Food Puns

Stickers are a fun project! So many possibilities, so many ideas, so very little time! I started with lots of sketches of different ideas of what to create.  All of them were food puns. I wanted to create some fun food pun stickers that you could easily tell what they were and looked super cute. I wanted them to be original and in order to do that, I didn't search out any images of these particular food puns.

I did 25 sketches and narrowed it down to 6 that I thought had real possibilities. There was three I really liked; I did more sketches of them. I tried to think how I could simplify this so that anyone could understand what the image was.  It needed to be simple, colorful and fun!

More Sketches

I did a few more sketches of the crabapple, watermelon, and strawberry.  I decided to keep simple and basic shapes.  The shape of the boat is actually a watermelon seed shape.  It was super fun to make.

First Computer Draft

Getting my ideas into the computer is always a fun for me.  I like to see what I can create in Illustrator and try to use new tools or old tools better. After I got my first drafts done, I received some feedback about what was translating well and what was not. The favorites were the Crabapple, Watermelon, and the Strawberry.

The color scheme was bright and cherry.  It seemed like fun summer colors that were complimentary with an even brightness.

More Feedback

I tried a few different versions of my stickers.  One version had words and the original color scheme.  These were super fun, but not exactly what was needed for this project.

Soon after my final ideas were in the computer, I began tweaking them more based on feedback. Trying to make the strawberry more realistic was an epic fail, so I went back to the “perfect” shape and it translated much better.  I also toned down the colors and gave it a little more mellow look. I added a shadow in the water of the boat, but kept it really soft and light so it wasn’t distracting to the image.

Die Cut

Okay, I have got to say that figuring out the “die cut” part just about killed me!  It took more than an hour, several tutorials, and me walking away from it for a bit, before I finally got it figured out! There was a trick to it, but I kept at it until it was just right.

Finale

The best part of a project is finishing it!!! I love how they turned out! I definitely think they translate well as a Crabapple, Watermelon, and Strawberry.  Keeping it simple really helped.  When I tried making the strawberry more realistic, it didn’t translate well and just looked weird. I feel like you can recognize these designs, they look good and work really well together. These will be super cute for a water bottle or notebook!