Nike Airforce 1 Shoes with Colourverse & POSCA Pens

Before you begin, gather inspiration and plan your work of art in whichever way works best for you (e.g. sketches, mind maps, visualisations). This is a good time to think about the scale, sizing, colour palette and arrangement of your designs.

1st step for me was to create a mood board to really start my planning process and ensure my ideas are captured and considered. Once I had decided what I wanted to do thanks to my mood board I sketched my plan on a sketchbook, choosing where I would place my drawings and the colours I would use. 

Tip: You can practise drawing your designs on paper with your POSCA’s. That way you can be sure about the layering and colours first, and then you can use your drawing as a reference.

Make sure the surface is clean and cover any edges you don't want paint on with removable tape. I covered up the edges that I didn't want my POSCA paint pens to go over. I made sure to use tape that wouldn’t damage the sneakers or leave any glue on them. 

First I drew my background starting with lighter colours in my design, as they are easier to go over than dark colours.

Patience is key here as I always waited for the first layer to dry each time before adding anything on top, so that I wouldn't smudge any of the paint. 

Tip: You can use Q tips and water to wipe off any mistakes around the intricate bits.

After leaving my drawings to dry, I needed to make the paint permanent. I set them with a water based spray varnish. I used ‘MICADOR’ in matte, available on our website.

I covered up parts that I wanted to leave unvarnished, such as the laces. One or two coats of varnish should do it, but shoes get a lot of wear and tear so I did three coats to be safe. I was also careful to spray evenly, so that the varnish wouldn’t drip down the shoes.