🏳️🌈 Rainbow Sneakers with Proudflare
Presented by: Eric Pierre Allen, Kari Linder
Originally aired on July 28, 2023 @ 8:00 PM - 8:30 PM EDT
Join Eric Pierre Allen, Accountant at Cloudflare, as he learns how to design Pride Month sneakers from Kari Linder our Senior Visual Designer!
English
Proudflare
Pride Month
Transcript (Beta)
Hi everyone! Happy Pride! The best time of the year and today I am joined with the oh so talented Kari and as y'all know we will be decorating our shoes all together as a family to make it nice, proud, happy, and joyful so that we can have just as good of sneakers as Jen Taylor so right yeah exactly yeah we're setting the bar pretty high but I mean with someone with such a talented designer as yourself I'm pretty sure you'll be able to help me uh you know reach leaps and bounds express yourself via the shoes right that's the goal for the day so just for a little bit of housekeeping um let's see everyone if you want to you know get your shoes make sure afterwards if possible have like your adhesive spray got your colors as you know we're doing all the rainbows hey honey look I am ready she's ready to show the colors and got my pencils nice and my brushes and some water if needed plus some water for me gotta stay hydrated right and yeah okay let's get started what would be the first thing to do for this puma shoe that I have going on here all right it looks amazing um if it's it doesn't look dirty but if it's a little dirty um if they're like a used pair of shoes first thing is probably to give them like a wipe with a paper towel or um with a little bit of water just to make sure that you have all the dirt off because once you start painting on it and you get that waterproofing spray on there it's gonna lock everything in place so lock in the dirt too sounds all right sounds good to me okay beautiful um so I think probably the first thing to do is um we want to sketch out our design on the shoe with a pencil okay so um your shoes a little bit different than mine but what I did for this one was just uh do the rainbow sort of from the laces just go like straight down um on the shoe or if you want something a little bit different um we could do sort of flowers that go all the way around the shoe too um and you can do like a little bit of a mix of both you know there are parts of the design that you might want something for the toe and then something different for the back um so probably what we'll start with is taking some of the lines of the shoe and then just like tracing them in rainbows okay all right so I think with that I think I'm gonna do it kind of like from the side like like the lines yeah that's okay okay um so and then okay because it's going to be two lines for like two lines are one line basically yeah okay yeah pretty much so what we'll do and I'll sort do the same thing just along like this line in my shoe okay so what we'll have is like a rainbow that goes from the sole like up into the laces oh okay okay so yeah but you can go like along the swoop like whatever speaks to you and you can do I mean I'm doing like the the full rainbow but you can do you know whatever colors of whatever flag you want it can you know this one's like the most complex so we'll start with a full rainbow but if you want like pan a spy whatever you want okay exactly all of your pride because we do not erase any identities here every identity is valid okay let's go with that yes uh people are trying to erase some of us and we are not letting that happen here not today awesome okay so let's yeah we'll do that as the first part so I'll get like kind of sketched and then you know we can like this part I can like I can do lines very well I've never been I've been more of a painter than uh a drawer throughout art class or um yeah I mean yeah I was never like oh do uh draw this kid or whatever I'm like uh no I'm all about give me the watercolors give me the paints that's what I always did best in in class it's more expressive painting I think drawing you just have more control so it's like you get the line exactly where you mean for it to go painting it's sort of like you're working with the medium it'll kind of take over sometimes are there so um so I know you're one of our I think our scene one of our senior designers right I believe I am so tell me about your art journey actually oh my gosh um I I never really thought when I was in school that I would be able to like do art every day like it just it felt like it was like kind of a pipe dream and so I was like yeah that's that's cool but like I you know art school is not for me design school is not for me so um I was actually a computer science and psychology um major in school thinking that I would probably do you know either a master's or a PhD um and a lot of the sort of like CS programs that I looked into they didn't really I don't know they didn't incorporate all of the aspects that I kind of was looking for in computer science okay so um I ended up taking an interaction design course as part of my CS and totally fell in love with it um and took human-centered design um and just sort of you know a lot of the the research courses in psychology sort of intersected really well in that world um and I ended up working at um uh moral emotions and trust lab and sort of got into research from there um and then sort of found my way into um like web design and graphic design and then