A Day in the Life of a Shoe

Here is my final product:

Front cover of books

Price tag, on the reverse it says £2.50

I changed the positioning of the text as before I thought it looked more like a speech bubble and now it's positioned like a caption for the image as a whole. I also made the writing of 'her' and 'she' red, as well as the heel, just to reiterate that it is all about the shoes. :)

A Day in the Life of a Shoe - preperation

After getting inspiration from 'A Day in the Life of a Belisha Beacon' (I can't remember who it's by)  I decided I wanted to show a day in the life of a shoe. 


I also recently read 'The Red Shoes' by Hans Andersen, which came from 'Fairy tales and Legends'. (Illustrations by Rex Whistler)

This influenced 'A Day in the Life of a Shoe' in 2 separate ways. The first influenced me to just have it based on the shoe and in the book they controlled Karen and forced her to danced constantly, even against her will. "She was very much frightened, and tried to throw off her red shoes, but the shoes she could not get rid of - they had, it seemed, grown on to her feet. Dance she did, and dance she much, over field and medow, in rain and in sunshine, by night and by day."
The second was to influence me in keeping the majority of the image black and only have the shoes in red, reason being: "Everybody looked at her feet, and as she walked up the nave to the chancel, it seemed to her that even the antique sculptured figures on the monuments, with their stiff ruffs and long black robes, fixed their eyes on her red shoes," Also, "Next Sunday was the Communion-day; Karen looked first at the red shoes, then at the black ones, then at the red again, and put them on." This showed me that by keeping all of the image black could be quite bland and that choosing to have the shoes a bold red would draw more attention and show the beauty behind the shoes more.




My idea was to show it starting off on the shelf, then walking down the high street, shopping, meeting another shoe and eventually ending up back on the shelf.

Here are some sketches for the story board.

After these I went on to draw out the sketches in the style for my story board.

I'm in the process of turning this into a book called 'A Day in the Life of a Shoe' and then producing 5 to sell for the final of our 'Fanatic' project.

Love letters to shoes

I asked a few people if they would come up with a love letter for their favourite pair of shoes with the idea in mind that I wanted to make some sort of typography out of them.

'Dear Black Stiletto with studs, Who knew all those 12 months ago that when I found you I would keep you under my bed? The shakles are just for your safety, so no one else takes you. Lots of love, your master'

Right: 'To my dearest darling black suede wedges, Every moment walking with you is precious. When we go out dancing you make me feel like the luckiest, most beautiful girl alive. You make me weak at the knees (in all sorts of ways) Love Charlotte xxx'

Left: 'To my beautiful purple lace-up vans, Even though I love all lace-ups, you are definately my fave. I'm so sorry about the holes, you know it's only because I love you so much I wore you most days since I got you, (about 7/8 months ago). I will deeply miss you this winter, but will always remember you're there and can't wait to wear you again when the weathers better. Lots of love'

Left: 'RE: Shoes and Stuff. Dear Sir/Madam, You do the job and you fit the description of "shoes" keep up the good work. See ya, PS Wash your self. PSS This is not really a love letter...more an annual assessment.'

Right: 'Dear Green Wellies, Your were a very last minute buy, but that makes you all the more special. As I rushed into the oh-so-classy Shoe World I wasn't sure what I would find. I found you. I don't judge you for being 2 different sizes, it's not your fault. In fact I probably love you a little bit more for it. It did get me a discount. I'm sorry that you miss the summer months (we did have an amazing riot weekend) and someone defaced you. You're still, and always be, beautiful in my eyes...(continues to the left, bottom page below) Thanks for protecting me in rain and snow. Love your faithful owner. PS - Try keep me a little warmer... grow some fur?'

Right: 'Dearest of Wellies, Even thought I only treasure you once in a while they are truely the best times. Through festivals and snow you stay whole.'

Left: 'LOVE YOU LONG TIME. Love me...?'

Right: 'Dear my wonderful Vans Collection, I love you to pieces I look after you so much. May your dreams come true. 1 Love x'

'Hey (furry) Slippers, How you doing? (Joey Tribiane style)? Have I ever told you how much I love your embrace? When ever I come home from a wintery night your always there to give me some lovin'. Your so furry like a sexy trampy man. I had never owned a pair of slippers until I lurred you in from one in thousands of others on ebay. I believe in miracles since you came along. I hope we grow old together and have babies one day, while eating fish and chips and cider in a trampy park...lets get it on...'

Afterwards I came up with the idea to make a new letter using fragments of the other letters:

'My Dearest wonderful darling purple seude stilettos, 12 months ago when I found you in Shoe World I knew you would be mine. It don't matter to me that you are 2 different sizes it's a miracle I got you at all. You make me feel like the most beautiful girl alive. PS The shakles are just for your safety.'

After making up a new letter I photocopied it on to acetate with the idea that I would be able to have an image underneath the text. This is what I made:

Shoes

Sketches of shoes.

Posters

From the photos of Julia I wanted to design a poster with appropriate slogans to suit my obsession with shoes. I experimented briefly with photocopying the images:

I decided not to develop this idea into anything as the image looks grainy and old. I wanted something fresher and simpler looking so I drew simple lines from the previous photographs to only show the basic details in the pictures, this is what I came up with:

Below, a black and white photocopy, I believe that although the photocopy lacks in colour (from the shoes) the sharpness of the black increased and makes it look more professional.

After drawing these I photocopied the images into black and white and enlarged them on to A3, here is a photo of the different posters with each of the different slogans:

Above, the red texts says "You do the job, you fit the description".