Inspired by graffitikicks which is an instagram page full of illustrations related to footwear and sneakers, he works for a sneaker shop in Osaka Japan. So I did this the same way I did the Knuckles design and I think it am going to get them printed out large and have them displayed for the exhibition to show and give homage to the artists that I take the most inspiration from
So last time I did an illustration it was a cartoon character that already existed from a TV show and game, this time I wanted to do something a little more original and took inspiration from one of my main influences “Sen” with the graffiti style “lollypop heads” as me and my dad used to call them. Obviously, I wanted to make it more relevant to what I was doing by adding trainers, so I added some to the feet that I had already drawn a while ago and I thought because the character I have drawn is quite bubbly, I drew a shoe that I thought matched (Nike more UpTempo).
After looking at Graffitikicks designs I thought it would be a good idea to do a few of my own designs that are inspired by their work. So I took one of my favourite cartoon game characters, and first illustrated him (Knuckles) I then photographed a pair of my shoes and slowly began to draw them as well using Adobe illustrator, I used different shades of red on the character’s body to show lighting, I did the same on the shoes and I think the final outcome is good.
This instagram page does illustrations of cartoon characters, but all based around shoes and trainers. some of them are just characters wearing trainers like jordans, puma suedes, etc. then others they have used the shoe as a section of an animal and drawn the rest of the animal around the shoe. I like the work because it is usually very vibrant and colourful, it is also linear and simple.
Started off with a simple sketch of a trainer, staying with the no lace theme, the idea was to have an elasticated strap around the lower tibia bone and ankle, mainly to keep the shoe on the foot but also for an ankle support. the colour theme was black and yellow with the same patterns from the last design which will be laser cut onto the final product.
the key on the second picture is the colour theme, and I have ordered samples of each of these fabrics, hopefully these will be the final fabrics being used.
I took the sketch and put it once again into illustrator, added the patterns and colours, i even placed an image of one of the fabrics i have ordered into the illustration so that it looks more realistic.
After I had taken photos of the last and plaster sole, I put the images into illustrator and turned them into digital designs with different textures on each panel. I then wanted to flatten the designs out and make a sort of map of what each panel would look like if they were cut from fabric… I think the panels look interesting, I like the contrast between the different patterns, I also think these patterns would look good on a shoe not particularly together but they definitely work. the pattern on the middle panel reminds me of the pattern on the Nike foamposite X Supreme which was a highly sort after pair of basketball shoes.
For this i took some pictures of one of the plaster lasts i made with the cast on top of the plaster sole i made, hopefully this should be the silhouette of my final design. I then put these images into the illustrator app on my Ipad, I then drew the outlines of the sole and last and begun drawing lines for the upper, trying to keep it looking slick, fast but also simple and linear, the wings and nike tick will not be on the final design but i added them thinking of the idea of speed. Using another app on my Ipad called Adobe Capture, which is used to make stencils and shapes for illustrator, I did exactly that and ran some images through that and it has given me some cool textures to put onto my designs and i think i might use them in my final design.
So to make the upper of a shoe what you have to do is completely tape up the last you are using and draw your design onto the tape, from there you then take the tape off and flatten it out onto a piece of card, there you can cut out the templates of your design and begin to cut these templates into the fabrics you are using. These pictures are showing the first steps of this process. When i was taping the last up the tape didnt stick to the last because it is made from plaster, this is why i need to make a cast out of a different material like a plastic.
The other day I finally finished my last and decided it was ready to be casted, we melted down this latex like material, made a box to fit the plaster last into and poured the liquid into the box. When it had set properly I realised that there was some air bubbles in the cast that would rip because they were to close to the plaster and so i had to melt some more down and fill the holes. When we came to take the plaster out of the cast, there must have been a crack init and the plaster broke, however the cast works and i have produced several more casts.
In America mostly but also in the Uk people are robbed and even killed because of the trainers they have on their feet, i first found out about this because alot of the music i listen to mentions some of these incidents. For the end of year show i want to show that all these shoes ad designers have indirectly been the reason people have been murdered. I am currently listening to songs that reference these happening, and im going to add them to this post and keep coming back ad adding more…
“I’ll kill you if you try me for my Air Max 95’s”- The Game
“N****s still getting bodied for foams”- Chance the rapper
“My lil n**** Rob got killed for his Barkleys”
“This is reminiscent to all the parks in the projects/When my British Knights, can rival your Foamposites/Don’t make me pull my Lottos out the closet”- Nas
“Niggas try P Imma blast ’em right there/You don’t want your ear right next to your Nike Airs”- styles P
“On D Block, where everybody wants to be Pac/And you can get popped over the new G-Unit Reeboks”- Eminem
“And just for kicks make ’em gel like ASICS”- Viktor Vaughn
“I leave ’em strapped and laced and come up out ’em
The last person that touched ’em I been shot ’em”- nelly
alex vynne 