shoes

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"Airbrushed Shoes"

Step #1

First step in custom painting leather shoes is in the preparation of the surface. Remove the laces from the shoes. Put them to the side to keep them clean and paint free. Using a white paper towel and alcohol rub the entire shoe gently and thoroughly to remove any dirt and oils. Do not skip any areas. It would be best not to use acetone. Discoloring of the shoe might happen if you do not have experience using the product. I tend to go back and forth between alcohol and acetone depending on the shoe and if it's new or used. With acetone you have to take extra steps to remove the solvent afterwards. Let's stick to rubbing alcohol for this project!

Kool Kustom Kickers

ARTIST PROFILE

Natalie Lapelosa is the owner of XZOTIC INK which is based in New York City. Natalie prides herself on providing only the best quality care for her customers.
Natalie is a Professional Airbrush Artist with more than 10 years of experience in many different aspects of art. Not only is she an Airbrush Artist but she is also a Designer, who helps guide the customer into finding the right design or logo they are searching. Natalie brings the "Street Designs" to life! She loves working hands on with her customers. "My customers are what makes us a proud company.", says Natalie.
Xzotic Ink is capable of Producing High Demands. "If it has a surface, we can spray it!", comments Natalie.

Airbrush : Iwata Eclipse Spray Guns: N/A
Paint Media: Createx and Golden airbrush paints.
Surface Media: T-Shirts, Shoes, Hats
Other Equipment:
Projector: N/A
Lighting : Natural

TECHNICAL

DATA

NATALIE
LAPELOSA

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Materials Needed:
1.) Rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl)
2.) White paper towels (do not use printed paper towels, the ink may come off on your shoes)
3.) New Pair of leather sneakers
4.) Drafting tape, masking tape
5.) X-Acto knife #11 blade
6.) 3M Spray Adhesive
Paint Used:
Createx Opaques
1.) Opaque Pink
2.) Hot Purple
3.) Blue

Written By Natalie Lapelosa

Positioning The Stars
The customer requested that the biggest star be placed at the front, so I began placement with the largest one. I didn't like the look of the largest star right in front and centered so I put it to angle going off to the side. I position the rest of the stars around the main star. I use 3M Remount Reposition-able Adhesive Spray and lightly spray the back of each star stencil. Once again I stick it to my pants and then check its tackiness. When it's less tacky I place them back on the shoe.

I use regular printer paper to create stencils. Make three different sizes of five point stars. As I was painting the sneakers, I realized I needed one more star. I cut a fourth size star. I felt three wasn't enough. Cut the stars out with an x-acto knife. Make sure your points are correctly shaped and with clean edges or it will show on the shoe. Take your time and don't get sloppy with the cuts. Make it neat!

Take the second shoe, put the two shoes next to each other and line up the star stencils on both shoes to mirror the design. This process gets easier the more projects you do. Once the stencils are correctly positioned it's time to begin airbrushing.

Painting Shoes
We start with Hot Purple. Don't forget to check your air pressure. Set the psi to approximately 20-25 pounds of pressure on your air source's regulator. Painting the surface of the shoes doesn't require high psi. You don't need to blast the color on. Build up the colors on the surface by layering coats. Try not to go out of the designated area. You can see that I have very light over-spray outside the purple area. That's okay because I know the opaque pink will cover it up. Try not to have any over-spray at all if it can be avoided.

To finish the project, the paint needs to be "heat-set". This can be done by using a heat gun. Keep the gun at a distance of approximately 6 inches from the shoe and don't hold it in one place for too long. If it is held in one area for too long of time the heat may discolor the shoe or smudge all your hard work. What I do for extra protection is use Krylon Crystal Clear and lightly mist one coat.

Once all the paint work is complete, carefully remove all the masking tape. Notice that when the tape was removed there are spots where the masking tape had lifted and paint over-spray bled under it. Over-spray and mistakes can easily be fixed by using a Q-Tip and gently removing it with alcohol. You can also do over-spray cover ups by going over them with opaque white paint.

After all the stars have been completed, it should look like this. You don't have to do the exact design as I did. Be creative, mix up the stars to your liking and choose your own color scheme. Between each step use a heat gun to speed up the drying time. This will help from smearing the paint when removing tape or preparing for any further additions to the design.

Step #10

Step #11

Step #12

Step #4

Step #5

Step #6

Step #7

Continue painting with the other colors as depicted above. After each section is painted make sure you use the same color batch on the other shoe. Make enough of each color if you decide to use more colors. If not enough color is pre-made, you will have two different color shoes. As you spray one part, slide the other shoe over and duplicate that same area.

When doing the stars, try to maintain a very thin line. Aim the airbrush spray pattern inwards and lightly trim the edges of your stencil. When the stencil is removed, there should only be a thin outline of the star shape. Next, from the center work outwards and lightly freehand a star shape to the inside of the star.