DIY Sticker Tutorial

Hey All!

Well, I finally got around to doing a tutorial for the DIY stickers that I always do. I hope that this will help some people with their creations and benefit our RC Drifting community! Anyway, a lot of credit has to go to Mac Cruz of Team Touge Knights. He's the one who first showed me this technique of doing these types of stickers. Also, credit also has to go to Jon Lawrence of Team Arai for discovering the use of the laminate sheets. That tip solved the problems of bigger stickers. So, here goes the tutorial, hope you guys enjoy.


First things first. I can't stress enough how much research goes a long way. I spend more than half my time researching all the different stickers, sponsors, and paint schemes of a certain car while doing a replica. Although I might not go as far as to make custom body work for my shells, I do like to make sure that all the paint and decaling is as close to the original as possible. After all, i'm a graphic designer, not a fabricator. =) But this tutorial is about making the sticker, not making replicas. So, find a decal you want and go with it.





This next step is where some people may find a road block, or find it difficult to do. If you have a program like Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, you can trace and/or draw out your decals on the computer. I find Ai (or Adobe Illustrator) the most proficient, because since the drawing is not pixel based (using Adobe Photoshop for example), it is rather based on vector points and shapes which are mathematical equations in the program that basically let you shrink and enlarge an object without losing resolution. In a nut shell, you can make your drawing bigger or smaller as many times as you want without it getting blurry. This is good for testing and resizing when making your decals.

If you don't have these programs, you can simply research decals on the internet or your favorite forum, and just print these out as you get them.



Here is an example of a completed and completely drawn from scratch window and door banners for the Red Bull Drifting Championship presented by Formula D. A very key important thing to mention when drawing your decals or finding them on the internet, is that you want to have the background of the decal be the same color as your car. That way, you won't have to worry about cutting out those small pieces in-between letters or objects. But, since these decals can just be cut around the edge like normal decals, we won't have to worry about that.



Now it's time to print. You want to get as many decals on one sheet as you can. That way, you won't have to waste decal paper or any other materials that cost a lot of money.



Make sure to give your prints ample time to dry. Be extra careful that you don't touch the ink on Avery Brand paper. It will easily smudge and you'll have to print all over again. I'm not sure about other brands of sticker paper, but this does happen with Avery, so BE CAREFUL!!!



Here is a shot of the Avery Sticker Paper and GBC Laminate which we'll be using in a couple of seconds.



For this next step, your going to need white vinyl. Since the Avery sticker paper is somewhat transparent, you need to use white vinyl or white sticker (I like using vinyl, it sicks better), so that the sticker won't show through on the body color.



Now your going to stick on the clear laminate on top of the sticker you just assembled in the previous step. This is so you can handle your sticker as much as you want now and will somewhat protect it from bashing from use. The laminate is thick, so curved surfaces might be hard to get smooth or stick to the body, so just be mindful of that. If it's that big and complex, you might want to consider just painting that large portion. Also, be very careful in this step as well, b/c air bubbles are really easy to get. You don't want those, and they are almost impossible to get rid of (even if you do cut a slit in the sticker and try to push out the air). I like to start from one side of the sticker and smooth out and press as I go along to the other side of the sticker.



Here's what your sticker should look like so far.



Now it's time to trim around the edges. Try to get as close to the edge as possible. I even tend to cut a little bit inside the edge, just so you don't get a nasty white outline of your sticker. Also, if you've tried to color match the background of your sticker to the body, it's still a good idea to cut as close to the edge as possible. It looks a lot cleaner. Plus, that step was meant more for the little spots in-between letters.



Here's some finished door banner's for my Super Autobacs R34 driven by Takatori. All that's left now is to peel and stick. Make sure though, that you only peel off the backing of the vinyl otherwise you're sticker won't have a backing!



And there you have it. A finished product ready to go.



Here's Takatori san with the replica. He was really happy to see something like it!



Here's myself with the real 1:1 car and my R/C.
Thanks for reading, good luck with all your future projects!