Stickers are probably every Artist alley attendees first merch type. They are easy to print, sell and draw. But even if it’s a starter item it can have different varieties so let’s talk about sticker types.
In the past the most popular sticker material was paper. Paper stickers are exceedingly cheap to print, they also look crisp and are simple to cut out by hand. Many places can print on A4 or A3 sheets and offer both glossy and matt sticker papers. But recently paper stickers are falling out of fashion due to them being short lived. They aren’t resistant to water and the art work can scratch off pretty easily if stickied to a often used surface. As well as there aren’t many places that can die cut them so most often than not you will be stuck cutting them out by hand.
In recent years vinyl stickers or alternatively called pvc stickers have become the staple of every AA artists table. These stickers became popular because of their water resistant properties as well as (depending on where you print) vibrant and crispy colours. There is also a much bigger variety of plastic bases to choose from like glossy, satin, thin, thick, transparent, etc. and many printing places can die cut your stickers to any form you want! But because it is plastic it is a bit more expensive to produce, besides, if you are more of the eco friendly type you would need to think twice about manufacturing vinyl stickers.
Now that we know about sticker materials we also ought to know about how to apply your artwork to the sticky medium. Stickers are a great merch type because you can put any kind of art work on them and it will look great! Many people choose to draw dedicated designs, some repurpose their art prints on to a sticker form, so you could really say that the sticker is the most universal merch type! But we still have to keep in mind the design aspect of it. We all know that the most common sticker size is no bigger than your palm, so always need to keep in mind that whatever artwork you are going to print it’s going to be pretty small, so it’s always advised to keep good reigns on those details and keep the design clean and easily readable.
Now once you have an artwork ready to be printed you’ll have to think how you are going to cut out those stickers. The most common method to this day used by both beginner and senior artists is hand cut stickers. Just layout all your stickers on a A4 or A3 sheets (mind the gaps!), print them, take some scissors and cut all of them out individually. This simple technique works with any sticker material and with any print shop. Now what if you have 1000 stickers to cut, then better say goodbye to your wrist, because thats a whole night of cutting. If you don’t have the patience you can always do die cut stickers. For this method you’ll have to add a cut line individually to all your stickers and give those files to any printing place that be willing to cut them out. Saves a lot of time and looks way more professional, but it might cost just a little bit extra.
Stickers are AA most popular item by far and it seems like it’s going to be a mainstay product for years to come, because of the ease of manufacturing and beginner friendly price.
Cover: @_amenalyme
Edit: @king_fisher_arts
