Customer Spotlight: Superstar & Houndstooth Air Force Ones

My friend, regular client and marketer extraordinaire Saul Colt recently contacted me about doing another commission...this time for 2 different styles of air force ones.  I always have fun doing shoes for Saul because he comes up with some interesting design choices & pretty much gives me free reign on the arrangement of them (which is always a plus for an artist).  Not to mention doing something challenging (which is also a plus - just like the previous commission which was pretty fun challenge).

For the first pair Saul requested something based on these: The "All Star" Air Force Ones:

The idea was to incorporate the colors and stars but to make the stars in kind of an "exploding" type pattern.  So I wanted to use an air force one that would translate the idea perfectly and grabbed these:

And after some brainstorming came up with this:

And here's a side by side comparison:

The biggest difference is in the star pattern, which has more of a 3D feel with the navy blue shading along with the layout done in kind of a random arrangement and the stars in different sizes.

The second pair (my personal favorite of the two & definitely the more challenging of the two) was to feature something with a Houndstooth pattern:

So the arrangement for these was a no-brainer.  Again I wanted the right air force one shoe to translate the idea:

And here's the end result:

The pattern was done totally freehand..meaning no stencils were used (this shoe was a good 10 hours of work!).  Also, Saul asked that the swoosh be made a different color from the pattern...sort of as a "highlight" to the shoe, so I figured a lime green color would really stand out on the shoes.  I'm particularly proud of this pair because I love the way the finished product came out.  Not to mention that this is definitely a pair that I would wear myself!

I'd like to thank Saul for his constant support...one day I might do a post with a timeline of work i've done for him!

Interested in an original custom idea of your own?  Email me at info@ecentrikart.net.