Frida Kahlo
It has been the illustration of Frida Kahlo the one that has made him popular on social networks and in the media, but lenny maughan He has been drawing illustrations with his steps since 2015 every time he goes for a run in San Francisco. At the rate of one per month, he has already reached 53.
It all started with Strava , an application that connects runners and cyclists. “I noticed, like other users of this and other apps, that there were people running to create penis shapes. As an avid runner and new Strava user, I wanted to create unique forms, planned and tailored to my own career” Maughan explains to Traveler.es.
It all started with the Vulcan salute
Actor Leonard Nimoy had just died in February and Maughan tried sketching the Vulcan salute on a paper map. “The shape of Market Street made the 'V' a good starting point. The rest of the hand took shape easily. After, after pressing the finish button and seeing the render he was happy and hooked”.
for now, this runner has only drawn the illustrations of him in San Francisco, whose streets have served as a canvas to display all those creations that arise from his imagination. “I imagine shapes of things - random, unexpected, timeless, widely recognizable, often quirky - to draw using city streets as my canvas. I also look for patterns on the street map or try to create shapes that fit the street lines. I draw it on a paper map with a highlighter. I have to repeat several times before I get the exact one,” he explains.
"It's a lot like when kids look at clouds and make shapes out of them," he compares. Once on the ground, he assures that to create these works of Running Art, Maughan only varies the races that he usually does. “I also run races with clubs, alone and on streets and roads. Sometimes I take my friends' dogs for a run. I like the variety".
Proof of this are his designs: some chopsticks, a pig, a heart, a guitar, Pac-Man... So until you reach the one that he has made famous: Frida Kahlo's portrait. “She's original, iconic, characteristic, and her image is being used artistically more and more, so why not draw her this way? I am also a fan of her art and am fascinated by her life story.”
“I knew that drawing Frida would take a good part of my day. In this illustration the hills were intense, but I run in San Francisco almost every day of the year so I'm used to it. Also, they are not fast races, It's not about distance or speed, but about form. Frida's illustration was harsh. I tried and failed several times before I got the good one.” By good he means almost 46 kilometers covered in about 6 hours of racing with about 1,100 meters of vertical elevation.
Pac Man