Available on Etsy

As the title of this post implies, this is the first piece of artwork that I had printed as a sticker. After getting the idea to have some stickers created, I picked this cute, little kitty as the first to be printed. The original artwork can be seen here.

The sticker itself is approximately three inches tall, printed on vinyl, and laminated. That makes it quite resilient. It does not tear easily. The stickers are waterproof and weatherproof. In the time that I have had these stickers so far, they have proven to be quite tough. After repeatedly getting them wet, there have been no issues so far. A few of the stickers have also been placed on water bottles and put through a dishwasher a couple times. They have come out just fine, looking good as new.

Obviously, the stickers will not last forever, but they certainly hold up better than paper stickers. Depending on where they are placed, they should hold up fairly well. Exactly how long certainly depends on where they are placed, outside in direct sunlight, back of a phone where the face if it will be rubbed frequently, or somewhere out of the way.

I did not originally create this illustration with the idea that it was going to be printed as a sticker. It was just meant to be a quick, little illustration for the fun of it. However, after getting the idea of having some stickers printed, this image seemed like a natural choice to be one of the first stickers printed. It is colorful and fun. Also, people generally like cats, which makes it easy to share with others.

If you enjoy stickers and like this sticker in particular, you can let me know over on Twitter @CopiousInk . Some encouraging words are always appreciated.

Motivation to Start Creating Stickers

Shortly after picking up artwork again, I decided to give stickers a try. While looking around Twitter and YouTube for inspiration, I came across many examples of people creating colorful and fun stickers based on their creations. That got me thinking about making some stickers myself.

First, I have sent a few photographs to a couple print labs in the past. I have to say, there is something really satisfying about seeing something digital you have created actually printed out in real life. It is one thing to enjoy it on a computer screen. However, there is just something extra gratifying about being able to hold it in your hands, touch it, and hand it to others. I assumed the same would be true for artwork, just as it was for photography.

Second, I have also seen several friends with stickers on their laptops, water bottles, bikes, etc. Their way of putting their own personal touch on every day items they carry around with. Covering them with images of things they like to make them feel a bit more personal. Maybe my friends would enjoy some of the stickers I create as well. After handing a few out and seeing friends get excited about the stickers was quite motivating to make some more. I must admit, a lot of that excitement may have been related to getting a free sticker. That said, I like to think at least some of the excitement had something to do with my illustrations as well.

Third, creating a small collection of stickers is an approachable art project. The idea, of course, being to inspire the creation of more artwork. I imagine many people that creating artwork of any kind can agree, having a project can be motivating. Large or small, a project can focus efforts, as long as clear, approachable, and obtainable goals can be defined. In this case, there is the added payoff of having stickers to share when everything is said and done. The project is quite flexible as well, since I can create as many or as few as I would like over time.

Given all that was stated above, I thought it would be an appropriate and fun project to take on. Since having this particular sticker created, I have had more designs printed. I will post about the other stickers in future posts.