The Ōkami Vans.

I use video games as my inspiration, is there a finer more deserving game than Okami?

Okami was developed by Clover Studios and was one of the last big PS2 releases prior to the launch of the PS3 . The game unfortuantly suffered poor sales and shortly after release Clover Studios was forced to close it’s doors.

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Clover Studios may be gone but we will always have Okami to enjoy. With such a strong and memorable art style it is hard to imagine that the game was first produced to be as photo realistic as possible, only later into the development was the change to the Japanese Watercolour/Sumi-e  style we associate with the game today . What a refreshing decision.

My work with shoes and video games I have come to realise is my way of saying thank you to the people behind those games. Thank you for being bold with your ideas, for breaking the mould and for making video games genuinely funny. I can say without fail that next year we will have a better Call Of Duty, a better looking Fifa/Madden and a faster Need for Speed – But we may never surpass the brilliance of the original Okami.

Onto the Shoes!

What fun these shoes were to do! If you follow my work I like to think you can see my skills progress, becoming more confident with shapes, colours and Ideas.

I did not time how long they took me but I would guess around 15 hours. On the right shoe (Left in the pictures) depicts Ōkami Amaterasu. He is made up of around half a dozen seperate colour/shades. As with all my work no pens were used – everything is done with a size 0 paint brush (It would be a crime to create Ōkami shoes with anything BUT a paintbrush!) The other shoe depicts a number of Japansese charachters, these came from a number of places I found whilst researching further into Ōkami. I took extra care with these to copy them as closely as possible. A bold strip of Orange and Yellow brings the two ideas together.

On the heels of the shoe is the logo for Okami, usually depicted with black writing on white, here  I reversed the colours to make it more eligible.

As always I want these to go to Ōkami fans and are currently up for sale (to check out what else is for sale please click HERE) They are brand new Men’s US 11, UK 10 and were bought brand new for this design. The still have all the tags on and will be sent out in the original Vans packaging. I am more than happy to send these anywhere in the world – I am actually yet to send a single pair to anyone in England!

The asking price for these is £115. (I use XE for currency conversions). Postage costs will vary by country.  Offers can be sent to me via email and payment is accepted however you feel most comfortable.

As always I welcome you discussion, criticism, praise and questions in the comments below. Please check back for my next pair based off of the classic : Oddworld : Abe’s Oddysee.

If you guys would like to have a go at creating custom shoes yourself all my paints come from the fine chaps over on Painted Soles. Personally I have not found anywhere cheaper or with better service.