Shoe Art Project - WIP1

So I've got a pair of White/Black Osiris shoes:


I've seen a few shoe artists here and there in the past couple years, and since I first discovered the community in shoe art, I've been wanting to give it a try myself.

Customization has always been a big draw for me. The idea of having a pair of my own customized-drawn shoes immediately appealed to me. So I bought the white Osiris's a few months ago, but my lack of knowledge of even where to begin caused me to hold off on the project.

I've finally tackled the project though.

My first worry was deciding how I'm even going to attempt this. My second worry is how I want the finish product to look. I thought a lot about what I wanted, and I decided on a black and white image.

But again, 'Where to Begin' is always my first worry when I attempt something new, even if it's a fun process.

Issue 1: Sketch- I knew I'd need an idea and a sketch. I wanted a picture of a character I've drawn a few times, named Keto. I'm a sucker for cute things, so I knew I wanted a cute style used too. I found myself confronted with a problem though; how will I get my sketch onto my shoe?

So obviously, I thought about sketching directly onto the shoe. I decided not to go this route though, because that has problems. Sketching involves a lot of construction lines and mistakes to be made. The last thing I want to do is put a ton of scuffs on a white shoe, with stray lines of graphite that won't erase. On top of that, the shoe is obviously not perfectly flat, so that would also cause problems. I'd prefer to sketch on a flat surface.

So I decided NOT to sketch directly onto the shoe. I'd need to sketch it somewhere else. This led to my next issue.


Issue 2: Transfer- I had no idea how to transfer my sketch onto a show accurately and easily. I thought I could sketch it on paper, then just try to copy it on the shoe with as few lines as possible, but that lacks accuracy.

So I started to think of what I already knew. I knew there was a way to transfer using a marker on the backside, but I didn't have the materials for that, and it required ink, which I didn't want to use because it's too permanent, and I wanted to ink it by hand at the end.

So then I remembered Michelangelo actually, and the 16th chapel. It might sound silly, but I remembered how he transfered his sketch onto the chapel's ceiling... He sketched it out onto giant sheets of paper, then pokes tiny tiny holes alone the sketch lines, then lined up the paper along the ceilings, then painted over the paper, and all the paint seeped only through the tiny holes he made, and like magic, his sketch was suddenly on the ceiling. But again, the problem with this is that I don't want to use inks or paint at this stage, because I want ONLY black ink on the shoe, I can't hide any mistakes with white paint, because the white paint won't match the white shoe exactly.

But this at least gave me direction. So I went out and bought some thin tracing vellum paper, and got to work: (Click For Full View)



A. This is the outline I traced over the area of shoe I wanted my art within. Because the show is not completely flat, I needed to trace a border of available space I can do art in. This is the outline trace of the front of the shoe.

Then I drew Keto's face, centered.

B. This is the first background idea I had. I used a thin hatching style that was inspired by another artist who goes by Voln.

C. This is the second background idea, more of a thick ink-blot style idea.

D. This is a combination of the two styles in B and C, where I used a thick outline of shapes, with thin hatching on the inside.

I eventually chose to stick with style B, because the thin lines worked best as a background, as to let Keto's face take prominence in the visual hierarchy (what catches the eye first).

Then I cut out the shape. The little drawings you see on the right side are my practices sketches, trying to figure out the amount of "tooniness" I wanted.

So now back to transferring. So remembering Michelangelo and his 16th chapel transfer, it led me to remember some old technique I remember hearing about, but never tried.

I darkened up my sketch on the vellum, making sure I put as much graphite powder onto it as possible, then put it face down on the shoe, with the graphite power side facing the shoe, then I held it in place and still and tight, then used the back side of my pencil to rub over my graphite lines, to push the graphite powder onto my shoe, and hoped for the best.

It worked out perfectly.

Next to come is the finished product.