Next up in the VC X @bellhelmets custom collaboration we have the increds artist and illustrator Lianne Hatcher of HERE WE RIDE and her deep sea diving Bell Moto-3 !
From creating one of a kind illustrations on everything from helmets to her own range of moto clothing Lianne’s skills are incredible and we’re so stoked that she offered to paint up this pop art inspired MOTO 3 design for 2023!
Check out how she created this amazing helmet design and about her artistic inspirations below!
AND DON’T FORGET!…
All 4 of the Bell custom painted helmets are up for grabs at this years Camp VC event where we’ll be raffling them off! So if you were lucky enough to get a ticket to this years sold out event make sure you grab a raffle ticket onsite to be in with a chance to bag one!!!
Hey, my name is Lianne and I am born and bred in Suffolk. I graduated from Norwich University of the Arts in 2014 and have been engaging in art all my life. Since I was small I painted, drew and sewed and this has followed me through into a Fine art Degree, a teaching PGCE and into creating illustrations and artworks inspired by awesome female bikers.
I’m a person that needs to be constantly busy and constantly creative. I love to learn new things and to be able to practise a whole range of media daily is an amazing thing. For me it’s imbedded in my existence. I am incapable of not doing something creative on a daily basis, I need it as much as I need air or pizza.
My inspiration comes from a range of different places but I have a real interest in contextual art and art history. I really love old school tattoo, traditional and neo traditional styles and designs which I’ve applied to the feel of the design of the helmet i’ve painted up.
I love a huge range of styles and ideas, but my work has settled more into a pop art style. I particularly love the use of colour blending and bold outlines, overlaying colours with pattern and contrasting light and dark.
Within my current work I think Lichtenstein’s work has a clear visual influence, his use of primary colours and bold graphic lines, I have used aspects of his artworks to create a kind of motorcycle parody with some of my illustrations, for example in my piece “damn these vintage carbs” the original features a girl drowning in the sea refusing aid, mine features a girl drowning in oil, holding onto her spanner as she fixes her bike. Other artists that I am really inspired by include D*Face and Chloe early with her beautiful ethereal paintings and use of colour and expressive strokes.
My favourite projects have been my sewn layered portraits that I have created. These allow me to combine a range of my passions, medias and techniques into one piece and create something textured and free. I create these pieces by layering fabrics, painting and print making and then sewing intricate details back into the work. The use of motion creates the drawing with stitch and adds a sense of freedom. I then cut back the layers to reveal colours and pattern in a way that is completely spontaneous.
My life has inspired my work directly and indirectly throughout my life. Within my degree I used my body and image to create artworks that were a reflection of myself and society. As a teenager I always wanted to inspire other people as an artist and as a designer. Here we Ride has been really heavily influenced by my fiancé, who brought motorcycling back into my life during the lockdown. As one of our early dates we went to watch Dirtquake and I decided then and there that I wanted to get back on a bike. When I first started riding at 19 I had always hated how little representation there was for women in motorcycling and always wanted to start changing that rhetoric.
For my helmet design I wanted to create something that combined both my signature paint streaks and mixing of colour that I apply to my paintings and the motorcycle tanks that I have previously created, but also mixed in my pop art style graphics. I had considered doing a range of designs that used portraits but felt that I wanted to create something a little different to what I usually create in terms of imagery. I love a pun also and so it had to have a text element to it too.
To create the helmet I used artists acrylic paint as it is plastic based, non damaging and water resistant once dried, it also allows for the mixing of different colours and layering of techniques that is more difficult to achieve in other materials. I started by sketching out with a white chalk over the surface of the helmet to get the basic octopus shape down. I then began with the background, painting in light and dark shades of blue and purple to create a swirling pool around the tentacles. I wanted a contrasting colour for the octopus so I went for a red and orange colour for the body. I then used a posca pen to outline the black and gold creating the style lines that are seen in my work. Overall I would say it took about 3 hours to create.
