In this new design blog, Montse Vega, Regina Romero's designer tells us how we created a digital illustration when designing one of our shoes.

There are many types of illustrations , from conceptual, abstract, quick strokes or sketches, to much more realistic illustrations.

In Regina Romero 's studio, the illustration of our shoes is very exact, since it is very important for us to take care of the proportions, to express well the textures and finishes of the leathers that we use, as well as to be able to represent the color tone in the most exact way. that we select for the design.

We use many textures and prints of exotic animals on cowhide, as well as leather with metallic finishes, hypergloss patent leather, soft suede and leather with different grains, depending on the look we want to give each design.

We love to think that each of our shoes has its own personality , and when illustrating the designs that is exactly what we want to reflect.

Digital illustration allows us to have a wide variety of tools and color palettes to choose from, as well as allowing us to work quickly and accurately.

We work under a demanding calendar in terms of fashion seasons, which is why it is important to be able to create quickly.

Digital illustration also allows us to make color changes and modifications, and in this way in the studio we can analyze and choose different combinations for each model.

We are going to show you step by step our design process for our Rita model, which is a platform sandal with geometric cuts and a very contrasting mix of textures and colors.

The line drawing is the first step to start the illustration, there are times when we illustrate the shoe without feet inside, for more technical purposes.

However, on this occasion we place feet, to be able to appreciate in a more visible way how the shoes would look, to see exactly in which area of ​​the foot their pieces are (always looking for the greatest comfort and styling the leg) and to see the color selection in the same way.

Digital illustration allows us to work in layers, so we divide the sections of the shoe to add color one by one. In this case, we start with the upper, which is the upper part of the shoe. We chose a mix of black hyper gloss patent leather together with smooth mustard-colored smooth-grain matte leather.

In the case of patent leather, very strong and marked light contrasts are made, adding entirely white or slightly gray sections to represent volume and focus of light.

In the case of matte leather, it is only necessary to darken the external sections to represent the volume of the pieces according to the light source.

The accoutrements are both the heel and the platform. In this model, we chose to line each one with an alter-snake skin that has both tones that we chose for the upper: mustard and black.

The chosen skin has a laminated and laser-cut transparent foil that gives it the touch of scales and at the same time creates sparks of light, which gives more relief and texture to the imitation snake.

To create this texture, we made short, random strokes in both shades with different opacity loads, overlapping each other and leaving some blank spaces to represent the light given by the leaf.

As we mentioned before, digital illustration allows us to work in layers. After we finished applying color to the body of the shoe, we hid those layers and created a new one where we focused on applying color to the feet.

In the same way we use this layer to make strokes and linear details of the snake texture on the platform and heel. When coloring the skin, it is important to respect the tones and the light source, in order to give a realistic volume and keep the anatomy of the legs as precise as possible.

When we activate the layer of the shoe cut again we can see how the illustration is being assembled.

At this point we compare that there is coherence between the light sources that we illustrate on the legs as well as those of the shoe itself. We add whatever dark or light tones are needed to further accentuate the interaction of the feet with the shoe.

Finally we activate the layer where we illustrate the accoutrements. The linear snake texture we made is merged with the jagged color strokes, and we can really see if the desired texture was achieved.

As a final detail, we shade the ground to represent that the shoes are being stepped on. Any imperfections or colors outside the line are cleaned and the drawing is signed.

We also invite you to discover our RITA model in our online boutique, with its beautiful and contemporary combinations.