Last making 101
Drawing a footwear design or utilizing a favorite drawing or picture of footwear will assist 
you in planning the footwear form you will be making
.
It begins with drafting a toe character. A toe character is the shape of the toe. The student is directed on how to use artist geometry to arrive at balanced toe characters, sidewalls and shape. The student is encouraged to explore a vast variety of toe box shapes to arrive at one that best fits their design intentions.
There is two most pronounce design features in a last that makes it stand out as a unique design
1) The heel, its height and style
2) The toe design balanced with the toe wall.
After drafting toe characters, we move on to drafting sole shapes. If you observe the bottom of your shoes you will notice that there is certain lines and character that makes the design of your footwear at the bottom of your boots or shoes..
This sole shape directs the form of the last. There are more than 20 different type of known sole shape systems, each one having a unique feature and benefit for a particular type of foot. A last maker may use one of them or none depending on his/her intention and directive according to his/her design.