Moving on from signs that annoy me to ones that just make me smile…
Around here they don’t seem to use a template for some of the road markings; they appear to be done freehand with a brush or roller. This one means you can walk on this part of the pavement (and, accordingly, that people shouldn’t drive cars or bikes there). As you can see, there’s a bit of artistic license employed.
This guy has groove in his stride.
This guy needs to stride a bit more often.
This guy, um. Stopped in a hurry.
The bicycles are a similar story. There’s no template. Each bike is a hand-drawn original. I find this interesting because so many people have no idea how a bicycle goes together and couldn’t draw one to save their lives. These road painters do, whether they like it or not.
You can see that most of the important elements of a bicycle are actually there. Excepting that apparently some paint has chipped off this one, the bits are connected to the right other bits. Things do get a little distorted. Often the seatpost descends into the rear stays instead of the seat tube. They have to be a bit tall in accordance with the idea that you’ll be seeing it foreshortened as you approach.
This one is for people with really short arms.
You can discern the distinctive styles of different artists. By a coincidence, I discovered some newly-repainted ones glowing in the half-darkness on my own route not long after. This one’s trademark is bikes for people with really long arms. They stay in this style for quite a few repeats along here. Some one guy had a lot of bicycles to draw before he could go home.