Okay, so I got this idea the other day, looking at my old pair of Air Force 1s. The logo, you know, the one usually on the heel tab or the little lace lock thingy. It looks so simple, right? Just the swoosh and “AIR”. I thought, hey, I could probably sketch that out, no big deal. So, I decided to give it a go, just for kicks.
First thing, I grabbed a piece of paper, just some scrap stuff, and a pencil. Nothing fancy. Then I needed a good look at the logo itself. I pulled out my shoe, but the logo was kinda worn down. So, I spent a bit just searching around, looking at different pictures online to get a clear view. It’s funny how you don’t really see something until you try to copy it.
Alright, pencil in hand. I started with the swoosh. Man, that curve is trickier than it looks. Getting the right thickness, that sharp tail, and the way it flows… took me a few tries. Lots of erasing. My first attempts looked kinda wonky, either too fat or too skinny. I realized the angle it sits at is pretty specific too.
Then came the “AIR” letters underneath. They have this blocky, solid feel. Getting the spacing right between the letters, and their alignment with the swoosh above, was another little puzzle. Are they centered? Slightly offset? I squinted at the reference pics, trying to figure it out. I drew them, erased, drew them again a bit smaller, then maybe a bit bolder. It’s not just typing “AIR”, the font style matters.
After maybe fifteen, twenty minutes of sketching and erasing, I had something that looked… recognizable? Definitely not perfect, not like the real deal printed sharp and clean. But doing it made me appreciate the design more. It’s clean, yeah, but the proportions and shapes are really distinct.
So, yeah, that was my little experiment. Didn’t produce a masterpiece, but it was a cool way to spend some time, just focusing on the details of something I usually overlook. It’s just a logo, but trying to replicate it showed me there’s more to it than meets the eye at first glance.
