running with stickers

As part of the 3rd year, we are doing something that I have been thinking about for the past 2 years!! We're trying to be professional by designing promotional items to help spread our names and work about.. I've already written about how I'd like to make a keyring and thanks to Laura Gilbert (2nd year Illustration student) I now know of ZapCreatives.co.uk who i will be contacting in the next couple of weeks for this.. but.. at the same time Jane Richardson (3rd year Illustration) has introduced me to AwesomeMerchandise who I have just placed an order with for a promotional sticker.

It may seem that its only recently that I am interested in stickers, but I have them over placed all over my personal stuff at home from the fridge, my monitor, a fan, my guitars and portfolios... I've never imagined my work as being a painted piece on a canvas to be hung on a wall.. I see each of my pieces as separate designs that suit a sticker format more. The other reason for choosing a sticker is, its something a bit more throw away and ephemeral... people can pick them up and place them anywhere - hopefully meaning I get more coverage - however im not sure where I stand on vandalism if somebody places my sticker on private property etc.. :/

anyway.. I have been pulling my hair out over this sticker design. I'm running with what I imagine is my most widely known/popular piece.. my "running with scissors" D&AD piece. I feel i need to exploit my success with D&AD but at the same time, I often get bored of a piece once its finished and I dont want to keep flogging the same old design for years to come. Some comparisons have been drawn between my character and others work such as Gary Taxali for having a character who is a recurring theme in Taxali's pieces.. or to PipBoy from the popular Fallout games who pays homage to the 50's illustration style. I dont think I should worry too much about using this one piece at the moment, as I have other work to view on my website but also a lot of the artists I like also have a signature character who is often repeated, repositioned and sometimes revamped... Frank Kozik's Labbit, Matt Jone's Lunartik Cup of Tea, and Tim Biskup's Helper to name but a few.. this also reminds of graffiti artists who have adopted a character/symbol as a tag instead of spraypainting their name/alias... Flying Fortress, London Police, and Invader.... but more on this later...

I've finally settled on a design and sent it to print as i said, but it wasnt easy.. ive been re-writing my name/URL tonnes of times and trying to see what position would best suit the overall design...

i've only done a short run of stickers, so that if they dont look great.. i can just get rid of them and remake it :) the hand written type looks naff on screen, but printed out it looks better.. I'm hoping i wont need to adjust it, but I get the feeling I will need to remake the URL in vectors and distress it later..