouse, a tall striped tower standing behind it against open sky. Draw the lighthouse first as a simple tapered cylinder with a small lamp room at the top, then the bike parked in front at a scale that reaches roughly to the lighthouse’s lower third.
Light source becomes useful here: decide whether the sun sits left or right of the lighthouse, then shade one side of the tower slightly darker than the other, which turns a flat striped shape into something that reads as three-dimensional. Paint the sky in a soft gradient, lighter near the horizon, deeper blue higher up, before adding the lighthouse stripes in red or black over the dried wash.
If the stripes look uneven, lightly pencil guide lines around the tower first before inking, spacing them evenly from top to bottom.
No red stripe paint handy? Alternate white (left as paper) and black or navy for a classic look instead.
Palette: Cerulean Blue,Cadmium Red,Payne’s Grey,Naples Yellow
Bring the scene somewhere lush with a bicycle in a garden, surrounded by climbing roses or a low hedge and a scattering of small blooms underfoot. Draw the bike first, then a simple trellis or hedge line behind it, keeping the structure loose rather than architectural.
Paint the greenery in at least two shades of green, a darker one pushed toward the back and a lighter, slightly yellow-green toward the front, which creates depth the way the simple watercolor flowers approach uses layered greens behind a single bloom. Add small dabbed flower shapes in pink or white scattered through the greenery once it has dried.
If the garden starts to swallow the bike, keep a clear halo of untouched or pale background directly around the bicycle shape, which holds it forward in the composition.
Limited on green shades? One green plus a touch of yellow mixed in fresh for the lighter patches does the job.
Palette: Sap Green,Hooker’s Green,Opera Pink,Naples Yellow
Swap the dog for a bicycle with a cat in the basket, ears and tail poking over the rim while the rest curls into a comfortable loaf shape. Draw the cat’s silhouette first as one smooth curved outline rather than separate body parts, which keeps that classic curled-up cat shape intact.
Paint the base fur color first, then once dry, add a few darker patches or stripes depending on the cat’s coat using a fine brush, letting the pattern follow the curve of the body rather than running straight across it. The cute cat doodle habit of keeping the face minimal, two dots and a small curve, works just as well inside a basket as it does on its own.
If the cat looks flat, add one small shadow beneath its chin and under the ears in a grey wash, enough to lift it off the basket surface.
No fine brush for the stripes? The tip of a cotton swab dipped lightly in paint can dab in soft patches instead.
Palette: Raw Sienna,Burnt Umber,Payne’s Grey,Naples Yellow
Dress the bike up for an occasion with a bike with a wedding sign, a small wooden or cardboard sign tied to the back frame, ribbon or flowers trailing from the handlebars. Draw the sign as a simple rectangle on a short post or hung from string, left blank since lettering isn’t needed for the charm of the scene.
Paint the sign in a soft neutral wood tone, then add trailing ribbon in a pale color down from the handlebars, two or three wavy lines is enough to suggest movement in the ribbon without overworking it. A scatter of small white or pink flowers tucked along the frame finishes the festive feel.
If the ribbon looks stiff, curve each strand in a slightly different direction rather than drawing them parallel, which is what makes fabric read as light and trailing instead of rigid.
No wood-toned paint ready? A pale raw sienna wash does the job for the sign.
Palette: Raw Sienna,Opera Pink,Naples Yellow,Sap Green
Head into the cooler months with a bicycle carrying small pumpkins stacked in the basket or tied to the back rack. Draw each pumpkin as a slightly flattened circle with a few vertical crease lines and a small curved stem on top, varying the size of each one in the stack.
Paint the pumpkins in a range from deep orange to muted mustard, letting a touch of green or brown sit in the creases once the base coat dries, which gives each pumpkin some roundness rather than a flat orange disc. The way the autumn sketchbook ideas mix warm oranges with muted browns for a cozy palette applies nicely here too.
If the pumpkins all look the same size and shade, that uniformity is the main thing that flattens an otherwise charming scene; vary both deliberately across the stack.
No mustard tone mixed? A touch of yellow ochre into your orange shifts it just enough for variety.
Palette: Cadmium Orange,Yellow Ochre,Burnt Sienna,Sap Green
Close the list with a bicycle at sunset, silhouetted against a sky doing most of the emotional work in warm gradients. Paint the sky first, before any ink even touches the bike: layer pink, orange and a touch of purple wet-into-wet across the top of the page, letting the colors merge softly into each other.
Once that sky layer is completely dry, add the bicycle as a near-solid dark silhouette, either in ink alone or a very dark wash, since a sunset’s light source sits directly behind the subject and flattens it into shadow rather than showing its details. This is the single biggest shift from every other idea on this list, where the bike is the colorful star; here it steps back and lets the sky shine instead.
If the silhouette looks too harsh and cut out, soften just the very edge where the bike meets the brightest part of the sky with a little damp lifting, suggesting a glow around the rim.
No purple for the sky? Mix a little blue into your pink for a similar dusky tone.
Palette: Cadmium Orange,Opera Pink,Lavender Violet,Payne’s Grey
Try this same silhouette approach with any earlier scene in the list once the sunset version feels comfortable; it changes the mood of a familiar subject completely.
What to Do Next
Pick whichever scene matches the mood you are in today, set up a small cup of water and your pastel palette, and start with the ink outline on cold press paper. One finished bicycle painting is often all it takes to want to work straight through the rest of the list.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper works best for a bicycle watercolor painting with ink lines?
Cold press watercolor paper around 140lb works best because it handles both washes and fine ink lines well. Smoother hot press paper is fine too if you prefer crisper ink detail over texture.
Should you draw the bicycle before or after adding watercolor?
Draw the ink outline first, then paint once the ink is fully dry and confirmed waterproof. This order keeps the lines crisp and stops ink bleeding into your washes.
How do you keep bicycle wheels looking round and even?
Trace around a small circular object like a coin or bottle cap rather than drawing freehand. This single trick solves most of the wonky-wheel problems beginners run into.
What if my watercolor bicycle looks too flat or plain?
Add one small contrasting detail such as a colorful basket, a ribbon, or a shadow beneath the wheels. A flat bike usually just needs one accent rather than more color everywhere.
Can these bicycle scenes be painted without pre-drawing in pencil first?
Yes, confident beginners can skip pencil and go straight to ink since the shapes in this style stay simple and forgiving. If you are nervous, a very light pencil sketch first never hurts.