For the first post of the new year I decided to go back to basics. Using elements from a previous thumbnail sketch, I whipped up a clean, low-cut versatile bike sneaker for bombing around the city. I started with a simple blucher construction with a low cut sidewall. I then incorporated a classic court style toe on the cupsole to fit snug with slide in pedal clips. 

The upper features a continued evolution of my initial branding elements. The lateral stripe has a slightly faster pitch than the absolute perpendicular stripe of previous designs. The logo execution is a small woven label flag stitched under the lateral eyestay. I think the asymmetrical design of this concept adds some dynamism without pushing it far outside of the aesthetic I’ve developed so far. 

The mesh underlays are constructed from a breathable spacer mesh on the quarter joined via closed-seam with a tight single layer textile at the collar. In addition to adding comfort and breathability, the two contiguous meshes will add substantial material depth. 

The blog is going back into an active state after a busy stretch of living this existence to the max. November brought on a crippling extracurricular footwear design project that coincided perfectly with an enormous deadline. Once I collected the remaining pieces of my soul, I began work on a refined Illustrator version of one of my most recent sketches for a new urban clipless bike shoe.

I had this design on my screen for weeks and I continued to finesse the lines and details because it never quite felt finished. After repeatedly walking away from it, I came to the painfully obvious conclusion that I hated the design and I should just move on. Overlooking this fact set my blogging back substantially because I couldn’t just throw it in the dumpster. Not every post is going to be the best thing I’ve ever done, but there’s already enough shitty work on the internet so I try not add to it.

Anyways, the holidays are over and we’re gonna get back to regular content. Enjoy!

After taking some vacation time in the Pacific Northwest and coming back to a tornado of insane deadlines, we’re back with some sneaker ideation. Here are a few sketches from my moleskine that I worked on while in transit. There was one thumbnail that I thought could work for an update to my previous clipless bike design so I did a quick marker sketch in a larger scale.

Decided to bust out my markers the other night while watching TV and came up with a mid cut bike/skate sneaker that I’m pretty happy with. The pattern lines are reminiscent of previous mid cut designs while having its own personality. I’ll definitely render this guy up in Illustrator so I can finesse some elements and add just a little more flavor.

Some random nonsense from yesterday. My brother was busy lighting dudes up in Call of Duty so I had some time to kill. 

Got the sudden urge to bust out my markers and pencils after consuming my weight in pizza. I had a quick thumbnail sketch in my sketchbook that I thought was worth elaborating on. The basic design is a blucher construction skate concept with the eyestay wrapping into a mudguard. I like the overall direction and it may be worth expanding in to a more detailed concept. I’m not entirely thrilled with the toecap underlay color pop so I’d probably alter it on any future iterations.

A few doodles in yee olde moleskine. I hesitated to post these, but whatever. Enjoy!

With the arrival of autumn comes the ability to mix up the day-to-day wardrobe beyond tees and jeans. It’s a relief to be able to throw in a shirt, jacket or hoodie (especially the hoodie). The change must have had bled into the creative part of my brain because I got the urge to sketch outside of the sneaker box. 

After some initial exploration, I had a few thumbnails of a men’s casual boot that was worth rendering up. I wanted this boot to be something clean that would work in an office environment as well as a Rancid concert. The detail that sold me on this sketch was the layered eyestay. It allowed me to carry the visual element of the metal eyelets all the way up to the collar while letting the wearer use boot lacing hooks for easy removal. 

The logo application is a deep deboss into the full grain leather with a triple stitch on each side creating the lateral stripe that transitions over the quarter panels. In my initial sketch there was an additional leather piece on the side of the boot but I felt like it was unnecessary and detracted from the overall design. The toecap overlay was loosely inspired by U.S. WWII paratrooper boots. For the last colorway, I spent several nights in Illustrator exploring simple geometric textile prints that would add texture without adding any needless novelty. 

It’s been a while since I last designed a mid-cut sneaker and the previous one I did was derivative of an original low-cut design. With that, I started sketching some simple clean patterns that drafted off the unique profile of a mid-cut while maintaining simple functionality. 

I knew I wanted to have a high wide tongue, as mids usually look better worn with the tongue popped over a pantleg. This style has a tendency to look like a jackboot in most instances, so I was determined to offset the high collar with a slim court look in the midsole and vamp. Recently, I have been exploring different horizontal pattern forms that work within the vertical stripe standard I’ve set. I liked the way this particular sketch created a simple form that emphasized the collar shape while adding some speed with the horizontal pitch of the quarter overlay.

The quarter overlays and tongue incorporate the gradating laser perforation detail from some of the other designs, with the addition of a raised molded heel piece to add some subtle structural support to the ankle. I toyed with this detail in my head because I was concerned about its presence making this design appear too sporty. The midsole is intended to be a simple rubber cupsole with nothing more than a molded line detail and a mix of textures. 

The other issue I struggled with was the overt vulnerability for skateboarding. While this shoe would be fine for pedal clips on a bike, the spot where the front quarter panel wraps under the sole would make this design virtually useless for skateboarding. The seam stitches would be gone after a days worth of fliptricks. My intention from the start wasn’t to design a skate shoe, but I typically try to make most of my court/street designs function properly with most city sport activities. Ultimately, I liked aesthetic of the pattern enough to make the functional trade-off. 

Initial design concept. Vintage running design with closed seam bonding of leather to mesh vamp and quarter panel. More to come!