Need hwlp with Star Wars shoes...

[YouLostTheGame]

Hey there. Today, I received my first comission from my friend Jacob's mother. She's asked me to take a pair of white vans, and paint them up to make them Star Wars themed, as my boy Jacob is a huge fan. In fact, he, a few friends, and I even did our own rendition of the Star Wars Acapella: John Williams Tribute by Moosebutter for a talent show. We be nerds.

Anyhow, this is all fine and dandy, except I've never painted/done anything art related to shoes before, so I'm not sure what type of paint to use, whether I should use markers instead, how I should dry them afterwards,or anything like that. Does anyone have any suggestions/tips on how I go about doing this?

TL/DR: HOW DOES I PAINT SHOES???!!11 LOLOLOL.

Thanks. I'll be sure to post pictures of my progress once I get started.

(Pic below not exactly related... at all... but I suppose it'll give you a rough idea of my ability)

[SprintT]

Acrilic

An PLEASE make that design indo a shirt XD

[YouLostTheGame]

At 12/19/09 12:52 AM, SprintT wrote: Acrilic

An PLEASE make that design indo a shirt XD

I was thinking that, thanks.

And actually, that was designed specifically for a shirt, ha.

[xXLunchBoxXx]

I'm not sure what types of paint to use...but I know from experience, with markers, they will smear, fade, and get totally fucked when it rains. It's heartbreaking when that happens. Probably need something to seal it with, but I'm not sure what to put on shoes.

[YouLostTheGame]

At 12/19/09 09:53 PM, xXLunchBoxXx wrote: I'm not sure what types of paint to use...but I know from experience, with markers, they will smear, fade, and get totally fucked when it rains. It's heartbreaking when that happens. Probably need something to seal it with, but I'm not sure what to put on shoes.

Yeah maybe some sort of adhesive, perhaps. I just went out and got a black fabric marker for outlining the design, and some acrylic paints for it, but now that I think about it I probably should have gone with fabric paint.

[gmanthesandwhichking]

If you want to stay on a budget, use sharpie to paint the shoes, BUT, if you want them to be colored and really high quality use these pens called Copic, they are about $6 a pen but they are refillable.

[daryl2158]

Well, for technique I think with your level of artistry you should be able to pull it off with enough shoe-reference research. I'd project an image on the van before tracing it just to be sure...but yea.

Since you've never done shoes before, I recommend you use simple erasable whiteboard markers to trace it first. If it looks fine, then paint it. Don't use markers for the final product, even good permanent markers will come off.

If you've ever had your car graffitied, you'll know spray paint is a bitch to buff out. I'd suggest using just that, and you might even add a waterproof layer of fixative on top of that to further weatherproof the art.

airbrushing would be awesome if you had access to airbrushes.

As for drying, dry it in a well-ventilated area. Build up layers of spraypaint instead of spraying them all on in one go. It will help the drying process as well as prevent unsightly paint running down. You can use a fan to speed up the process, but I doubt it'll help a lot. Spraypaint pretty much dries on contact already if you use it sparingly. Keep the masking tape for marking out the borders on though, just in case it runs when you leave it to dry.

oh and when you're done, PICS PLEASE!

[daryl2158]

actually I'm beginning to doubt I got the meaning of 'shoes' right. do you mean the footwear? Cuz somehow I don't think you do. Crap. Is it some kind of slang?

[xXLunchBoxXx]

At 12/20/09 06:10 AM, daryl2158 wrote: actually I'm beginning to doubt I got the meaning of 'shoes' right. do you mean the footwear? Cuz somehow I don't think you do. Crap. Is it some kind of slang?

Well, she did say "White Vans", so I'm assuming she meant shoes. Plus, there's the word "pair" they all seem to mean shoes. I wonder what the slang shoe would be.

[CosmicDeath]

At 12/20/09 06:08 AM, daryl2158 wrote: advice

^^ What he said! ^^

[YouLostTheGame]

Haha, yes I'm actually talking about a pair of shoes, as in footwear. I started on them last night and worked on them for a bit. I've decided to go with a combination of a black fabric marker and acrylic paints. This is what I have so far. I'm gonna finish the Storm Trooper up today and shade him wth paint. He's gonna be shooting a laser off the shoe and onto the other shoe where Chewbacca will be doing the same. Not sure what I'm doing for the sides and the backs yet. Suggestions are welcome.

[DragonFyre9]

At 12/20/09 03:44 PM, YouLostTheGame wrote: Storm Trooper up today and shade him wth paint. He's gonna be shooting a laser off the shoe and onto the other shoe where Chewbacca will be doing the same. Not sure what I'm doing for the sides and the backs yet. Suggestions are welcome.

For the backs on the one with the storm trooper you could have the imperial symbol. On the shoe with Chewbacca you could have the rebellion symbol.

[YouLostTheGame]

At 12/20/09 07:46 PM, DragonFyre9 wrote: For the backs on the one with the storm trooper you could have the imperial symbol. On the shoe with Chewbacca you could have the rebellion symbol.

I like the way you think, my good man. Also I was thinking for the sides, on one I could have Leia laying down in her Slave Costume, and on the other I could have the faceoff scenebetween Han and Greedo.

Because Han shot first, dammit.

[daryl2158]

dammit! I thought vans as in the VEHICLES. you know, the full-sized version of a mini-van -_-. so the slang was the 'vans', not the 'shoes'

oh yea, cloth shoes. don't worry about the ink drying, use anything you like. the design is way more likely to come off by dirt collecting on it and friction, so nothing you use will really stay that long anyway. besides, she can always trace the faint outline after washing.

[YouLostTheGame]

At 12/20/09 09:28 PM, daryl2158 wrote: oh yea, cloth shoes. don't worry about the ink drying, use anything you like. the design is way more likely to come off by dirt collecting on it and friction, so nothing you use will really stay that long anyway. besides, she can always trace the faint outline after washing.

I had that same issue when looking up techniques on google. I kept getting how to paint vehicls rather than shoes.

[xXLunchBoxXx]

That looks awesome! I can not wait to see the rest of it. and for the sides a x-wing and a tie fighter maybe? Definitely go with the symbols on the back of each shoe.

[YouLostTheGame]

Alright guise, all done. I didn't have qute as much time as I'd liked, so I didn't get to put much stuff in, but I did what I could. Here's a front shot. More pics to come.

Wookies are a bitch to draw.

[DragonFyre9]

At 12/22/09 11:28 PM, YouLostTheGame wrote: Alright guise, all done. I didn't have qute as much time as I'd liked, so I didn't get to put much stuff in, but I did what I could. Here's a front shot. More pics to come.

Wookies are a bitch to draw.

That is awesome, MOAR PICS!

[YouLostTheGame]

Here's a back shot. I decided to use the natural sectons of the shoe to my advantage. On the Chewie shoe, I painted the top of R2, and on the Stormtrooper one, I painted thetop of the Death Star. The Death Star definitely could have turned out better, and this is a horrible shot. But, my friend's mother was ver happy with it, and I think Jacob's gonna love it.

[xXLunchBoxXx]

omfg that looks amazing, good job. I really like the R2, i don't know why, it just kinda stands out to me.
I think he's gonna love it.

[bigjonny13]

Holy crap, as a Star Wars geek, I think this are awesome!!!

[YouLostTheGame]

At 12/22/09 11:43 PM, xXLunchBoxXx wrote: omfg that looks amazing, good job. I really like the R2, i don't know why, it just kinda stands out to me.
I think he's gonna love it.

Thanks so much. I had a lot of fun doing R2, ha. I took forever trying to figure out what to put on the back, but it worked out really well.

MOAR PICS.