Project Description

Inktober 2020 Day #29: Shoes. I thought this one was going to be boring, but with the potential for some humor. It turns out, I really enjoyed this one, and I’m happy with the end result. This is a take on a 90s basketball sneaker ad featuring “Penny” Hardaway (remember him?). I thought of this extreme camera angle first, then figured there must be sneaker ads, either photos or airbrushed art, with a similar viewpoint. That’s when I found the Hardaway ad. The shoe is the PMD take on Air Jordans, but instead of having PMD in silhouette flying through the air with a basketball, a la Michael Jordan, I thought referencing Frank Miller’s Dark Knight might be more appropriate (not that I don’t love me some basketball, though). Shoe design is clearly not more forte, especially since it’s basically one of those Vibram 5 Fingers (which I used to wear exclusively for years). I liked the “AIRPMD” logo and the swatch of PMD’s trademarked flowered shorts on the shoe. All in all, a lot of fun.

I’m down to my last two prompts, which is both a relief and a bit…unsettling. I love doing Inktober because there’s never any questioning what I’m going to be working on in my studio on a given day. I may have other projects going, but if I get stuck on what to work on, instead of losing a day waffling, I always have a prompt to get to. There’s also a big sense of accomplishment when it’s done, especially if I put a lot of time into each illustration. However, I have always struggled with the transition between projects, deciding what to focus on next. It often leads to a lack of productivity while I second guess myself, and not getting anything done brings me down. It’s this insane cycle that I have yet to successfully overcome, no matter how much planning I do or how many lists I make of my next projects. It’s a big high and then almost an emptiness. I get through it, but it has the bonus of making me feel like I wasted a bunch of time until I get rolling on the next thing. That transition time is always a dangerous time for other distractions to creep in, too, which prolongs that lack of productivity.

Anyway, time to plan out the last two prompts…