Julia's lovebird Shoes

These shoes were commissioned by Julia. They are two lovebirds sitting on their own half of a full heart. They are plain white canvas shoes that have been painted with acrylics and sealed with glaze.
The bird on the left was painted to represent "Julia," with her brown hair and like of yellows and greens. The bird on the right is painted to represent her boyfriend, who has black hair and who basically doesn't wear anything but blue, black and grey.

For these shoes, like most everything I do, I started with a sketch.
Granted, the sketch didn't have the break in it that the shoes did, but I still think it transfered on just fine and the point still gets across. In the sketch, though, the birds both had very 'female' looking eyes. For the boy bird, I took out the 'lashes' and just gave him a solid, straight eyeline.

After printing out the sketch, I traced the image in chalk and transfered it onto the shoe. After that, I made the lines stronger with pencil and added all the details back in, like eyes and feet.
After that, I inked the design with a black fabric marker. Then the painting starts.
Julia requested very simple shoes, with no texturing or background colors, just the birds on the toes. So, I start with the lightest feather color and worked my way up, building layers as I go. Then, I added in highlights and any additions that were needed. Once everything dries, I paint over the image with a clear glaze. This seals the paint and makes the image slightly shinny.

Theses shoes were done in about a day and a half, are a size seven wide and sold for $40.00

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