Weekley Methamphibian Throwback

The custom we are featuring this week truly started a revolution. A revolution in fabric customs and eventually “decon-recon” customs. We are not sure which came out first: the official denim SB Dunk or Methamphibian’s first denim custom, either way it was around the same time in ’02-’03. The popularity of Methamphibian’s customs sparked nearly every customizer to make a pair of denim Dunks, many of which were the first customs of a few people. The reactions these got on NikeTalk back in the day were insane, evey Methamphibian post was like a treasure of new crazy designs. Take a look at his first pair of lows he made, which later lead to the hightop Dunk! For more info check out Methamphibian’s website.

Methamphibian.com

TRAGIKkicks: Summer Of Love

Inspired by one of the greatest music groups ever, The Beatles, and an amazing show in Las Vegas by CIRQUE DU SOLEIL which is inspired by The Beatles, TRAGIKkicks put together a solid custom. If someone can use this many colors and make it attractive then they have a very creative mind in design. Yes, you can say they did not create the patterns or imagery but it is still not an easy task to transport a design from a two dimensional surface to a three dimensional item like a pair of shoes. For more info on TRAGIKkicks check their MySpace.

TRAGIKkicks MySpace

More pics after the jump!

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Weekley Methamphibian Throwback

The graphics customizers use today are nearly endless, but they had to start somewhere, right? One of the earliest graphics other than solid colors was an idea with a rich history and background: camouflage. Roughly around 2001 and 2002 was when Methamphibian started putting a basic black, grey, charcoal, and white camo pattern to the leather. Ever since then his work with camo is one of the reasons customs AND companies sneaker designs in general started using more graphics. So that is our weekley throwback, a few samples of Methamphibian’s designs using camouflage.

Methamphibian’s Website

 More Methamphibian Camouflage after the jump!

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Speechless: Abstract Days

We came across a new customizer by the name of Speechless on the Sole Collector Forums. The first work of theirs we are showcasing are based on the abstract art they like to create. These few pairs definitely have a distinct style that we can not really compare to any other customizer. Look out for more info as we try to find the story behind Speechless.

See more Speechless here!

Van Customs: Wolverine Series

Van is the guy behind the most famous Barack Obama customs that are now made by the fake factories in every color ever imagined. Talented painter he is, that can be seen clearly in his run of Wolverine themed Nike Air Force 1s. More info on Van check out his MySpace:

Van’s MySpace

More pics after the jump!

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Masked Magician by hziii

Customizer hziii posted up his latest work, Masked Magician, featuring a character he created:

It’s a silhouette of a magician wearing an oxygen mask. The idea of the mask was from a famous magician called “the masked magician” which I was a fan of from young. I wanted my magician to be unique from the stereotypical view of magicians by others, so he wore an oxygen mask instead of a fancy looking mask (something like the mask from the phantom of opera) to achieve this objective. The magician’s gesture is looking towards the sky as this gives him an elegant feel and reinforces his professionalism.

If you like this style, hziii has mastered it very well, a sort of modern tribal pattern with extremely detailed and clean line work, make sure to check his website: hziii’s website

Mizzee: Friday the 13th 4.0 and Retrospective

Mizzee Customs made his first pair last spring for our buddy SneakFiend. 10 months or so later and its an actual Friday the 13th and the movie is released AND version 4.0 is complete. 4.0 is probably my favorite of them all just because of the foggy woods at night scene he recreated. The grey and lightning are dope. Funny thing is though Mizzee says he has never seen any of the movies. I don’t believe that. But if you got a movie themed idea for a custom you want to wear, Mizzee is your customizer for the job.