subsequently Cloudflare um and yeah it's been wonderful so right now I do a lot of the work on our blogs and technical diagrams and um illustrations for our beautiful and the newest beautiful uh proud flair design right oh yeah actually um TC did the new proud flair badge that looks amazing I'm wearing the the old one because because I don't think we've gotten our t-shirt shipped yet um I'm rocking the older one but um but yeah I used to do a bunch of that stuff and yeah it's been it's been a really wonderful sort of path I just didn't think that I could have this job that like combines all of the you know the aspects of the things that I'm interested in in school and how long have you been with uh Cloudflare I guess four and a half years I see okay the first week of 2017 this is like the end of the Obama years yeah you've seen this baby grow yeah yeah it's been it's been a journey I think that there were like 300 people when I started um and and there are more than that now I'm pretty all right just a tad bit more you know and we're um and I I've I think so I've been here for about a year now and some change um so have you been a part of proud flare since like the get-go or like what kind of brought you to the group or yeah pretty much I mean I knew Andrew um I knew Andrew when he started Andrew Fitch um one of the founders and the first time it was just sort of like we were hanging out in a room eating Thai food and then that sort of turned out to be proud flare and it just sort of like it grew really really fast and like the conversations um in those like first meetings were just like I had never had those conversations like in a workplace um where we were just like discussing all of these like very sensitive topics in this way that it like really fostered like openness right and it just sort of like it felt like a home like immediately um so it's been like a big part of my Cloudflare experience ever since and I've met a bunch of amazing people through it like you oh do you have your designs already I think so I think this because now I'm thinking what I would want to do so like stripes here and then I was thinking like clouds oh yeah other side and like kind of different like and like for those I really don't even I feel like I wouldn't even need to have to sketch it out because it'll just be like you know circles yeah you got it some people have a lot of confidence drawing clouds with the logo I think it's the one thing that like when I'm doing like diagrams and whiteboarding with people they'll get so self-conscious when they have to draw the logo I'm glad you have confidence with your cloud hopefully look that was I mean you know it's the watercolors I always like doing like a sky or I also really love doing um like the mountain ranges kind of thing and then like kind of like the canyons and all that kind of stuff always yeah straight Bob Ross right okay which color should I okay you're starting with red yeah I went ahead and started with it's kind of like a little peachy red um but you know it depends on the colors that you have in your palette whatever it's a metaphor for life just I usually start with with the red or like the top of the flag all right I am painting all right I believe in you I need I need to break in the brush a little bit she was being yeah it's very exciting but it's a little nerve -wracking you don't always do what you want them to do okay so what's been your oh there it goes it's way better you got it yeah all right I'm excited to see your line so what's been like your like favorite you know it's supposed to be here for such a you know a while what's been like your favorite cloud flare event or proud flare slash Cloudflare event that um you've been to and or like something that you're looking forward to again once uh we transform to the normal let's say that um I mean I think it's probably our first like pride party that we had um it was just like I had gotten to know a lot of these folks um sort of in the the proud flare we're having lunch you know we would sort of discuss an article or like a event um that happened that week and it was like it was amazing bonding but then at pride everyone sort of like there were cocktails and dancing okay and like people brought like their significant others they brought their friends and you just like it was really fun to get to like get to know everyone in that way and and you just like you have a different sort of conversation um and I really enjoyed that I think that's probably hard to top for me um but it's it's been so amazing because we're growing so much every year that like pride has really like the way that Cloudflare treats or proud flare um treats pride has evolved a lot um and and it's like new every year because there are so many new faces that you haven't seen before and and you still get to like have that sort of discovery period with folks um so it's been it's been lovely what about you um so you know being I mean I would say and quite honestly it would be top like event I've been to for any of my companies I've worked for before uh was like the whole um the the pride the virtual pride that we did last year yeah the drag yeah all the like the drag we had the the meditation session we had the cocktail hour I mean it was like quite amazing especially during that time when things are like pretty intense and you know we didn't know um we're doing yellow