When I launched my art business in early 2018 I wasn't sure what direction it would take. It wasn't long, however, before I came in contact with Kevin Espinal (AKA, KVN ELVN) via social media. Kevin was getting ready to launch his personal sneaker brand, KVN ELVN, and he was looking for 11 characters that could be licensed for use with his sneakers.
Though I've designed many original characters over the years I didn't have 11 characters that all belonged to the same fictional universe. Instead, I agreed to design a new set of original characters expressly for this unique licensing proposition. Thus was born Modern Gawdz, my series of 11 original characters (loosely) inspired by some of the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology.
Each of the 11 Gawdz will be represented by the colorway of one of the KVN ELVN signature sneaker models. Oh, and for those not familiar with the term, “colorway,” it just means the color choices for a given product. But Kevin and I decided to give Modern Gawdz a twist.
Since I was creating the Gawdz from the ground up anyway, why not outfit the Gawdz with the signature KVN ELVN sneakers? The idea of combining the two properties in this way seemed too intriguing to ignore. The result isn't quite like anything we've seen before, and I think you'll agree.
Below you can see the first character in the lineup as well as the corresponding sneaker. I know, I know, he looks mean... but every saga needs an antagonist! Meet Arez and the AREZ-ONE-ELVN sneaker.
