TheLegendsLeague | Bryan Espiritu

THE CONTEST

One of my biggest creative inspirations this year, Ronnie Fieg, has designed and released a ton of amazing shoes and boots this year, really demolishing the game in my opinion. But some of what he designs never sees the light of day. This extremely exclusive pair of Ronnie Fieg x Asics Gel Lyte III’s are a sample pair that was never released, but can be yours by entering this contest.

The only images available of the shoe are from the illustration I did for them, so we decided to giveaway a print of the piece to the lucky winner. Good luck!

HOW TO WIN

The 1 of 1 sample (Size 9) along with my illustration can be yours by following some simple steps:

1) Follow @NiceKicks on twitter.

2) Follow @RonnieFieg on twitter.

3) Copy and Paste this Tweet:
Follow @NiceKicks & @RonnieFieg and RT for a chance to win the Ronnie Fieg x ASICS Gel Lyte III “Mossad” 1 of 1 sample http://bit.ly/i2n7fT

sidebar: If you want to follow me too, I’m @legendsleague – ;)

THE BREAKDOWN

On December 13th, 2010, I released my latest Artorialist piece – an illustration of arguably the one man who annihilated the footwear game in 2010, Ronnie Fieg.

Shortly after seeing the piece, Ronnie approached me with a great opportunity to get involved with his newest project – a giveaway between himself and NiceKicks.com for a 1 of 1 pair of Gel Lyte III’s that were never released.

The shoe is themed after MOSSAD – an elite group of agents that serve Israel for special operations.

I couldn’t turn down the opportunity, and suggested we giveaway the pair along with a print of the illustration that I did for it. He agreed. Now the only images you can find of this unique pair of unreleased kicks are the ones of my illustration.

I started the illustration, late Tuesday night. I had just come home from a work function and was admittedly a little bit drunk. But when I got the message saying they needed it done the following day, I wasn’t about to pass things up.

For some reason things weren’t communicating to me visually when I drew black on white (as I usually do), so I flipped shit and started drawing in white on the black background.

The initial outline for the illustration was done in orange. I really loved the electricity of the sole and wanted to use that as a base for me right from the get go. When I started working on the colour, I felt there was some level of personality missing from the piece. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was missing, but I knew I didn’t know enough about the shoe to be able to give it the life I needed it to have. So I kept the orange outline to add the punch I thought it would need to feel like one of my illustrations.

The toe box on the shoe has a sueded texture. I’m not entirely sure what the material is, but I definitely wanted to communicate that feeling in the illustration since these are the only images that will be shown. A lot of people think I trace or use filters to make my illustrations work. That’s totally false. This shit is done painstakingly, one step at a time until it feels right to me. I realized after speaking with Ronnie about the inspiration for the shoe that I could add some flare that felt explosive, almost like a Blackhawk Down scene. So I placed paint spatters and flying drips around the shoe as if it were in mid battle.

It was very different drawing a shoe. It’s like taking one of my Artorialist pieces and blasting it up 500% to the smallest detail. It was crazy. But I loved the challenge and really went back to the days of me studying graffiti writers underneath the Keele/Dundas West train pass, utilizing outlining techniques that accentuated and exaggerated points on the laces, well outside of their natural flow and shape. I added a traveling line through them to give them some form, admittedly because I tried for hours to get a lace texture happening but found it very, very difficult. I think it worked out well though.

What you guys see when I release something, is the final product. You don’t get an idea of how many times I fucked things up before getting it right. The plastic on the side of the shoe was the WORST to deal with. I thought I had it right so many times but just kept going over it and over it and over it because it looked like shit. Finally, I figured it out, and this shot shows how much focus I put on the details of the shoe. Every single stitch and eyelet is highlighted to make it pop, and every material and fabric panel is treated like a single feature that deserved it’s own focus.

Can you spot the LL logo?

The missing link in this whole illustration was my lack of knowledge of the root of the concept. So when Ronnie told me to Google “MOSSAD”, I did and decided to really run with it. I started to do a bit of research on smoke bombs and how the smoke flowed, but also wanted it to feel like a flame was bursting out of the explosiveness of the orange sole. It kinda made me sick to think that I was gonna erase part of the original illustration, but it ended up working out just as I had wanted it to.

Drawing the type was really tough. My penmanship is REALLY bad, so drawing out fonts was kinda tough. I think I did alright communicating the 2 different embossed looks. I’m still learning though.

So here it is guys, my illustration for Ronnie Fieg x ASICS and NiceKicks. I work really hard to keep you guys excited about my work and to help get out my dreams in a way that makes you feel like we’re on this ride together. I’m only a few steps in, but I’m so grateful for this opportunity. It would really mean a lot to me if you guys entered the contest. Once again, here’s how you can get your hands on the 1 of 1 shoes and the illustration:

HOW TO WIN

The 1 of 1 sample (Size 9) along with my illustration can be yours by following some simple steps:

1) Follow @NiceKicks on twitter.

2) Follow @RonnieFieg on twitter.

3) Copy and Paste this Tweet: Follow @NiceKicks & @RonnieFieg and RT for a chance to win the Ronnie Fieg x ASICS Gel Lyte III “Mossad” 1 of 1 sample http://bit.ly/i2n7fT

sidebar: If you want to follow me too, I’m @legendsleague – ;)

Love&Above,
Bryan

- Bryan 'be.' Espiritu