Swaves - Frogs For Life - Dunk Hi

[Swavey]

It's been so long since my last release I hardly remember how to do all this, heh had to remember how I coded my website again so I could update it :P oops. It's good to be back though!! I have quite a few deadlines in the near future, so you all will be seeing much more work from me in the future. (yipeeee) haha

Now, on to the shoes:

A friend of mine was getting married on August 27th, and wanted to get her fiance (now husband) a pair of customs as a grooms gift. She wanted the shoes to have small aspects of from their relationship/wedding, but didn't want them to look like "cheesy wedding shoes" heh. It seemed to me the best way to incorporate their wedding date without looking like a wedding card would be to use roman numerals. So VIII (8 for August) XXVII (27th) MMXI (2011) was added to the one heel panel, and "CIELO" on the other (the venue in which they were married in Colorado) in purple along side other grey numerals making a "pattern." If you look at the grey numerals above "CIELO" you will see (hidden) their engagement date VIII (8 for August) V (5th) MMX (2010) I added that as a little secret bonus for them. :P Another thing she asked me to incorporate into the design was a set of car jumper cables. (or booster cables) When they first met her car broke down in a rain storm, and he showed up to boost her car and save the day. So when they time came to propose, he had a friend help him set up the exact same scenario. The friend faked the broken down car, and while stranded he showed up again, this time with jumper cables, and a ring. :) Instead of painting cables on the shoe somewhere I decided to make some custom mini jumper cable fat laces. :P Last but not least, these customs feature my first custom box!! Simply because the box they originally came in was destroyed, and since they were to be at a wedding, I wanted them to be looking their best. The box features a plastic window so their wedding date can always be seen, and well as the phrase "Frogs For Life" a quote that ties in nicknames they have for each other.

There you have it! A lot of planning went into the make up of these customs. Design wise, they are rather simple and clean. (as most of my work is) The roman numerals were rough penciled in with a stencils I cut out of a piece of plastic, but as always the paint was done freehand without stencil or tape.
Hope you like em! :)













:P Swavey

[Sekure D]

Hey man nice to see some new work from you, I love these, they are SUPER clean which I appreciate the most and its a great story /complimentary piece of artwork.I know you said you made a stencil for the letters but still thats still some ridiculous work. Composition is rad, colorway is solid I especially like how you planned out the lettering and had the most important parts stand out in purple. One of my fav customs for a long time. Keep it up bro!

[Swavey]

Thanks man! Glad you like em. The groom fell in love with them, in the end that's the most important part to me :) I'm currently waiting on pics of the bride and groom with the shoes.

You reminded me of something I forgot when you said:

I especially like how you planned out the lettering and had the most important parts stand out in purple.

If you look at the roman numerals above the "CIELO" hidden among the grey letters is their engagement date: VIII (August) V (5th) MMX (2010) I wanted to add it as a little secret for them :)

Just for fun, since you mentioned the stencil. Here is a before and after of the progression from pencil to paint:


:P Swavey

[Sekure D]

Rad seeing that last pic man, regardless of a stencil your brush skills are still super decent to have it be so clean. How many hours did these take you?

[Swavey]

How many hours did these take you?

These actually turned out to be my fastest custom to date. I am usually quite slow, but had a strict deadline this time. The base shoe got delayed in shipping, and arrived 7 days before they had to be taken to Colorado from Los Angeles for the wedding. I couldn't tell you exact hours, but somehow working around 12 hour days on set/rehearsals for a music video and a TV show, I got em done hah. (late nights and early morning at the brush)

Now that I know how fast I can go when I really need to, I hope to speed up my production time.

:P Swavey

[iLLWALKEES]

These are super clean top to bottom, lettering is crazy sharp and on point.....green swoosh sets it all off...helluva story and the sneaks compliament!!

[Hartnsole]

Roman numeral pattern clean and gives the shoe a grown and mature look.. Props.

[jest3R]

these are utterly fantastic.... these are the types of custom orders you wish you could get on a regular basis and execute in such spectacular fashion.... great job Swavey!

[laptoplasane]

Can't wrap my mind around how perfect the letters are...and you cut them out of plastic? You must be a surgeon with an exacto knife

[Swavey]

Can't wrap my mind around how perfect the letters are...and you cut them out of plastic? You must be a surgeon with an exacto knife

Haha, thank you! I only cut one of each letter out of plactic "XVIMCELO" to get a simple shape on the shoe. All the "perfect letters" were painted freehand.

:P Swavey