The Aurora Borealis Collection

After a good amount of talk & blog updates, the Aurora Borealis Collection is here! I have been anxious to put this project out and share it with everyone who's ever followed my work as well as those who are new to Ecentrik Artistry.

This project came about after showing the Aurora Borealis Dunk Highs that were done back in March. The pair was meant to be a one-of-a-kind shoe for my own personal collection but the shoe eventually got lots of coverage online from sites such as The Freshstock, Sole Redemption, Bay Area Kicks, as well as numerous other sneaker & fashion related sites. That also lead to receiving comments and emails from people asking if the shoe was available and how they can get their hands on a pair. Because of this, the light bulb lit up over my head and gave me the idea not just to re-release a shoe with this theme but to release a whole collection with the theme. Being as though i'm truly fascinated with the real life Aurora Borealis phenomenom I saw it as an opportunity to expand on the idea further by creating the theme on a variety of different model shoes. So now I present to you the limited edition Aurora Borealis Collection.

1. "Second Sighting" Air Force One Low

The reason these are called Second Sighting is because it revisits the design created for the original pair from March, this time using the timeless Nike Air Force Ones. The color scheme is the exact same as the original pair and the design detail is close to the originals but done on a different shoe. If you notice in the last 2 photos there's even a comparison between the two:











2. "Arctic Nights" Air Max 90

The reason for the Arctic Nights name was simply due to two pictures I came across of the northern lights and the amount of blue seen in both pics:




The various hues just reminded me of Alaska and stuff like ice and glaciers and anything associated with the colder areas of the world. This shoe design is the most subtle of the entire collection, as I kinda focused more on the colors than serious detail:







3. "Outside My Window" Air Force One Low

The inspiration for these came from this picture below:



I saw this picture and thought to myself what it must have been like to look out of you window and see the aurora borealis up close...I know if it were me I would have grabbed my camera and snapped photos till it ran out of memory! After analyzing the pic I went on to recreate this design on the shoes but with a few alterations in detail & color hues. I also included the stars in the sky as I felt they really brought out the design and made them feel like the original picture:










These are personally my favorites of the collection and were the most fun to create (so hopefully these do well because I wouldn't mind re-creating them *fingers crossed*). I think the color scheme just 'pops' really well and compared to the original sketch I did of these, the finished product looks exactly the same.

4. "Lights Over Maine" Dunk Low

The Lights Over Maine Dunks were inspired by this picture of an Aurora Borealis spotting in Maine some years ago:



For the actual shoe I incorporated some of the same color from the picture while replacing the yellowish areas with a purple hue seen on a picture I came across on National Geographic's website of the aurora borealis:


(picture courtesy of National Geographic)

Here's the final result:








The rear area shows the stars in the night sky along with a few tree branch silhouettes. I wanted something that came across as a little unusual and I think that was accomplished here. The original plan was to create this design on a pair of dunk highs but it was difficult to find a pair that would bring out the design the way I desired. Still, the dunk lows accomplished what I was going for.

5. "Caribou" Dunk Low

"The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one (or two, depending on taxonomy) has already gone extinct."

- Wikipedia

This shoe was inspired by the numerous photos I saw of the northern lights which also featured silhouettes of the Caribou who were in the area:



(I wonder if they realize how cool it is to see the northern lights?)

It made me want to do something where I included a silhouette of the caribou into the shoe. Although the silhouette is pretty subtle it still brought out the image of what it would look like to see the northern lights and caribou from off in the distance:









And just for show, here's a photo of the entire collection..



..as well as a promo video:



And there you have it..the Aurora Borealis Collection! Now I should let everyone know..this collection is limited edition, meaning it will only be reproduced for a certain period of time (production will probably only run until June, with a possibility of extension beyond that depending on the response they receive). All 5 of these designs are currently available in both men and women sizes at the Ecentrik online shop (if the desired size is not found in the online shop, email me at info@ecentrikart.net).

www.ecentrik.bigcartel.com