Unbelievably Awesome Custom Nike Dunks

U.K. artist Daniel Reese, or Mr. Brass Monki as he is known (22-years old), creates some of the absolute most amazing custom sneakers (trainers) I’ve ever seen. He takes his inspiration from pop culture trends and makes them a reality on your beloved Nikes. All of these can, or could at one point, be purchased and he also takes requests on future shoes.

You can in theory customize any colour trainer with enough work, but generally speaking, the lighter the colour of trainers, the better. So lets say I’m customizing a pair of plain white Nike Dunks. First thing I do is strip the shoe of the ‘wax like’ coating over the leather using acetone. Nail polish remover can be used, but is no where near as strong as acetone. You will know when you are down to the leather as the grain of the leather will start to rub away and turn grey.

Now that your trainers are all ready to be painted. I use Angelus leather paints but alot of customizers use paint markers or acrylic paints, as they are quite flexible. Apply the paint in thin layers, time between each layer should only be around a minute. You can mask off areas of the trainers and always airbrush larger areas as I do. I use a pin brush for finer details or a marker, sharpie markers are perfect. Once I have the shoe looking the way I want, I wipe them down with a wet cloth very lightly and then apply a layer of clear acrylic using the airbrush, this gives the trainer a nice shiny finish similar to the one you removed from the shoe with acetone.

This sneakers just blow me away. I can’t get over how amazing he is and creating the images on them. I can’t pick a favorite they are all so incredible. Okay, that’s not true…my favorite has to be the Cookie Monster one…but damn if these aren’t all amazing.