Intro
For this week's restoration the one and only Vick almighty decides to give a step by step of how to create a pair of custom kicks, and in this case he made a pair of Spiderman Air Force 1’s. These shoes turned out absolutely crazy with tons of artwork across the sneaker and the smallest details bringing this shoe all together. Let’s see how Vick really pulls off these one of a kind customs and restorations.
Prep Work
The least appealing and arguably the most important part of making a custom sneaker is the prep. The first thing Vick does is apply acetone to the entire uppers of these Air Force 1’s. This will help the paint adhere to the material and last for years to come. Next he continued to prep the uppers by going over it with sand paper which once again allows for a higher quality paint job. The last step of the prep process is covering the midsole, and outsole of these sneakers in tape to make sure that when he paints the uppers that none of the excess moves onto the parts of the shoe that Vick wants to keep white.
Paint Job
After getting the shoe prepped it is time for things to get interesting. Vick begins painting the uppers red, using brushes from Michael's and a quick back and forth stroke to cover the Air Force 1’s. When painting it is important to evenly paint each coat and once it dries to keep going over it until you get the result that you want. You do not need super expensive brushes, all you need is amazing technique. To speed up the drying process Vick uses a heat gun, so he can continue adding on coats of paint. How many does he add you ask? Anywhere from 3-6 coats of paint will give your sneakers the thickness and color you are looking for.
Gradient Paint Job
Now that the upper paint job is laid down Vick walks us through step by step on how to add a gradient image or text to any shoe. He starts off by picking the colors he is going to use, and then grabs the lightest color first. He paints the part of the gradient scheme that he wants the lightest first and then works his way to darker and darker colors. As he uses the airbrush he makes sure to dry the paint after every single coat. This is because the airbrush paint tends to be a bit more runny so to ensure he doesn’t ruin the rest of his paint job he blocks the entire shoe off with tape and uses the heat gun to dry after each and every coat.
The Designs
Now to add the sleek designs that make every custom set apart from your standard run of the mill Nike shoe Vick uses stencils. There are some people who are amazing artists and can paint these designs themselves ,but Vick can not pull this off so instead he uses stencils. He finds the designs he wants to use online, and makes a folder out of them so he can then put them on his cricut machine. This machine will print out these designs and allow you to apply the stencils to your shoes to give you the designs you want. After they have been printed you put them onto the desired area and use a heat gun to ensure that they stick during the paint. Then after using an airbrush to paint the stencils you can repeat the process of heating them up so that way they can be easily removed. Now you have your very own custom pair of shoes, and Vick made his own pair of Spiderman custom Air Force Ones.
Video Link
To get an even more in depth step by step tutorial of how Vick customizes his sneakers check out the video below.