What to Send Us Before We Paint Your Custom AF1

Since there is no digital mock-up stage before a custom AF1 is painted, covered fully in do you see a design before it is painted, what you send us before painting begins matters more than in a process with a preview to catch mistakes. The single most useful thing you can do is be specific rather than general, because an artist working freehand from your brief can only be as precise as the brief itself.

For a portrait or a likeness, send a clear, well-lit reference photograph taken straight on rather than at an angle, and more than one photo if the subject's face is only partly visible in any single shot. A blurry, low-resolution image or one taken from far away gives an artist far less to work from than a sharp, close photograph, and it shows in the finished detail.

For a specific colour, do not rely on describing it in words alone if you can help it. Colour names mean different things to different people, and 'navy' or 'gold' can cover a wide range of actual shades. A reference image, a swatch, or even a well-known object in that exact colour gives the artist something concrete to match against, rather than a word that could be interpreted several honest ways.

For calligraphy, names or dates, write out the exact wording and, if it matters, the exact spelling, especially for Urdu or Arabic script, a name that is spelled more than one common way, or a date format that could be read differently in different countries. This studio confirms exact wording with you on WhatsApp before painting begins precisely because a spelling mistake painted onto leather cannot be quietly corrected afterward.

For a design built around an existing motif, a club crest, a character, a piece of art you have seen, send the clearest version of that reference you can find rather than a screenshot of a screenshot. If the reference involves someone else's copyrighted character or logo, be aware that we may propose an original interpretation instead of a direct copy, covered plainly in is it legal to customise a Nike Air Force 1, and sending a clear reference helps us do that well rather than guessing at the idea behind it.

Placement is worth stating explicitly rather than assumed. If you have a preference for where a motif sits, the toe, wrapping the heel, small on the side rather than covering the whole panel, say so directly, because 'somewhere on the shoe' leaves a decision to the artist that you may have actually already made in your head.

None of this needs to be professional-grade material. It needs to be clear, specific and confirmed, and if anything you send is ambiguous, we ask on WhatsApp before painting begins rather than guessing and hoping it matches what you pictured.

Send us your references and your exact wording before you commission, and we will confirm everything back to you before a single brush moves.