Student makes money by painting art
Sophomore Lauren Stucky
January 15, 2017
Two summers ago, after being inspired by a picture she saw on Instagram of custom painted shoes, sophomore Lauren Stucky decided to put her artistic abilities to use by doing the same.
Now, Stucky continues to paint her own shoes and ones for others while also making money through this venture.
“I decided to try (painting custom shoes) myself,” Stucky said. “And afterwards I thought, ‘Hey, I’m pretty good at this!’ So I kept doing it.”
Stucky then started painting shoes for others the summer of 2015. She says that she has always been interested in art, so when she started painting shoes, it was something that she enjoyed and could make money from.
For each pair of shoes that Stucky paints, she charges the customer $35. Her process involves the customer buying whatever shoe they want, typically a type of white canvas shoe and then giving it to her to paint. She says this allows the customer to get exactly what style and size of shoe that they want.
Next, Stucky says the customer tells her what they want on the shoes and she brainstorms ideas with them until they find one that they like. After that, Stucky says it takes her two to three weeks to paint the shoe, depending on her schedule.
When painting the shoe, Stucky uses acrylic paints mixed with textile paint so the designs don’t come off the shoe when it creases. She also uses fine tip Sharpies to help make small details.
For her, she says the designing of the shoe isn’t the hard part. She says it’s mostly how much time it takes her overall with all of the details, the shape of the shoe and her schedule.
“The hardest parts are the amount of time it takes, how small the shoes is which makes adding details hard, and the fact that the shoe is curved,” Stucky said.
Throughout the past two years, Stucky has said she’s painted so many shoes like this, that she can’t quite remember them all. She says some of the ones she can remember had things on them like movie characters, video games, cartoons and she even painted a pair that had a Paris theme.
One person who Stucky has painted shoes for is sophomore Hanna Veen. Veen’s mother talked to Stucky and had her paint the movie Ratatouille on the shoes as a surprise gift for Veen last year.
“The shoes were really cool,” Veen said. “They look really nice, and they haven’t faded or anything since I got them, so I’m happy with them.”
Veen says that Stucky’s talent to paint shoes is great, and she recommends other people to have shoes done by her because of the quality of the work.
Stucky said her parents have been proud of her work and the fact that she has been able to find something that she enjoys doing while being able to make money. Stucky says that although painting shoes for people has proven to be a good job for herself, she doesn’t plan to continue doing this after high school.
“I like it and it’s been a way to make money while doing something I enjoy, so I plan to keep doing it through high school,” Stucky said. “But even though I like doing it, I don’t see it being a career for myself.”