Why stickers are the best first product for an artist

The lowest bar a buyer has to clear

A sticker is an easy yes. Somebody who likes your work but is not sure they want to wear it will still buy a sticker, and that first purchase makes the second far more likely.

For an artist starting out, that matters more than the value of any single sale.

Forgiving to design for

Stickers are small, printed on a smooth surface, and usually die-cut to the shape of the artwork. That combination is kind to bold work and does not demand the careful adaptation a garment does.

• Bold outlines cut cleanly
• Small size hides minor imperfections
• Shape can follow the artwork

Where they get used

Laptops, water bottles, notebooks, helmets, shop windows. Each one is your work displayed by somebody who chose to display it, which is advertising you did not buy.

Design for the cut, not just the square

If the sticker will be cut to shape, leave a margin around the artwork so the cut has somewhere to land. Very thin protrusions are fragile and tend to peel first.

Sell them as sets

A single sticker is a small purchase; a set of four related ones is a considered one. Designing in small families rather than singles raises the value of each without much extra work.

They are a sampler for everything else

Somebody who buys a sticker has now bought from you. The next purchase is a much smaller decision, and a sticker in their bag is a reminder that you exist.

For that reason many artists deliberately keep stickers as their entry product rather than their most profitable one.

Think about where it will be stuck

A sticker destined for a laptop can be detailed and read close up. One for a helmet or a shop window is seen at a distance and in motion, and needs to be bolder.

Deciding that before you draw changes the design more than any decision made afterwards.

Pricing a sticker so it is still worth making

A sticker is a small sale, which is what makes it an easy yes and also what makes volume matter. Selling one at a time rarely repays the design time; selling them alongside everything else does.

Treat stickers as the front of your catalogue rather than the whole of it. Their job is to convert somebody into a customer, and the rest of your work is what that customer buys next.

That framing also stops you over-thinking each one. A sticker does not need to be your finest piece; it needs to be recognisably yours.

How to start

Everything runs through one place. Artists sign in at the artist studio, upload work, choose which products each piece suits, and see what they have earned. Customers browse the artwork, pick a design, and choose what to put it on.

Nothing about it is exclusive. You can sell the same work elsewhere at the same time, and there is no listing fee and no minimum.

• Apply with three pieces so we can see how you work
• Choose which products each design belongs on
• Get paid by bank transfer on what sells

Common questions