Saturday, January 23, 2010

Golden Age Comics


While this pair may seem simple, it was in fact one of the most difficult pairs I've ever had to do. Because I'm working on cloth, ink spreads if you leave the tip of the marker down too long. If you let colors run into one another, they mix. This can be a cool effect if you want a painterly style with gradients, but it doesn't replicate the stark contrast of old comic books. In order to get clean comic book lines with as little mixing as possible, I had to wait for each color to dry before I started on the adjacent color.




Sunday, January 10, 2010

A-One Title Company


This pair marks a first for Art Kicks in that they are a promotion for a business rather than a pair for casual wear. The company is based in my hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which meant that I was able to depict some classic southwestern images. Particularly proud of the Sandia Mountains on the side of the left shoe.


Monday, December 21, 2009

"Chanel" slip-ons


On the surface, this pair depicts imitation Chanel slip-ons covered in Chanel jewelry. Yet I think they makes some really interesting statements. The juxtaposition between the Chanel logo and the Vans logo raises questions about brand identity and pricing. Does the fact that I drew the Chanel logo on a piece of apparel
make them worth much more than a normal pair of Art Kicks?

Below are a pair of actual Chanel slip-ons, which provided me the base for the design.




Sunday, November 29, 2009

Art Gallery #4 - "The World of Tomorrow"

When I work on shoes I like to listen to old 30 minute radio programs from the 1940s and 1950s. I particularly love a program called "Dimension X," a sci-fi fare that showcased some surprisingly good stories from some famous authors such as Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov. Listening to announcers read lines like, "It is the year 1984 and man has finally colonized the moon!" inspired me to create this pair.

This pair will be for sale at Ink Thirsty Gallery in Eugene, Oregon until the end of December. Email me for more information.





Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thanks to all for a great opening!

To all who came to Ink Thirsty last night, thank you so much. It was amazing to see a gallery full of people who were excited to see my art. It really makes all the hard work worthwhile.

The display was great--very industrial modern and lit from below for added effect. Didn't hurt that the shoes were featured in the center of the gallery as well.


For more info on the gallery, as well as inquiries on purchases, go to inkthirsty.com.

Art Gallery #3 - "Tech Tree"

Because shoes come in pairs, there's always an excellent opportunity for interesting juxtaposition of objects. Cherry blossoms are beautiful and always visually engaging. Five and a quarter floppy disks are not.

These shoes are available for purchase at Ink Thirsty Gallery in Eugene, Oregon until the end of December. Email me for more info.


Thursday, November 26, 2009

Art Gallery #2 - Entomophobia

This is one of the simplest and starkest designs I've done. Also the first time I've experimented with imitating the look of halftone dots. I think it works quite well.

These shoes are available for purchase at Ink Thirsty gallery in Eugene, Oregon until the end of December. Email me for more info.