So fun thing about me- I paint shoes. I've done shoe orders for several years but took a break when my son was born. This last week I got my first shoe order since having my boy! And oh it's the most popular one I get- Harry Potter!
This commission is for someone who is giving them as a gift to a coworker. The coworker is apparently a huge Harry Potter fanatic. The lady who ordered them told me that she wanted Gryffindor and Hogwarts. This means there is a lot of design and interpretation on my part, which I love.
My process begins with getting all the details about the order- shoe size, style, colors, design, and the date they want them finished by. Next, I attain the shoes. I buy cheap canvas shoes. By doing this I lower the end cost for the order and I really show how a cheap shoe can be elevated into something beautiful.
Then comes the designing, since I had free-reign on this one I drew up about 7-8 different design ideas for these shoes. Choosing one design has got to be the hardest part of it all.
I also test color ideas a little bit just to make sure it all works together. I like to do two different designs that tie in together by color and balance.
After this, I sketch the design out a little onto the shoe. I don't draw the whole design because I don't want the pencil marks to show under the paint. Then I paint them! This particular pair took several coats of paint because the shoes were black but oh so worth it. So with this order I did some white first so the colors would apply easier and then I did basic colors to block in the design.
Paint is applied in layers to show depth and vibrancy. At this point, you can begin to see what the shoes might look like. It looks pretty boring right now too. The left shoe you can recognize a crest and the right shoe we have the Gryffindor colors.
Things are coming together! It sure takes time to produce works of art like this. Here on the left shoe, we have the sorting hat and the Hogwarts crest. I choose the same red and yellow (Gryffindor and Hufflepuff) to match the red and yellow the right shoe. I also wanted the background color (blue) to fad into the dark Ravenclaw shade of blue and then into black to match the rest of the shoe.
Finished! This pair took me about 4-5 hours to do. Of course, I could only paint during nap time or bedtime (so much harder now with a kid).
The left shoe has a black border around the crest and hat to help it pop.
The right shoe has a golden snitch and the background alternates between red and yellow stripes. On the red stripes, I painted different spells from Harry Potter in a darker red.
On the inner side of each shoe, I added a simple symbol in gold. Just for an additional surprise.
I am really pleased with how they turned out. The lady who made the order is also very excited and said her friend would love them.
I have realized with this order that I have missed doing shoe orders. I love sharing my talent with others. It is so fun that my artwork can be worn. If you were to get custom shoes what would you want on them?
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