DIY Lightning McQueen Shoes

Lightning McQueen is a super star in our house! Andy and I took Maxwell on a special Mommy, Daddy, Max date to see Disney’s Cars 3 earlier this week. We took him to our neighborhood Alamo Draft House where you can order dinner while you watch, and we even got a giant tub of buttered popcorn to share. Mila got a babysitter. Y’all, this was a big deal! The occasion clearly called for new shoes, DIY Lightning McQueen shoes, of course!

I’m going to try my best to break down how to paint Lightning McQueen shoe for you. Honestly, it’s all about painting simple shapes. You can do it!

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What you need to paint Lightning McQueen shoes

Yellow, orange, white, and blue acrylic paint
1 paint brush
Black Sharpie marker (This is a great deal!)
Red canvas shoes (These would work great from Amazon!)
Paper plate
Hairdryer (Only necessary if you’re impatient, like me.)

How to Paint Lightning McQueen Shoes

Step 1- Paint a windshield

First, paint a half circle on the top of one red shoe. Next, paint a square that overlaps the oval on the right hand side. This is Lightning’s windshield.

Step 2- Paint the mouth and headlights

While you are waiting for the windshield to dry, use the white paint to paint a moon shaped mouth and triangle headlights. The mouth is simple crescent moon shape and the headlights are small right triangles. If you’re feeling impatient, use a hairdryer to dry the wet paint. When everything is dry, use a Sharpie marker to outline the white shapes.

Step 3- Paint the eyes

Now it’s time to give McQueen some eyes! Clean your brush, and get a big drop of blue paint. If you’re feeling uncomfortable practice making blue circles on a scratch sheet of paper first. If you are still feeling comfortable, consider buying a blue paint marker. A paint marker will give you a lot more control to make perfect circles.

Step 4- Outline with a Sharpie

Outline the windseild and mouth with a black Sharpie marker.

Step 5- Fill in the mouth

You’re almost done with Lightning McQueen, and the next step is easy peasy. Use the Sharpie marker to fill in the mouth, leaving white space for teeth. Remember, you can always add more black, but it’s a lot trickier to add more white paint.

Step 6- Add details

Next, add two black circles to the center of the blue one. Back to the headlights, add a line down the middle of each right triangle. Then paint the outside of each headlight yellow.

Step 7- Add pupils

Use a toothpick or the tip of a sharp pencil to dab the white pupils in the center of the black circles of McQueen’s eyes.

Step 8- Grab the other shoe

Now, it’s time to start on shoe number 2! For the lightning bolt, I started with a yellow triangle, and then added a long yellow parallelogram. The “95” will go inside of the parallelogram. Don’t worry about cleaning your brush, and paint an orange triangle to finish the lightning bolt. Blend the orange triangle into the yellow one.

Step 9- Paint the “9”

Now, it’s time to paint the “95”! The thing to remember when painting the “9” is to keep the right side of the “9” straight. I started with an orange circle for the top part of the “9”, and then added a straight line down the right side. Then paint a short orange line to make the bottom of the “9”.

Step 10- Paint the “5”

Now, it’s time to paint the “5”. Use my technique above to paint one line at a time, really thinking about where the line is compared to the “9”. The “5” should be slightly higher, and the left side aligns perfectly with the “9”. I promise the Sharpie marker outline will hide a lot of imperfections.

Step 11- Outline

When everything is dry, use the Sharpie to outline the numbers first. Be sure to fill in the center of “9”. Outline the lightning bolt last.

And now you’ve got hand painted Lightning McQueen shoes for the Cars lover in your life!

Have you seen Disney Pixar’s Cars 3 yet? For the record, it was about a million times better than Cars 2, and I loved the addition of the female character, Cruz Ramirez. For a full review of Cars 3 from a mom and a 4 year old, check out my friend, Jennifer’s post! Personally, I loved the Cars 3 message to believe in your self, never give up, and encourage others to be their best.

For more book and movie crafts, don’t miss:

What you need to paint Lightning McQueen shoes