Developing a sticker pack "Aerobic Dudes"
- TCW
- Mar 16
- 3 min read
I simply love stickers, and I knew right away that a sticker pack would be part of my first product launch. The theme didn't take long to choose; I wanted something fun and practical for daily use. So, I decided on exercise daily journal stickers. What screams 90s exercise more than an Aerobics Championship? That's right—that's how the 'Aerobic Dudes' sticker set was created. Now, let's talk about how long it took and the obstacles I had to overcome to achieve the final result.
The Idea
At first, I wanted to make a simple sticker sheet, but where's the fun in that? So, I overcomplicated the task and decided to craft a storage bag for the stickers in the shape of a cult 80s duffel bag. It was fun, but it took a while to figure out the construction and all the little fixtures. As a result, you'll have a neat storage for your Aerobic Dudes, and I was able to fit many more characters in each duffel bag than on an A6 sheet—a double win!
The Drawing
Since I'm focusing on Pixel Art, I had to be careful with the canvas size. Each dude needed to be quite small to fit different types of journals, but the pixels had to be visible. So, I worked with a very limited space, and each dude is approximately 30 x 40 pixels. The palette is around 20 colors for each type.
The Cutting and Printing
This is the part where you start grinding your teeth, slowly destroying your precious crafting materials sheet after sheet until you're happy with every single setting. It might sound weird, but I actually love this part, and that's one of the reasons I craft items by hand. You have control over everything: the thickness of the paper, printing settings, adhesives, and so on.
Dudes
It took me five tries to get the dudes just right, and here's the process:
Tried them without a kiss cut, and it was very difficult to separate the adhesive layer
Set my cutting machine to the wrong setting and got a full cut instead of a kiss cut.
Wasn't happy with some of the sharp lines in the tracing, so I fixed every line manually to make them smooth and nice-looking.
Experimented with the printing settings to get the colors as close to those I used in the painting.
Repeated steps three and four for each dude type, and voilà!
I also tested stickers on different types of paper. Originally, I wanted them to be transparent, but with lamination, each dude turned out to be so bulky that I had to switch to white sticker sheets.
Duffle bags
Let me say it straight: that was a challenge, and I messed up around eight bags before finding the sweet spot.
I readjusted the size several times to create larger openings and slimmer sides, preventing the 'dudes' from hiding too much in the corners. They still have a slight tendency to do so, but now they're easy to reach.
The flap positioning was particularly interesting; I felt like an engineer. The size had to be large enough to cover the opening but not so large as to ruin the overall design. I tried different adhesives to keep the flap closed, and currently, it's secured with Velcro dots. However, I plan to continue experimenting in the future and try magnetic strips instead.
To assemble the bag, I tested three types of adhesives and found an extra-strong double-sided tape that worked wonderfully, holding the entire construction together firmly.
Final thoughts
That was a great adventure, and I enjoyed every step of it. With my current schedule, it took me about a week to draw and test everything, and I'm proud of what I've achieved. The 'Aerobic Dudes' sticker pack is definitely fun on a bun and brings a smile to my face every time I use it. I'm planning to expand this line and add Aerobic ladies and other fun postures in the future.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article, and thank you for joining me! Have a fun day! ☺️