How to Design a Sticker

Designing a sticker can be a quick and enjoyable process, especially with the help of innovative AI tools. Here's a step-by-step tutorial to guide you through the process.

To create digital stickers you need a graphic design tool like Photoshop, Procreate, MockoFun, Adobe Firefly, Illustrator, Gimp, etc. You can use the digital stickers online or print them on self-adhesive paper. There are lots of tools that can help you design a sticker online.

Start with a clear idea of what you want the sticker to represent. This could be anything from a cute animal, an emoji, a motivational quote, or a holiday-themed design.

Note that the AI tools are not very good in creating text. So, you might have to use a hybrid template that combines AI generated stickers with editable text.

Select an AI design tool or software that allows for sticker creation. As mentioned before, popular options include Adobe Illustrator, Procreate, and AI-based image generators like DALL-E, MidJourney, Stable Diffusion, etc.

Each AI image generator has pros and cons. The DALL-E and MidJourney can't create PNG images with transparent background from text prompts. For making stickers this is a big disadvantage.

For this tutorial, we’ll use an AI sticker generator based on the SDXL model. For this AI generator you have to add this text at the end of your basic prompt:

"watercolor style. sticker, white border outline, highly detailed cartoon illustration, flat background <<bluepencilxl_1024px>> --transparent"

The SEED number that I used for the image featured in this tutorial is: "254609730". Add this number at the beginning of the prompt if you want a similar image.

Use a simple prompt to generate the initial design of your sticker. Input the prompt into the AI image generator.

Sticker Prompt: "cute cartoon cat"

Add more details and refine the design based on your preferences.

Sticker Prompt: "A cute cartoon cat with a colorful party hat with a pom-pom on top"

Optional, you can add a style for the sticker, depending on what effect you want to obtain. Here are some art styles that you can use:

• cartoon
• photo
• anime
• watercolor
• pixel art
• line art, etc.

For example, try this prompt to create a flat illustration of a cartoon cat using minimalist style:

759754312 minimalist cute cartoon cat sticker, Chibi style, three colors white, black, gray and pink, flat design cinematic photo <<juggernautxl_1024px>> --transparent

As I mentioned before, the AI tools can not generated editable text just yet. To add text, you have to use classic text layers that are editable allowing you to change the font, color, size, etc.

Once you're satisfied with the design, export it in a high-resolution format suitable for printing or digital use. Common formats include PNG, SVG, and PDF.

The AI generated stickers are not available in SVG file format. You can either vectorize the design or save the image as PNG or PDF.

If you are really good at making unique stickers you can try making some money from your passion. There are lots of places where you can sell online and one of my favorite places is Etsy. Learn how to sell stickers on Etsy from my previous article.