Skechers

Skechers offers some of the strongest graphics and designs in the footwear industry. Cintiqs free their artists and designers to concentrate on what they do best: cool shoes.

As graphic artist and illustrator at Skechers, Anwar Madrigal designs advertising graphics, packaging and illustrations that are applied to the shoes. Working in an art department that functions as an in-house agency, Anwar originally used a Wacom Intuos graphics tablet for design and illustration until a behind-the-scenes television special turned him on to the incredible benefits of the Cintiq.

“The special profiled the latest technology for Hollywood animators,” says Anwar. “I was amazed to see them combining a traditional drawing approach with editing in-betweens directly on the Cintiq screen. It was clear the Cintiq was way ahead of the technology curve and I knew I had to have one.”

Anwar lobbied Art Director Fred Machuca for a Cintiq, selling him on the benefits of Cintiq’s all-digital workflow. Skechers made their first order for two of the Cintiq 21UX LCD displays. These soon proved their worth in productivity gains alone, and more Cintiqs were ordered for the art department’s other illustrators.

A Perfect Workflow Fit

The Cintiq made an immediate difference for Anwar. Previously, he spent a lot of time scanning his line-art illustrations. It was a time-consuming process, especially with larger illustrations. He no longer had to do that with the Cintiq. “Simply by eliminating the scanning process, I would say the Cintiq increased my productivity by a good 25 percent,” Anwar continues. “It has become an essential tool that I use constantly.”

A typical Cintiq-enhanced task for Anwar involves working in Adobe Illustrator to create characters in vector art from scratch to adorn the boxes for kids’ shoes. Opening a template, he draws with the natural-feeling, cordless, battery-free pen directly onto the Cintiq screen. Anwar was elated to find the Cintiq fit perfectly into his workflow.

“I’ll ink the character in Illustrator and then take it over to Photoshop to color it,” Anwar says. “I’ve developed workspaces specifically for the Cintiq that have all my tools set up on the screen. We have multi-monitor set-ups here and when I switch over to that environment all my palettes appear on the other screen or vice versa. It provides an ideal work environment.”

Shortening the Time From Design to Completion

Word quickly spread around the company about how the art department’s new interactive pen displays were enhancing creativity, saving time and boosting overall productivity. Eventually the footwear designers came upstairs to see for themselves and were equally impressed. Not long afterward, the Skechers design department upgraded to Cintiqs as well. As a result, new footwear designs are taken to completion much more quickly than in the design department’s previous workflow, which included pencil and paper and Intuos tablets. This has greatly increased productivity and design flexibility.

Anwar is proud to have been the pioneer blazing a trail for Cintiqs at Skechers, and the Cintiq has transformed not only his work life but also his personal artistic endeavors. One of his passions is comic book art, and he is currently using the Cintiq to develop a comic called Tech Support. “I’m pretty excited about it, and the Cintiq has made things much easier for me in that regard, too,” he says. “I love the freedom of experimenting on the Cintiq to develop characters. Whether I’m at home or at work, the Cintiq is an indispensable part of my workflow.”