Artists nowadays showcase their flare and personality using merch such as keychains, prints and the topic of our blog, stickers!  Supporting artists has never been this much fun when you can get tons of awesome stickers to adorn your laptops, phone cases, notebooks, or even water bottles! I, myself, is an avid collector and my collection ranges from super cute to super cool! They’re just the perfect thing to jazz up a boring everyday item, right? So, if you've ever found yourself admiring those adorable, eye-catching stickers that seem to be everywhere these days, guess what? You can make them too, and we're here to show you how so whether you're a budding artist, a passionate doodler, or simply someone who wants to add a touch of uniqueness to their messages and artwork, sticker-making is a fantastic way to express yourself and connect with others in a whole new way.
Let’s jump right into it!
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So… stickers have been around for SO long, why should we use Procreate and not just the ones artists used to use? The portability of course! Well, that is one of the reasons but for me, it’s one of the top ones!
Most times, the best ideas for a cute or cool sticker comes when it’s most unexpected— when you’re out having a fun time and exploring getting all that sweet, sweet artistic bar filled up. When the inspiration hits you, what then? Do you run home to your desktop and boot up Photoshop (wait for ages, by the way)? Absolutely not! The best way to capture that awesome inspo is by having Procreate with you at your fingertips, ready to go! It could be an iPad with your Apple pencil or an iPhone with quite literally your fingertips, it doesn’t matter! When you get that initial idea down, you can just revisit it when you’re ready to work on it further.
Another top reason would be Procreate’s intuitive and user-friendly brush stability option. When making stickers, sometimes it’s important to make clean and crisp lines, and artists with shaky hands need not fear because when using Procreate and with any brush you prefer, you can go to its brush settings and play around with the sliders to adjust just how smooth or stable you’d like your lines to be. No more shaky lines!
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Of course, these two aren’t the only reasons to choose Procreate for your sticker shenanigans. Exploring the many, many capabilities of Procreate is up to you!
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Now that you’re all fired up, let’s get down to the creative and technical, shall we?
Before anything else, if you’re planning to monetize your stickers, you first need to identify your target audience. For what purpose are you making these stickers? What themes, concepts, or styles tickle your artistic fancy? Don't hold back—let your imagination run wild and see what sticks (pun intended). Make sure to do proper research to help properly set your footing!
When you’ve got all that ironed down, the next step is to brainstorm your ideas and themes. It also helps to start small— and I mean, super small! It's time to bring them to life, bite-sized style. Thumbnailing is a great process to explore a lot of different concepts quickly and find The One! Take it to the next level by refining the details, tweaking the composition, and adding your personal touch. This is where your sticker idea goes from "cool" to "heck yeah, I need to stick this everywhere!”
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As for your canvas needs, since stickers are usually printed small, you’re going to want to go big! When you start with a larger canvas size, you have more pixels to play with. You can add intricate details, crisp lines, and vibrant colors without worrying about that dreaded blur when you see it in its smaller version. Since Procreate doesn’t support vectors (More on this on our Procreate Vector blog!), this is the best way to circumvent that nasty compression. It's all about preserving the crispness and sharpness of your sticker, no matter how small it gets. We talk more about the ins and outs of canvas creation in our blog about Setting Up A New Canvas!
Note : Make sure to set your resolution to a minimum of 300 DPI! It might not matter for sharing images in social media but it WILL matter when you’re off printing those bad boys!
Oh, and here's a pro tip for ya: Organize your layers by naming them. Give each layer a name that tells you exactly what's on that layer. It'll save you from the confusion of "which layer is which" and keep your sticker-making flow smooth as silk!
Last but not definitely not least! Colors! If you don’t know yet, there are two main color profiles we artists typically use, RGB and CMYK. Here's the deal: when you design your stickers in RGB mode and then convert them to CMYK for printing, there might be some color differences. Some vibrant RGB colors may not be fully reproducible in CMYK, as the color gamut (range) in printing is slightly more limited. So, to ensure accurate color representation and avoid any surprises, it's best to create your sticker designs in CMYK mode right from the get-go.
But hey, if you're creating stickers to post on your social media accounts or as a digital download, RGB is totally good to go. Just keep in mind that if you decide to print them later, you might need to make some color adjustments to match the CMYK printing world.
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We're in the final stretch! Now that you've crafted your epic sticker designs on Procreate, it's time to get 'em ready for the real world—printing! Let's talk about saving your designs in the right file formats and choosing the perfect resolution for printing
When it comes to exporting your stickers into different file formats, you gotta be smart about it! You want your stickers to be versatile and compatible with different platforms and printing services. The most popular and safest bets would be to save your designs in file formats like PNG or JPEG. These formats keep the colors vibrant and the details crisp, whether you're sharing your stickers online or sending 'em off to the printer!
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Now that you've got the inside scoop on how to use procreate to make stickers, feel free to share your designs, show off your sticker collections, or tell us about the coolest places you've used them on, we’re excited to see your creations!
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Courses and brushes by Freya Kotchakorn helped mored than 10.000 students excel in Procreate drawings.
