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InspirationIllustration

Bicycle Boy: Watercolour illustrations that follow a boy bicycling through his day

In his series Bicycle Boy, Tokyo-based Polish artist Mateusz Urbanowicz follows a day-in-the-life of a boy bicycling to his destination.

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All images courtesy of the artist

All images courtesy of the artist

Inspired by the animated Studio Ghibli movie Whisper of the Heart, he first created a watercolour illustration which quickly got attention and spread through the Internet. Following this, he decided to make a 10 piece series about the "bicycling-it-hard-boy through his day as he fights to reach his goal".

We love the beautiful brushstrokes and colours. For the technical amongst you, lines are from a 6B pencil and colours are from Schmincke and Winsor & Newton watercolours. As you browse through his work below, you'll wonder what this mysterious Japanese boy is rushing to get to – but all is revealed at the end. Prints of the whole series are available via his Society6 store.

A boy on a bicycle rides across a vibrant urban landscape with pink, purple and yellow watercolour washes, passing modern buildings and bare trees
Watercolour illustration of a riverside Japanese town with a bridge, traditional buildings and boats on the water, with green hills in the background
A boy rides a bicycle past a red vending machine beneath a residential building with wisteria flowers overhead and a shop awning to the left
A boy rides his bicycle across railway tracks past a red and yellow train and small shops in a watercolour illustration by Mateusz Urbanowicz
A boy in school uniform rides his bicycle through a rainy Tokyo street lined with pink cherry blossom trees and urban buildings in this watercolour illustration
Boy sitting at a window surrounded by pink flowers, holding a small object while gazing downwards with a contemplative expression
A figure walks along a residential street lined with autumn trees overlooking a city skyline beneath dramatic clouds in this watercolour illustration
A boy on a bicycle leans forward determinedly as he rides past bare trees beneath a dramatic pink and gold sunset sky in watercolour
Two cyclists pause on a platform overlooking a dramatic sunset sky painted in oranges, purples and blues, with a small shrine visible to the right
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