Sneaker Art Battle - First Time Experience

Even though this is a story about my experience at the Hip Hop Sneaker Art Workshop, I am actually having a writer's block. I do not know where to begin! So...where should I start?

Ok, let's start with my initial reaction when I heard about the workshop. When I saw the title of the activity that will be taking place during the Valentine's Anime and Manga Day at Kinokuniya, I thought it was an educational session. When I read the description of the workshop, I realize that it was actually a sneaker design contest. The top prize was to have your design turned into a limited edition shoe. Honestly, I did not think I would get recognized in any shape or form. Because I never drawn on sneakers before, my intention was to participate in the workshop for the experience. As a result, this was an opportunity for me to try it out.

I did not draw any initial sketches, but I had some ideas in mind. Basically, I wanted to draw a person and water. However, I had no idea what kind of sneakers that I was going to draw on. Unfortunately, not too much information was provided prior to the event. Even though it was provided the day of, I am glad that Hip Hop USA had templates for the participants to draw on before working on the sneakers, and the markers for coloring.

Before working on the design, I removed the shoelace from the sneaker and stuffed it with newspapers. By removing the lace, it prevented me from accidentally coloring or drawing on it. Since the sneaker was the canvas, the stuffing provided support when I drew on it.

I started out by looking at the template and the shoe to make sure that I am drawing on the correct corresponding sides. Initially, I focused on the logo of the shoe, because it can be an obstruction to an artwork. Basically, I tried to make the logo blend in with the overall design that I had in mind. Then I started drawing my artwork. However, I realized that what I drew was not going to be visually appealing on the actual shoe. As a result, I kept in mind what not to draw on the shoe. Instead, I was going to draw an adjustment of my artwork.

Once I drew out the “storyboard,” I started drawing in pencil on the shoe, including the adjustments. Afterwords, I used a Colic black pen, which I borrowed from a fellow participant, to outline the artwork, then color markers to fill in, add shading and borders to it. I picked out the colors that I knew I would need: two different shades of blue and green, peach, red and yellow. Some of the coloring had to be adjusted, because I had a time limit. Plus, what I imagined may not have looked appealing on the sneaker. I could have filled in the white area, but would a person be able to see the details? Would the fill in be too much for the human eye? I decided not to fill in the area, because sometimes simple is better. Also, as I stated before, I had questions floating around in my head about it. So, yeah, coloring is not easy.

At the end of the day, my sneaker design had: a strategically placed mermaid; oceanic blue waves; clouds in the sky; water drainage; bamboo trees, and a hint of Chinese culture with the “water” character. Surprisingly enough, after all the pain in my hand, I became one of six winners of the contest. I received volume 1 of Slam Dunk and all the winners had their pictures taken with their winning designs. Interesting day, eh?
© 2011 Linda Thai

Photography by Linda Thai