YoaKustoms

A recent client of mine had quite the sense of humor when it came to doing the Tiger Woods “JUST DID IT” Supra. There is a portrait of Tiger Woods and his SUV lodged up in the grass on the outside of the left shoe, and then his wife ready to strike with the golf club coming around from the inside of the shoe. The right shoe hosts portraits of the 11 alleged mistresses of Mr. Tiger Woods (though I hear more are surfacing) and on the inside of this shoe is says JUST DID IT. The shoes are finished off with SUPRA PIMPS on the tongue (my client is part of that thread on the suprafootwear.org forum) and a real golf ball to hold the laces in place.

These were done for a client to give as a birthday gift to her boyfriend.  They have a special thing about turtles and Lafayette St. so this is what I put together as a design for the kicks.

For those of you that saw the BLACK edition of the YoaKustoms x Sket One, just wanted to update you with the PINK edition of that design.  Included a pic of the black ones if you needed a refresh.

Many times when I do a certain theme on a shoe I get a lot of clients requesting that exact design.  Since my kicks are one of a kind, I won’t repeat the design, but if the client is willing I’ll do the theme in a new way.  Normally, I wouldn’t post a similar theme, but I felt I would be MAD not too because I was siked with the outcome of these.  Its a darker version of the Mad Hatter this time with a bloody teacup, a wacky clock, and an eerie grin on the insoles….all original artwork again.

Clash of the Customizers Finals Submission

These kicks are inspired by a favorite of many, Chinese takeout. The Takeout Dunks feature a detailed closeup of chicken lo mein on the sides and a fortune cookie pattern on the tongue accented with a custom fortune tongue tags that say “Happiness will bring you good luck” and “You will be hungry later. Get take out!” The back of the shoe is of course the takeout box with an actual handle hanging on the heel. It wouldn’t be takeout without a greasy menu and a Have a Nice Day plastic bag, so I included those elements on the insoles and shoebox. Enjoy!

Behind every great man is a woman, with an ultimate strength. The inspiration for this pair is the Buddhist goddess Arya Tara, the female Buddha. She is known as the “mother of liberation”, and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. Tara is the generic name for this goddess, but there are different representations of her with various meanings. I’ve depicted the White Tara known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel. I’ve painted her in great detail on the outside and inside of the shoes with gold accents. On the outside is her portrait and on the inside is the lower half of her body in a meditative position . Her feet are painted with the third eye in the middle; I used this as the inspiration for the insoles, which have a foot with the third eye as the focus. The tongue is representative of the petals of a lotus flower, each individually cut from leather and sewn, then painted.

YoaKustoms and Sket One have come together to create this exclusive run of custom shoes.  Set to release Friday, October 16, 2009 at 12pm.  10 PAIRS ONLY! Details on the flier below.  Email yoakustoms@gmail.com for inquiries.

The inspiration for my shoes is the Tim Burton film, Edward Scissorhands. What better to do custom-made shoes that represent a custom-made man. The pair features a striking portrait of Edward on the outside, with the scars literally cut into his flesh. The shoes are accented with an added belt buckle in the front and gold grommets in the lace holes to play on his leathery custom-made body. There is a yellow butterfly on the tongue tag, shown in many of the movie posters, which represents his delicate innocence, counter balanced by the feature of the customs, his cracked mirror scissorhands over his face and on the swoosh which are hard and sharp. The insoles and box are covered in plastic grass, which is trimmed to shimmering perfection, just as Edward cuts all the shrubs in the perfectly plastic town that eventually rejects him.

These were done for a customer who wanted something inspired by the ocean.  The waves are almost cradling the swoosh on the outside and crashing down on the inside. The design is finished off with some silhouetted palm trees.

These Bite Me Vans Slip Ons were done for a customer that was into sharks and blood, so I figured why not really get up into the jaws of a great white and really make em’ bloody. Water detail around the heel of the shark shoe.