For years, I have had the desire to create and sell professional-grade products, and I have been able to accomplish many of my goals. Now, my attention has turned to creating high-quality boots. I have always been drawn to sturdy footwear, such as boots, hiking shoes, and the like. I appreciate the rugged, angular design of these shoes, which allow them to overcome any obstacles they may face.
As an art teacher, I am always looking for ways to incorporate creativity into my lessons. With an upcoming art show at Passaic County Technical Institute, I wanted to showcase the movement and practicality of shoes. I decided to design a shoe that would look like it was in motion, rather than a static flat shoe on the floor. I began by taking a photograph of my own foot in the position I wanted to see the shoe flexed in, then brought it into Adobe Illustrator to create the lower side walls of the hiking boot. I used a laser engraver to cut the design out of cardboard.
To create the spherical shape of the boot toe and the shoe itself, I used a technique similar to that used to make paper globes. I sketched my ideas on paper, brought them into Illustrator to create vector cut lines and SVG files, then cut my first shapes out of cardboard. Once I had the design and flow that felt good and looked stylish, I held everything together with tape and a hot glue gun. I then cut everything apart again with an X-Acto knife and laid the parts flat so they could be scanned and fine-tuned in Illustrator. Once all the pieces were joined, I created the master file for the SVG.
Most of my work was done at home in the evenings, and I plan to make the SVG file available for purchase on my website. I am even open to creating custom boots for those who want them. My goal is to offer custom commissions for people who appreciate my style and skills.
I have other exciting designs in the works, including a jet engine, a kinetic sculpture, and audio/visual sculptures that will be featured on my website and YouTube channel.
If you want to stay up to date on my upcoming releases, please subscribe to my channel. I am also reviving another channel that focuses on health and nutrition, a topic that I am passionate about.
As a graphic design, teacher, I want to inspire my students to be creative and innovative. For their next project, they will be creating sculptures out of paper and cardboard, then using those designs to create digital files that can be scaled to any size. I will document their progress and showcase their outcomes on my website and channel.
Overall, I am excited about the opportunities to create and share my designs with others. Whether it is through boots or other artistic endeavors, I hope to continue to inspire creativity in others and bring unique, high-quality products to the market.
I will be coming back to this page to update it as things progress!
