Motorcycle Art: Top 6 Popular Themes

With custom airbrush motorcycle art becoming more and more popular it may be worthwhile to know what the most popular themes and styles are so that you can:

A: Practice Up

B: Prepare some Pieces to Show

This is great news for you, the artist, because not only do you already know how to fulfill the request (I mean, come on, you have already done one just like it!) but you should also be able to complete it slightly faster than the previous one and charge the same amount of $$$ :)

So, here is my unofficial (i.e. not statistical by any means) top 6 motorcylce art themes:

1. Flames

Flames, flames and more flames....everyone wants flames! The most popular style of flames are the "true fire" kind which are a realistic looking flame in realistic colors. Unfortunately, these are also the most difficult of all flames to paint. Everyone is so familiar with how flames should look, that when they are slightly wrong - it is really obvious.

Variations in color themes on realistic flames is also quite popular - blue and green especially. These are slightly less difficult to produce because your coloring does not have to be quite as accurate as with traditional flames.

Lastly, there are what I like to call "old school" flames. These are stylized flames similar to those on the hotwheels logo. These are a breeze to paint because they are all tape and mask work (bonus) - the only difficult part is finishing the edges, as they are usually pinstriped in which requires a steady hand.

2. Skulls

Skulls and variations of skulls are also really popular. With skulls it seems that the limits of your imagination are all that holds you back. Skulls with exaggerated features, fanged teeth, horns, cracks, holes, wings - you name it, it all goes.

Often the client will bring in a picture of a skull they particularly like and want that on their motorcycle - typically it is a logo for their bike club - so knowing how to recreate a design is also a great skill to nail down.

3. Patriotic

Maybe it was the movie Easy Rider that started the craze of patriotic motorcycle art, but what ever started it, it sure has caught on. And ever since 9/11 the demand for these scenes have been even greater ... a word of warning about these designs... the client who requests them often has a strong personal attachment to the subject, and therefore will expect nothing but the best results. Keep this in mind when taking on this work.

4. Wildlife

I know wildlife is a pretty broad theme - but what I really mean is Eagles, Bears and Wolves. I am sure there will be the odd request for some other animal, but these three crop up all the time.

Eagle images are usually heads or soaring. Bears and wolves are almost always snarling with the odd wolf howling.

This popular theme is worth brushing up your fur painting skills for.

5. Babes

No, I don't mean cute little babies - that would not be nearly macho enough :)

I mean super sexy, usually naked, always hot women - luckily the newstands are stocked with oodles of reference materials (aka Playboy). Also be prepared for requests for the "bad" hot girl - you know - the leather clad snarling babe - bikers dig that too :)

6. Evil Guys

Evil guys... another big motorcycle art genre that really could be broken down into smaller bits but, essentially, evil guys include vampires, werewolves, devils, evil clowns (I don't get that one at all), satan and a variety of evil super hero types.

Requests for "evil guys" are ussually accompanied with a reference photo - thank goodness.

While there are many more scenes and themes for motorcycle art I think this is a pretty good start. If you are planning to market your work to the bike crowd, any or all of these should be in your portfolio.