Painting shoes for cosplay is a bit hard work but it pays off at the end. Many characters have wild shoe styles and buying cheap synthetic leather cheap leather shoes or boots and transforming them into character shoes is much cheaper and creative option than buying them online.
You will need:

Acrylic heavy body paint ( Soft body paint is just too thin and hard to control)


Slow-dri fluid


Flat acrylic brushes


Synthetic leather shoes in shape suitable for picked out character


Cleaning alcohol


Clear acrylic spray



To make shoes:

First, clean them good with alcohol to clean of any grease or impurities so paint will stick better and not flake off
Mix, fluid and paint in about 80% paint and 20% fluid
Cover parts of shoes you don't want painted with masking tape
Paint layer by layer, smoothing everything out with brush, leave to dry a bit
Lucky acrylic paint dries very fast
So another layer and another one
Then when you think you are done make another fluid paint mix but 60% paint 40% fluid and then smooth everything with that
Allow about half an hour to dry
Remove the masking tape
If you need to add another color put the masking tape to protect parts of shoes you don't want in that color
Repeat the process as for the first color
Now if you need to draw things or patterns on:
Mix 90% paint 10% fluid and use the stencil or freehand if you are good
Allow everything to dry well before adding another layer or masking tape or drawing or glueing on parts or ornaments.
When everything is done and dry use clear acrylic spray to seal things on and prevent scratching, add it in 5 or six layers and allow to dry in between
If shoes get damaged while on convention or photoshoot it is no biggie, just add some color to the scratch and apply acrylic spray and everything is fixed.
Have fun!