Years ago when I first made my cosplay for Daisuke Motomiya from 02, I knew absolutely nothing about how to make shoes.  The end result was... passible - if you didn't look too close, but I was never happy with them. Having made my first pair of boots (for Neku from TWEWY - Part 1, Part 2), I now know maybe 5-10% of what goes into making a pair of shoes - just enough to be dangerous and just the right time to give it another go.