alirght so this is my entry for the ipod theme, this might not be the exaxct rendering i submit, because i’m not so happy with my rendering job, but it will be the same design. Iwas going to submit a shoe called the "air zoom fast forward, but i decided that it didn’t look enough like the ipod to be submitted
the shoe has an electronic lockdown system, you press “fast forward,” and the shoes, in the areas where the silver lockdown system extends, will get tighter, or, you can make it looser by pressing rewind. When you have your fit you would press play, and the fit you chose will stay the way it is, and not get looser as the game goes on, like laces. The lockdown/support system are made out of a very light plastic, so not to make the shoe too heavy. The plastic is supposed to resemble the side of the ipod. It has a leather upper and perforated areas in the ankle and midfoot. The shoe has a TPU support plate at the arch.
I wanted to make the outsole very simple, to resemble the clean design of the ipod. It has straight line grooves for traction, and an apple logo at the heel and ball of foot. On the back of the shoe the outsole extends up for support.
heres the links…
feedback, comments, suggestions welcome, especially on my rendering job, and how i could imporve it…
this might not be the exaxct rendering i submit, because i’m not so happy with my rendering job, but it will be the same design
If youre not happy with it, then it needs to be changed
Quite honestly the design and the presentation appears quite unfinished. Is this the final product? a sketch? IMO it doesnt appear as though you spend enough time developing your ideas and taking from your inspirations, if any.
Youre off to a good start. keep at it. even if the KG contest is done with you still have a couple more weeks till the next theme
thanks for the advice Rich, this isn’t the final product but it’s basically what it will look like. Any thoughts on how I could make the rendering better? I really don’t know how to make my renderings look much better than that… Any suggestions on pencils/markers/techniques?.. would be greatly appreciated.
I wouldnt be worried about the rendering. I would go back into the the concept. The rendering comes after. sometimes a rendering can hide a less thought out concept/ but would follow in that direction. I wouldn’t worry about trying to rush a shoe just to get it into the contest. I think its better to take your time and not rush your progress/ process/ research/ concept
I would go back to the drawing table look over this shoe/ your inspirations and push it and come at it from all angles. also just to try an see it in a different way ( because being infront of your work an arms length away all the time can make it dif. to see what is needed to push) maybe try putting it (sketches) on the ground, up on the wall and step back and look, walk away come back…etc also trying to sketch in diff. mediums might be helpful…
have fun with it, doesn’t sound like you are having enough fun with this…
for comments on the sketch/ if i see your inspirations or other sketches I could see how you got to this…and could make better crit on what you have.
in 1 thing that jumped at me is your logo (apple logo) it jumps out too much. I think if was less dominant would be tieing it to how apple does there logo treatment.
A lot of people get caught up in the rendering part. I for one fall victim to that ever so often, but in the end its not the rendering that makes the design. Its, well, the design. Design from the inside out. Think out all the new tech stuff you want to add to the shoe and then work your way out. Find a balance between something that will perform well and also look sharp enough to fly off the shelves. One thing that I have been told is to start your design and take it as far as it can go, then reign it in to find that balance. Rendering it should be an after thought. To add to what Mark said. show us your inspirations, your sketches and you’ll get more feedback as to what you might incorporate or what you might want to focus on.
i totally agree with what has already been said and especially with taking your work to an extreme and then simplifing it all.
if your ispiration has to be an ipod don’t just print and ipod on the shoe but think of different subtle ways of making the shoe have something in common with an ipod. what are the characteristics of an ipod? which of these characteristics can you apply to a shoe?
the profile sketch (looking at it as a sketch) looks much better than the back view and outsole sketches, the last two seemed rushed and unprecise.
keeping working on it and take the whole thing to another phase.
thanx for all the advice guys, I’m working on the shoe now…
Also, to be honest, I don’t really have what I would call “real” sketches. My original sketch is very similar to what i’ve posted, I just tweeked it a little. I’m also not familiar with the whole design process, probably because I’ve never taken any kind of design classes or art classes. Mostly what I do is think of the design in my head, and then as I’m drawing it on paper, I notice what could be changed. But I do understand that it would probably be better to develop my designs more, so I’m working on that, but right now I haven’t done that so much so I don’t have to many sketches to show you. Once I progress further I will probably post my progress…
thats an interesting thought, perhaps those who have gone to design school / any art classes could let us know: are your designs and renderings better now, what did you benefit the most from professional training.
Practise, practise practise. Shoes are probably one of the most difficult shapes to draw of all - make yourself a still life of your own shoes and try drawing that. For years I worked in the sneaker trade, the companies I worked at, we got away with drawing basic side views - then I went into the fashion business and found it really difficult because sketching was so important - I noticed straight away that my sketching was not as good as my colleagues - we worked as buyers too, and we would find ourselves having to sketch really quickly in 3D at trade shows, and the sketches had to be good because you’d be referring back to them at a later stage.
I improved just by being in a situation of having to sketch in 3D all day long.For practise getting the basic shapes right you could buy some old lasts off ebay (sometimes listed as foot forms) and try sketching them from different angles. It wouldn’t hurt to take any drawing class though l ife drawing is a good one. My footwear course was very much about learning to pattern cut and make shoes, we didn’t really touch on presentation skills - for drawing skills you had to fend for yourself!
