NFL's odd jobs: Meet the artist who designs Antonio Brown’s custom cleats

When you’re an artist, you take just about any gig you can get. Most of the time, though, it doesn’t get you to the NFL.

Corey Pane spent years making album covers and band posters. He’s done some airbrushing. Once he even made leather shoes, working with a friend doing hand-sewing.

Now he customizes some of the most talked-about cleats in the NFL, his creations ranging from the likenesses of Miami icons to a Veterans Day tribute. Pane is the artist behind Steelers receiver Antonio Brown’s parade of cool kicks this season, and the NFL can’t stop the duo.

“I’ve never really done cleats before this,” Pane says. “I just take whatever comes my way. I’m not really like a cleat guy. I’m just an artist. A painter.”

He and Brown have collaborated on customized cleats in six of Pittsburgh’s seven games this season, and there’s more to come. Here’s how the 27-year-old artist from West Hartford, Conn., linked up with one of the best receivers in the game.

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Eric Ebron

Dec. 26, 2016

Steve Smith

Dec. 25, 2016

Buster Skrine

Dec. 24, 2016

Kyle Rudolph

Dec. 24, 2016

Brandon LaFell

Dec. 24, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Dec. 22, 2016

Victor Cruz

Dec. 22, 2016

DeSean Jackson

Dec. 19, 2016

Golden Tate

Dec. 18, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Dec. 18, 2016

Joe Haden

Dec. 11, 2016

Tajae Sharpe

Dec. 11, 2016

Tramon Williams

Dec. 11, 2016

Joe Thomas

Dec. 11, 2016

Jamar Taylor

Dec. 11, 2016

Terrelle Pryor

Dec. 11, 2016

Corey Coleman

Dec. 11, 2016

Joe Haeg

Dec. 5, 2016

Denzelle Good

Dec. 5, 2016

Robert Turbin

Dec. 5, 2016

Doug Baldwin

Dec. 5, 2016

Henry Anderson

Dec. 5, 2016

Rashaan Melvin

Dec. 5, 2016

Austin Blythe

Dec. 4, 2016

Jack Doyle

Dec. 5, 2016

Bilal Powell

Dec. 5, 2016

Martellus Bennett

Dec. 4, 2016

Richie Incognito

Dec. 4, 2016

Jerry Hughes

Dec. 4, 2016

Leger Douzable

Dec. 4, 2016

Garrison Sanborn

Dec. 4, 2016

Ryan Groy

Dec. 4, 2016

Adolphus Washington

Dec. 4, 2016

Cam Newton

Dec. 4, 2016

Antonio Brown

Dec. 4, 2016

Von Miller

Dec. 4, 2016

Lamar Miller

Dec. 4, 2016

Golden Tate

Dec. 4, 2016

Pierre Garcon

Dec. 4, 2016

Jason Pierre-Paul

Dec. 4, 2016

Allen Robinson

Dec. 4, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Dec. 4, 2016

Ereck Flowers

Dec. 4, 2016

Eli Manning

Dec. 4, 2016

Donald Penn

Dec. 4, 2016

David Johnson

Dec. 4, 2016

Chris Harris

Dec. 4, 2016

Travis Kelce

Dec. 4, 2016

Rex Burkhead

Dec. 4, 2016

Jalen Richard

Dec. 4, 2016

Sammie Coates

Dec. 4, 2016

Cody Latimer

Dec. 4, 2016

Randall Cobb

Dec. 4, 2016

Marcell Dareus

Dec. 4, 2016

Kelvin Beachum

Dec. 4, 2016

Michael Thomas

Dec. 4, 2016

Sergio Brown

Dec. 4, 2016

Jimmy Smith

Dec. 4, 2016

Roman Harper

Dec. 4, 2016

Lerentee McCray

Dec. 4, 2016

Weston Richburg

Dec. 4, 2016

Reggie Bush

Dec. 4, 2016

Ben Roethlisberger

Dec. 4, 2016

A.Q. Shipley

Dec. 4, 2016

Calais Campbell

Dec. 4, 2016

Carson Palmer

Dec. 4, 2016

Larry Fitzgerald

Dec. 4, 2016

Patrick Peterson

Dec. 4, 2016

Adam Jones

Dec. 4, 2016

Vance McDonald

Dec. 4, 2016

Bruce Irvin

Dec. 4, 2016

David Amerson

Dec. 4, 2016

Seth Roberts

Dec. 4, 2016

Johnathan Cyprien

Dec. 4, 2016

Drew Brees

Dec. 4, 2016

Brandin Cooks

Dec. 4, 2016

Donovan Smith

Dec. 4, 2016

Andrew DePaola

Dec. 4, 2016

Robert Nelson

Dec. 4, 2016

Malcolm Smith

Dec. 4, 2016

Jameis Winston

Dec. 4, 2016

Justin Ellis

Dec. 4, 2016

Derek Carr

Dec. 4, 2016

Victor Cruz

Dec. 4, 2016

Clay Matthews

Dec. 4, 2016

Brandon Williams

Dec. 4, 2016

Darrell Stuckey

Dec. 4, 2016

Mike Glennon

Dec. 4, 2016

Eric Ebron

Dec. 4, 2016

Aaron Rodgers

Dec. 4, 2016

Khalil Mack

Dec. 4, 2016

Rodney McLeod

Dec. 4, 2016

Paul Perkins

Dec. 4, 2016

Latavius Murray

Dec. 4, 2016

Dustin Colquitt

Dec. 4, 2016

Ted Ginn Jr.

