Hi !

My name’s Lemon ! I am a 3D and 2D artist ☺️

Today I come to you with a quick tutorial on how to draw shoes ! Or at least, understand how to quickly shape and render them !

So let’s get started !

Different shapes ?

Although there is a large variety of shoes types and designs, they are all designed to be put on our feet, so I like to think that we can use a basic shape to get a quick sketch at first !

I tend to not over complicate the design and just keep a simple shape, I prefer to have a clean position of the feet over a perfect design when I draw full sized characters.

Looking on all these shoes I drew, we can trace boxes where the shoes are oriented, understanding the shape and perspective of the feet is the key to it

We can either use triangle or square shaped boxes, it depends on what type of shoes you want to draw,

But simplifying the global shape at first is very useful to get an idea of your shoes placement.

Adding to these boxes, we can draw the shoes, using curves to better understand the volume around it :

Gettin the right volume !

For a shoe to feel “right”, understanding both perspective and volume is important!

I will break down these design into boxes and curves :

This is usually what my rough sketches looks like, I try to understand what I’m drawing, I can be at messy as I want because it will be cleaned up with the line afterwards!

I constantly have these red lines in mind when I draw, whether it’s shoes or anything else, volume is really important to integrate into drawing as it gives more life to the final look !

You can then place the box however you want and fill it with the main curves of your shoes :

Once you understand it, you can draw any shoes really !

Just don’t forget to use references images too, it’s not cheating and it doesn’t make you less an artist to get references for drawing !

How to color them ?

Well, shoes comes in different textures, so I will show you how I deal with some of them with a breakdown of my render process !

I like to use little spheres like this to understand how different textures looks like on the simplest shape :

Some are shinier than others, the light reflection will determine how your texture behaves

For exemple, the more shinier a texture is, the clearer and sharper the light and shadows will be !

On the other hand, for softer material, the light will be very soft, as the shadows !

Understanding the way the light reflects and behaves on different textures is essential!

Light usually bounces on materials, so you can lighten up a little within the shadows to really bring a texture to life :

Rendering breakdown

I like to have a simple line done before I can add colors :

I start with blocking flat colors :

And then I put shadows first, it’s just a preference really, you can draw light first if you want, it depends on how you view it !

Then light comes in !

As it is a very shiny texture, the light will be sharp and clear, same for the bouncing light but it is less stronger than the main light area!

I also like to put a soft glow under the main light reflections, it make it stands out and also give a softer look to the highlights

With a big airbrush I then add some atmospheric light, to me it really put everything together and bring it to life :

That’s basically how I render textures, understanding the way the reflection behaves really makes the difference between different textures !

keep in mind the volume of the shoes while rendering them, light will follow the curves it hits, so if you know how you shoes are shaped, rendering will be as easy as sketching them !

Let me show you the process for the other ! I won’t comment on these one, images talk for themselves and my process usually follows the same pattern !

If you want to add shade to something with multiple colors, a quick way is to use a layer with “multiply” mode on, it adapts on various colors. Simply choose the shade color that suits best with what you want and paint the shadows !

You can also add textures you can find on clip studio paint ! It gives a more realistic look and also some variation in the design of the shoes !

Now you know :

So to draw shoes, various points are importants !

• Shapes and curves

• Volumes

• Perspective

• Diffent textures

• Light reflection and shadows

Of course it’s not only useful for shoes, it’s the huge fondations of drawing and can be used on many subjects!

I hope this tutorial helped you, I really enjoyed making it !

Bye !