next week um we definitely needed um yeah that was I mean and and it was funny because I was actually able to for like the later time slot I was able to have my friend perform you know and it was like wow like how many places could you say oh yeah you know I just didn't pull um you know I booked one of my my clan friends to dance for my company like yeah you know I'm I'm an accountant so I usually the events that I've been privy to at other companies are a little bit more safe let's say that yeah accounting and drag aren't always in the same sentence together right exactly exact there there exactly but they should be obviously right always it seems like they have fun too you know I mean so I mean that was just and it was like a true testament of of I don't know it's like of how we are as a company like we really just kind of embrace everything about like ourselves and kind of you know I think it's like we're a bunch of we're a bunch of group of curious I don't want to say in a wrong way like like curious weirdos but in the best way possible yeah yeah I always take weirdo as a compliment right especially if you're in Austin you gotta oh yeah exactly like okay look Portland okay none of y'all y'all swear y'all try to take our stuff we're weird first right exactly but um yeah that was just a beautiful experience in a time and it was like oh okay yeah I definitely um yeah this is uh this is a long-term commitment here you know yeah also everyone um internally if y'all um have questions definitely leave them in the chat and I have access right now to see anything so if y'all have questions just let me know I'm having a good old time kiki with my good judy right here anyways when I see your stripes when you've got a chance that's perfect I'm actually loving this and then let's see it is what oh yeah yeah yeah okay I think I'll be able to make a little space because it'll be blue and then I can make a little bit of purple on the side here but yeah you can go all the way around the shoe it's your shoes there should be an expression there are really no rules here hey I'm a size we don't do rules okay well it's always it's oh it's a it's a it's an interesting thing I'm a Sagittarius accountant so I yeah I like rules it's like you like knowing about rules so that you can write you want to learn all the rules exactly exactly they're such a beautiful there it goes so what for I mean so you're in San Francisco right now right I am okay um the setting which is really hitting me in the face at my workstation so do you have any plans for pride or have they have discussions kind of been even had about pride in sf right yet or I mean usually it's just such a massive event that it's almost impossible to avoid and you're just sort of like every weekend going to brunch with a bunch of people and then out to the streets um and it's a little different this year but um I'm actually really excited on Friday um there's a screening of in the heights um at oracle park um for pride and I am a huge in the heights slash all broadway slash the new marinda fan and I've been waiting for this movie it was supposed to come out last June and then they delayed it like a year and 11 days to this Friday and so and I haven't seen like a movie with people in you know ages they call it oracle park so it'll be outdoors um so you can sort of like relax then and like just take it in so it's like the perfect like return I'm so psyched I am excited for you I see Austin our because you know Texas don't play around with that heat so our pride's not for a bit more uh oh right yeah ours is like Austin for pride um in 2019 well okay yeah so it was like an August time that's how we kind of like to play it's like you know it's a Ben actually it's a curse and a blessing it's like it's like sometimes you want to be like oh like you know do it with everyone like oh pride time but you know the more pride I can get the merrier anyway yeah it's unique it's yours you're celebrating pride with like your crew it's perfect I love it here's mine yeah oh look see you you have that delicate hand you know I've got the little paint pen so I've got a fine tip there all right and now rainbows it'll be covering rainbows now I'm about to do the clouds all right all right switch it up and we have about nine more minutes left so I think I can definitely get this done yeah I believe in you and what I'm going to do is actually switch to one of my flower shoes oh yeah just a little bit there all these different types of flowers they look really complicated but they're super easy okay like it's really simple shapes they're just like they're not even flowers they're just ovals and all you have to do is do an oval and then like a squiggle down to the um oh that is okay see that's the kind of drawing I need to learn it's like I think I think with a lot of people like drawing seems like it looks complicated when you are far back but then yeah if you really do just look it's really I guess you know I guess everything's made out of a bunch of shapes but you know there's uh not nearly as hard as it looks right um so I'm just gonna make a bunch of ovals and then connect them to the ground with little green squiggles and then hopefully if I do it right it'll look like flowers if that's your pride right I wanted to do like a couple different designs because you know some people they love feet covered in rainbows loud and