Dec. 4, 2016

Brice Butler

Dec. 1, 2016

Brandon Carr

Dec. 1, 2016

Dak Prescott

Dec. 1, 2016

Everson Griffen

Dec. 1, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Nov. 27, 2016

Pat McAfee

Nov. 24, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Nov. 20, 2016

Torrey Smith

Nov. 20, 2016

Ricky Jean Francois

Nov. 20, 2016

Cordarrelle Patterson

Nov. 20, 2016

Cam Newton

Nov. 17, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Nov. 14, 2016

Antonio Brown

Nov. 13, 2016

Julio Jones

Nov. 13, 2016

Jayron Kearse

Nov. 13, 2016

Cam Newton

Nov. 13, 2016

Antonio Brown

Nov. 6, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Nov. 6, 2016

Brandon Marshall

Nov. 6, 2016

Von Miller

Nov. 6, 2016

Laquon Treadwell

Oct. 31, 2016

Cam Newton

Oct. 30, 2016

T.Y. Hilton

Oct. 30, 2016

Isaiah Burse

Oct. 30, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Oct. 23, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Oct. 23, 2016

Jerick McKinnon

Oct. 23, 2016

Mohamed Sanu

Oct. 23, 2016

T.J. Green

Oct. 23, 2016

Jameis Winston

Oct. 23, 2016

Zach Zenner

Oct. 23, 2016

Antonio Brown

Oct. 16, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Oct. 16, 2016

Ricky Jean Francois

Oct. 16, 2016

Marvin Jones

Oct. 16, 2016

Marcus Mariota

Oct. 16, 2016

Antonio Brown

Oct. 9, 2016

Ricky Jean Francois

Oct. 9, 2016

Josh Norman

Oct. 9, 2016

Alec Ogletree

Oct. 9, 2016

Tony Jerod-Eddie

Oct. 6, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Oct. 3, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Oct. 3, 2016

Antonio Brown

Oct. 2, 2016

Cam Newton

Oct. 2, 2016

DeSean Jackson

Oct. 2, 2016

Antonio Brown

Sept. 25, 2016

Cam Newton

Sept. 25, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Sept. 18, 2016

Cam Newton

Sept. 18, 2016

Antonio Brown

Sept. 12, 2016

Mohamed Sanu

Sept. 11, 2016

Odell Beckham Jr.

Sept. 11, 2016

Avery Williamson

Sept. 11, 2016

Ben Koyack (pictured), Lamar Miller and Brian Cushing

Sept. 11, 2016

Marqise Lee

Sept. 11, 2016

Victor Cruz

Sept. 11, 2016

DeAndre Hopkins

Sept. 11, 2016

Sammie Coates

Sept. 11, 2016

Demaryius Thomas

Sept. 8, 2016

Around the time Brown came into the league in 2010, some of Pane’s artwork caught his eye. He commissioned Pane to do a painting of his children, and the two kept in touch after Brown liked the final product. Pane would occasionally go to Steelers home games, and late this preseason athlete and artist talked about painting some cleats and wristbands for Week 1.

Using some of Brown’s old cleats, Pane tried a few designs. Then Brown shipped Pane his game cleats, and they then came up with Week 1’s design: baby blue cleats with “84” etched on them. Brown considers the color blue to be inspiring, tweeting early in the season that blue “is trustworthiness and calm.”

“It went over pretty well, and he liked it and wanted to keep a different vibe going every week,” Pane says. “It’s inspiration for him when he looks down on the field. And as we kept coming up with ideas, he wanted to do motivational things for other people—stuff that inspires people. We just kept it going.”

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The next week against the Bengals, Brown again wore light blue cleats with wings on the sides, though he only wore them in pregame warmups. He wore blue cleats with images of his children the following week against the Eagles but was forced to change them during the game because they did not conform to the league’s uniform rules.

Pane and Brown began working within the parameters of the league’s color rules. Against the Chiefs, Pane painted the late Arnold Palmer on black-and-yellow cleats. The following week they honored the late Muhammad Ali and his famous “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” quote, but officials threatened to remove Brown from the game if he didn’t change out of the Ali cleats.

“We came up that we will do them and he’ll wear them in pregame so he doesn’t keep getting fined,” said Pane of Brown, who was fined $6,076 in Week 1 for the blue cleats. “He didn’t want to risk getting ejected or suspended or anything.”

A Miami native, Brown wanted to do something special for the Steelers’ Week 6 game against the Dolphins. He asked Pane to paint the faces of late Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez and late fighter Kimbo Slice on wildly colorful shoes. Brown wore them in warmups, then switched to league-approved cleats for the game.

Though they are discussed often among league observers, Brown’s weekly cleats aren’t talked about much within the Steelers’ locker room.

“I know some of it’s interesting commentary. You guys can have at it,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said last month. “But don’t expect us to participate or be enthusiastic participants in it. Because, really, it’s irrelevant. Guys change shoes in the midst of games all the time. They change gloves, they put gloves on, they take gloves off, they wear wristbands, they don’t wear wristbands. It was a non-issue for us.”

Last week Brown wore cleats bearing an image of DJ Khaled, whose “Business is boomin’” phrase Brown has adopted. Pane did not paint those, though. He has already painted cleats honoring Brown’s dad, former arena football star “Touchdown” Eddie Brown, and cleats honoring college-aged Michael Jordan that Brown will wear in Week 13 to donate to the Boys & Girls Club. On Thursday he’ll get Brown’s cleats via overnight package, paint on an image of Pat Tillman and ship them back to Brown on Friday so that they can be worn Sunday against the Cowboys as a Veterans Day tribute.

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What does Pane charge Brown? They haven’t even discussed money. The two are friends, and Pane is sure Brown will be fair whenever they start talking turkey.

Pane has gotten emails from two other players—Saints tight end Josh Hill and Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower—to paint cleats for Week 13, when the NFL is allowing players to promote charitable causes on their cleats. He has no idea what to charge them, but he’s not too concerned about it, since he cares more about the art than the money.

Still, for Pane, business is boomin’.