Spidey v. Wolverine

This pair was heavy on research. Our client was expecting certain costume with certain features. As a self-described comic book nerd, perfection was key for him.

May have had the best time research these vs any other pair. Got to spend a few hours in my apartment sitting around reading comic books. Little backstory: my first drawing "mentor" was Sonic the Hedgehog comics. I'd spend hours recreating my favorite panels from the comics, in the process internalizing all the technique and styles of my favorite artists.



After researching I gained two things.
1. Accurate sketches of both the characters.
2. A knowledge that Wolverine can kill exactly 36 ninjas in one issue.

Crows and Ravens, again

This has got to be the third crow/raven themed pair of Art Kicks we've had commissioned (granted one pair was dead bird themed). But this is getting ridiculous. Customers, we can do other animals! I recently just did a detailed illustration of a manatee for a project. Those too can be put on Art Kicks! Give us something new. Squirrels, llamas, sea cucumbers, deer, anglerfish, ostriches, candiru, emu, alaskan king crab, proboscis monkeys, slow lorises, manatees, especially manatees. Just not anymore ravencrows!

I chose a a very simple color scheme, using only five markers for the majority of the design.

Art Kicks: Charity Japanese Relief Pair

With the recent developments in Japan, we think it's time to lend a helping hand.

We're offering a special Japanese charity pair of Art Kicks. You'll still get whatever design you want, but the shoe cost will be raised to $350 with all profit (minus the 40 cost to buy the shoes) going towards the American Red Cross-Japanese Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief Fund.

Due to our backlog of orders, we can offer only a single pair like this. If we can wade through our pile of orders, we'll try to offer another pair.

Adventure Time by Cam Giblin

Pretty self-explanantory, based on the children's show Adventure Time.

This show reminds me of a tamer version of Ren & Stimpy.

Dia de los Muertos by Cam Giblin

Design for my friend George from New Mexico. He let me have complete creative freedom on this pair, all the way up to choosing the subject matter. Tried to stay pretty true to Dia de los Muertos tradition by incorporating the makeup, skull candies, flowers, picture of loved one, etc.


Since I've been using a fume mask I've noticed a huge decrease in headaches and general wooziness while I work on a pair. I don't care that the U.S. Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act has labeled the markers "nontoxic", these things kill.



This was, by far, one of my favorite pairs to create.

ZOMBIES 2: Electric Boogaloo

Not much to say about this pair. Had a lot of fun doing it. I think I drew some killer (har har) hands on the backs. There's a painfully obvious Tony Moore influence, but they say steal from the best, so there you go.

Avatar the Last Airbender by Cam Giblin

Pretty simple pair.

I was able to start and finish them entirely during an Indiana Jones marathon on TV.

I was working on the halftone background about the time the priest was ripping the still-beating heart from that guy's chest.

Owls

Fun, simple, colorful, expressive, clean.

One of my favorite pairs so far.

ZOMBIES!

Been away from shoes for a while--working way to hard to do anything but sleep in my free time. Recently I've been trying to scale back at work so I can come home and get some quality chemical huffing time. Nothing really relaxes me like the fumes of brand new shoes, sharpie, fabric marker, and sealant spray.

On an unrelated note, I've noticed that I can't taste food anymore.


Imagine my excitement when an Art Director at Goodby commissioned lil' ol' me to do a birthday present for his awesome wife. I have yet to meet her, but I can infer her awesomeness from the fact that she rocks gory zombie kicks.




The sides are a tribute to the lettering on 1970s Zombie film posters. As a present to myself (justified by an "investment in a project") I bought a massive book on 70s lettering and proceeded to rip off the coolest stuff in the horror and comic book chapters.

The final shoes being modeled by a happy recipient:

Calder's Circus - Evan's 50th Pair!

Beginning in 1926, Alexander Calder created an elaborate piece of kinetic sculpture slash performance art slash toy set which has come to be appropriately known as Calder's Circus. Calder would reenact the circus of old with his wire and cloth scultpures, speaking for the characters and providing sound effects. He built wire trapeze artists that really could flip and catch the swinging bars with their hooked hands. He constructed a cowboy who could flip a lasso around a horses neck with a spring-loaded arm. He built over a hundred different characters, all engineered to perform their real-world skill.


Calder also created extensive sketches prior to building the circus, some of which are recreated on the sides.


I really developed a deep appreciation for Calder, as I always seem to do for my subject material. For more on the circus, make sure to watch the surviving films of Calder's demonstrations:

Album Year: The Remake

These are based on the pair Cam did a while back, only I had to modify them a little bit because Cam has a much steadier hand for intricate detail work. I blew up the images and scattered them around to fit my less detail-oriented style. The results are interesting. It's like comparing the original film to its remake.

Percussion/Mountain Biking by Cam Giblin

This pair is pretty self-explanatory, it's based on the client's hobbies. She likes percussion instruments, BAM, first shoe, and mountain biking, BAM, second shoe.


This is the first time I've used a fume mask while designing a pair of Art Kicks. My poorly ventilated apartment has not been the most ideal place to work with 30 or so Sharpies. Nontoxic they say? Bah! My splitting migraine and trembling limbs would say otherwise. Now that I'm using a mask, these ailments have all but disappeared.

More Oceans

I've done several ocean and water themed pairs. Can't complain. I love the subject. It makes me think of some of the best days of my life spent on vacation in Bermuda, San Diego, and Mexico. One day, when I manage to hit it big doing these shoes, I will retire on a beach somewhere and draw oceanscapes forever.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

One of my favorite movies of all time and one of my favorite actors. This was a dream assignment.

I used an extremely limited color palette for this pair--black and three different tones of brown. Inspired by the movie posters for the film, which were printed with muddy brown backgrounds, I left large white spaces that will get dirty and fade as the shoes are worn. First time I've tried something like this--we'll see how they look in a few months.


"There are two types of people in this world, my friend. Those with job security and those who draw. You, my friend, draw."

Sin City by Cam

I came home to my apartment and waiting for me was this magnificent pair: Cam's graduation gift to me. They're perfect--amazing recreation of Frank Miller's art and painstaking attention to detail. Thanks times infinity to Cam.

Peacock by Cam Giblin

One of the more unique Art Kicks orders I've gotten. Walking home delirious from lack of food I got stopped by a girl who noticed my shoes. She ended ordered a pair the next week, and I finally had grocery money. My health and Art Kicks are now one and the same.

The concept was based off her affinity for peacocks and middle eastern design.





These Art Kicks let me mindlessly doodle paisley for hours. Yay paisley, you make my life that much easier.

Carleton College

A friend of the family commissioned a pair of Carleton College shoes as a graduation present for her daughter, who just finished up four years there. I've come a long way from being the artist who was afraid to draw buildings. Now I really enjoy architectural studies. And when the building is really hard to draw, I can just cover the hard parts in snow. Huzzah for winter!

The Jetsons

I love this show. I did before working on this pair, but now I REALLY love this show. You'd think that meticulously scrutinizing cartoons would ruin them, but the Jetsons really holds up for me.


It's counter-intuitive, but line work is not nearly as important in a pair like this as color choice. Choosing the right color palette can make all the difference in creating a likeness of familiar characters like the Jetson family. Imagine George Jetson with yellow hair instead of brown. It's weird, creepy, and ruins the entire likeness. Luckily, I've got a lot of markers to choose from these days, so matching color is possible.