proud let's go and other right they want you know a little I'm here I'm queer whatever it's a Tuesday and you know whatever way you want to celebrate that's awesome it's funny that you said Tuesday because that's literally my favorite day of the week because in Austin there's uh we have a young that loves Tuesdays oh yeah I know it's so it's uh we were part so it's basically it's called Tuesdays oh my gosh yeah so there's a good reason to love Tuesdays oh yeah it's like a place where I mean that's where I kind of more or less discovered who Robin was when I was in uh because I went to college around here at IUT so that's when I became a full realized gaby all because of Tuesdays yeah she's been you know seminal for a lot of people oh we have a question actually um let's see does Carrie have any tips for when I make a mistake sometimes when I draw the colors overlap and it's not always pretty oh my gosh uh yes I made a bunch of mistakes on here and I just covered them up with hearts so now they're on the think it's you know you're doing like these skinny lines and the marker sort of like flicked paint everywhere um and I was like well I could throw it out or I could just completely cover the whole thing in hearts so that's how it looks you're just covering it with love right exactly like I am where is this okay and then another that's one of the great things about paint is you can just paint over it it doesn't have to be perfect they're your feet so they're far away okay right you know as long as you get like some colors right it's gonna look just great but it's low stakes slowly getting there I think I know where I want to it's like there and I think I know oh all right look at your clouds okay and at least for me when I'm doing flowers I like to make a bunch of colors anyway so I'll do like pink with little orange centers or something and oh yeah that's actually if you if you mix two colors together anyway just cover it up with a darker color and you'll be fine oh that's a good tip there yeah I got some stratus cumulus clouds I got some yeah I got some nimbus there I think that's what yeah that's how we're gonna yeah that's how we're gonna play that game and actually good thing you did say actually you can cover with dark too because then okay yeah yeah yeah and the nice thing about it is you're only on shoe one so that can be the practice shoe and then you have your other shoe and you can just turn around when someone wants to look at your shoes or if they notice right all right so who would you say are some like your favorite like artists or designers actually wow I don't know that anyone would really know them but so Charlie Harper does all of these amazing they're like drawings of animals that are very stylized and geometric but okay but like the species themselves have all of like the characteristics that sort of like define you know it like whiskers on a cat or something right or yeah but like like he'll he'll he has all these different kinds of birds and you know you can really tell that it's like a northern crested robin versus a southern crested robin you know it's like it's super stylized so like the bird itself is like a circle but it has like oh okay great markings to like differentiate it from like a different you know very similar bird and it my mom was a park ranger for a long time and so oh okay all those little like differences in species um were like very important to us growing up so it's cool to see something that like looks so different but like has all of those you know attributes still in it and it's really cool what about you do you have any favorite designers let's see drawing wise and all that not really I would say I'm definitely more of a music kind of girl this is yeah those are the artists that I'm trying to really think designer wise because then even when it comes to my clothes I'm kind of boring too I like like Ralph Lauren and stuff like that I'm just but um yeah I guess not I don't know I gotta look into that more my mom really likes designing a lot actually or just like interior designing blah blah blah like I would say she's the type of person that can go to like Ross and all that kind of stuff and just like decorate a whole entire house you know and and it'd be like one-third the price as they like you know HGTV and everything so yeah yeah I love that it's so good to have a person like that in your life if you're not that person right you try to learn and it doesn't work all right big clouds here all the clouds there one more I think I need let's see there they look beautiful are you ready for pride now I am oh yeah all right I am definitely ready um I'm I feel like I think I'll be able to make it to the Houston one possibly oh nice Houston they get wild yeah I have absolutely no doubt that's a that's a that's a very uh interesting pride I would say is okay so a tip for this right I haven't actually done any of mine yet you're not done but when you um when you spray it do like a bunch of little dots don't like drag just like okay and you'll be great okay awesome thank you yeah you've got the Hobby Lobby bag so you'll be right away from the laptop it's good oh okay and also probably get a well -ventilated area open a window if you have I don't think I can here but well okay it's a big office it's a big office I'm glad there's gonna be a minute before people come in right well hey happy pride everybody