Aloha artists! I’ve been making stickers out of my artwork for a few years now with great success so I figured with this latest batch it was time to share exactly how I do it.

With all these new sticker companies out now you can create fabulous vinyl stickers out of your paintings, drawings, illustrations, or digital art relatively inexpensively. People looove stickers, so they are an especially easy sell to folks just getting acquainted with your artwork, with the bonus that they then see your work IRL constantly - keeping you in mind as one of their faves! Yay!

Choosing your best art to ‘stickerfy’ should take some thought. It is wise to choose the boldest, most eye catching and easily identifiable images to truly stand out and appeal to the most people. You may even want to run a poll of your artworks to see what your audience will love sticking on their gear the most!

Before getting started there are a few things to keep in mind..

It’s probably best to use a white substrate for drawings or illustrations if you will want custom cutout stickers (as in not a square or circle shape). It will make your life much easier when it comes to editing the proof.
Think about the scale of the original art in proportion to the sticker. If the artwork has a ton of tiny details in it they may not show up in a 2 or 3 inch sticker. It’s often best to choose bolder, more simplistic designs so they come out bold and clear.
Shop around and check the quality of different sticker companies before going all in on a manufacturer. Don’t place a big order with a new company before getting some samples so you make sure that not only the stickers are the quality you’re looking for, but that your designs are uploaded at a high enough resolution to print out nice and clear.

How to Turn Art into Stickers:

Choose a clear, eye catching piece of art.
Take a bright clear photo of your art (help with photo taking here and here)
Upload, edit, and clean up your image (here’s free Photoshop Express and the Adobe version)
A. (optional) remove the background; B. (necessary) add in your name or logo (here’s free Canva)
Upload artwork to your chosen printer (Such as… Sticker Mule, Sticker Giant, Stickybrand, etc)
Wait like a kid on Xmas Eve!!