A Happy Little Accident: Studio Ghibli Custom

I'm a big fan of Bob Ross who not only taught us how to paint on his TV show "The Joy of Painting" but he also imparted some great life lessons.  My favorite is when he would say that there are no such things as mistakes, just "happy accidents".  I love that show.  

One day my lovely wife comes home soaking wet after being caught in a rain storm on her way home from work.  She had worn her all white (brand new) Keds that day not knowing that the storm was going to hit that night.  Needless to say, parts of the once pristine white canvas had turned a muddy grayish-brown.  But instead of throwing them into the washing machine to try and restore it back to its original white, we thought it might be a good idea to cover up the stains with artwork.
So what could have been considered a mistake turned out to be a "happy accident" resulting in my very first custom shoe.

I chose Hayao Miyazaki anime films produced by Studio Ghibli as the theme for the custom sneaker project since we had just moved to Japan that year.

Now this project wasn't without its share of challenges.  First, I didn't have the proper materials and had to improvise using colored Sharpie markers and regular artist pens of varying tips to draw the characters on the shoe.  Second, I didn't plan the composition and decided to just "wing it" starting with the Catbus from Tonari No Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) which can be found on the outer heel of the right shoe.

Despite a lack of planning, I was very pleased with the end result.  But what I didn't know, while spraying water repellant to protect the artwork from smearing, was that Sharpie markers bleed when they get wet.  It's a good medium to make galaxy customs but not ideal if you want sharp lines for definition.  It wasn't a total disaster and fortunately the bleeding ended up looking like nice brush accents.  Another "happy accident".  Check out the rest of the detailed pics below.  Till my next post.  Thanks everyone!