How to draw shoes.

1. Draw a set of planes for the framework of the shoe.

This set of rectangles in perspective mirror the shape of the foot and will serve as a drawing guide for you, as well as a platform for the sole of the shoe. Next, sketch a circle around the heel and the ball of the foot and use curved lines to hone the shape of the sole.

2. Draw frames to guide your outline.

These should look like goalposts or rectangular-shaped straps on a sandal. “Imagine these points as being translated into perspective. It doesn’t mean this is the final design, but I now have points through which I can draw curves for my shoe,” says Nugent.

5. Fill in the details.

For this shoe, Nugent added a strap, heel cup, and a cushioning system on the outsole. “When you want to give a section thickness, adding a double line is super helpful,” advises Nugent.

“Whenever you need to do some cleanup, just grab an eraser and erase what you don’t need. I call this the paint-and-erase method,” says Nugent. This can be done with paper but is easiest with digital sketching tools, since you can isolate layers and make highly precise, selective adjustments.

6. Draw the laces.

Laces are one of the trickiest parts of a shoe sketch. To help, you can pencil in a center line and use it as a drawing guide. “This is important because where the laces overlap is the midpoint of the shoe.” Draw a box over the laces area, and an X shape in the box to find your center line. Nugent also recommends using a heavier line on the bottom of each lace, to communicate depth and shadow without adding color.

7. Color your shoe.

On a new layer underneath your sketch, block in your color for each area, just like you would in a coloring book. If you’re working digitally in Adobe Fresco, use the Paint Bucket tool to quickly fill in areas. “Try to put each new color on its own layer,” advises Nugent. “That allows me to work in a very non-destructive way, so I can easily make changes later.”

8. Airbrush to add dimension.

To add the appearance of volume, use an Airbrush to fill in highlights and shadows. “Put your lightest lights next to your darkest darks,” advises Nugent. For the finishing touch, take the Spatter brush and paint on a new layer. It’s very subtle, but use just enough to add some grain and texture to areas on the shoe. And just like that, you’ve got yourself one cool running shoe.

How to draw high heel shoes.

This tutorial shows you five steps to draw a heeled shoe, guided by fashion illustration artist Josefina Fernandez. For her drawing, Fernandez used a reference photo found online. “Shoes can look very daunting to sketch, but if you’re faithful to what you see, you can achieve pretty realistic effects,” Fernandez advises.