An anime fan since he was a child, the Chilean Mauricio Cubillos (1984) has turned his hobby into art, and art into his work. Today he is an expert shoe painter, with the converse All Star as a canvas, where he illustrates his favorite characters.
On your Instagram account mauroartintas Several samples of his work can be seen, with a focus on characters from Dragon Ball, Naruto and others.
“I started in the art world when I was a kid, around 4 years old,” he told FayerWayer. “I am a big fan of cartoons and anime culture, where I started by copying images or trading cards.”
Over time, he went from paper to fabric, modifying his clothes with his drawings, and then to skin, making tattoos. Until you get to the shoes.
The slippers and the art of Mauricio Cubillos
In 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, Cubillos had his first client for a tattoo: his father. He was studying and learning various techniques, until achieving the advances of today.
But then he took up sneaker art as his way of life. “I began to spread what I was doing on my social networks and in groups of fans like me, where there was an excellent arrival and support,” he says. “So that’s how I started to offer my services as a painter, where I took every challenge to promote my art and that each client has a little piece of it.”
Cubillos explains that he prefers to work on Converse “because of the material they are made of.”
“The paints I use are special for this type of material, fabric or canvas, In addition, they can be washed without problems. In the future I want to have other types of paint to start making various types of slippers, leather or faux leather too”.
The artist’s working method
The work process is as follows: after being contacted by a client through their social networks, they receive the shoes and the art ideas.
“The client tells me his idea of what he would like to do, what his favorite character or characters is; Next to it, the base image of which character you would like is chosen and the rest is my freedom, in order to give my unique touch. There are also clients who give me complete freedom, they just tell me what character they would like to see on the shoe”.
Depending on the complexity of the work, it takes one to two days.
“I start by sketching the base drawing or drawing on the shoes without much detail; then I paint the backgrounds and details of the shoe, characteristic colors of each character, a previous investigation is done if I do not have much knowledge of him, and finally each character is painted, where all the details of him are given.
is a fan of Marvel and DCand also from animes like One Piece, Naruto, Slam Dunk, Dragon Ball, Kimetsu no Yaiba, and Shingeki no Kyojin. “I can consider myself a fan of many things, so I think I can reach different audiences and have a lot of material to develop my art.”