Mizzee’s MySpace

More pics of Mizzee’s Friday the 13th retrospective after the jump!
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Weekly Methamphibian Throwback: #2

Six years ago in 2003 was when these were released. These were Methamphian’s second retail collaboration, the first being with Prohibit NYC. Yet, I’m pretty sure these were his first mulitple pair release being out of Undefeated LA. Based of the iconic Nike Air Jordan III and the color of the Los Angeles Lakers these were a instant sell out and sign of change in the customs world. The change being that stores and companies were noticing customizers. Undefeated a huge Nike seller, known to many as the best sneaker shop in the world, most likely had a connect with Nike to allow Methamphibian to be able to work on a run of this size. Unfortunately I can not remember if these were released in a run of 12, 15, or 24, pretty sure it was one of those numbers though. This designs success lead to the release of a few other designs for Methamphibian out of Undefeated in 2003 and 2004. If you have any info or photos of this pair please email contact@paintorthread.com

Methamphibian’s Website

Snakeskin on shoes is hard to mess up

Somehow, someway, snakeskin almost always looks good on shoes. Yet Nike definitely has messed up a few times especially on womens releases, while adidas almost always has snakeskin looking good. But what about customizers? Usually they know how to make it right. That is what lakebay2 of the NikeTalk Sneaker Art Forum recently finished up: a pair of Dunks with two different kinds of snakeskin that work. Though do not get too excited PETA members the skin appears to be faux, as in not real, man made to appear like snakeskin. Using brown in and black on the entire upper is accented by a bright yellow and green. Plus in the dark you can see the laces and stitching glow a bright green to go with the sole. The tongue tags are pretty sweet too saying: Bite Me.

More pics after the jump!

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Old shoes can look new again………

Making old shoes look new again is one of many reasons people get into customizing. If you are starting out it is actually best to use old shoes since there is a good chance your going to do something wrong or make a mistake. When you do you will be happy you did not shell out $80 or more for some shoes you can not wear now. Or if you do not make a mistake you can practically have a new pair of shoes. That is definitely how mikeangelo of the Sole Collector Forums should feel with his completed “Chocolate Floral” Dunk hi he made out of an old pair he had sitting in his garage. Mikeangelo played well off the yellow sole using a color combo of brown and pastel yellow. The floral pattern near the back is extremely clean and having the yellow strip across the mid panel helps to break up the clash of black mesh and brown leather. The design is solid but maybe next time having the floral print along all the brown panels would look even nicer. But these still have a little excitement and are subtle enough to wear without that “Hey look at my bright shoes” feeling.

JGoods: Quick YouTube video How To

Having trouble explaining to people how to customize sneakers with a simple paint job? Show them this quick video by JGoods Customs and they should understand the process.

Interaxionne: Transformer Dunk hi Revenge of The Fallen

We stumbled across talented customizer Interaxionne’s Transformer Dunks on eBay. He has two pairs in 10 and 10.5 being called “Revenge of the Fallen”, after the Transformers Movie sequel that releases in June. Both are samples and are a bit different than his first original versions which featured the Autobot logo and Optimus Prime. The samples feature numbered tags with the Decepticon logo and movie release date, Decepticon logo on the back heels, Megatron on the mid panels, and a black and yellow shock pattern on the toe and lace panels. The best thing is though that these still have over 5 days left to bid on. They seem to be the perfect accessory while you wait inline to see the new movie.

Interaxionne’s eBay Auctions

More pics after the jump!

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Basket Case Dunk Mid

It’s officially official 2009 is the year of “Decon-Recons”. With that said, we got another new, but highly skilled customizers work to showcase. Our buddy Brad created a clean looking pair of Dunk mids with distressed purple leather, brown weaved leather, and black suede Swooshes. Not much else to say other than look out for his next work. He will have a website and MySpace soon but until then contact him with your questions via email:

dfyantmentality@gmail.com

Completed pics after the jump!

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Mizzee Friday the 13th teaser

Not much else to say here except that Mizzee is officially the king of horror film customs. The foggy woods detailing on these are amazing, looks just like a picture. I’d love to see him go old school and do some of the classic films like Frakenstein, The Mummy, Wolfman, Dracula, etc. Check back this Friday the 13th for the completed pair.

Mizzee’s MySpace