Sticker Slap

1. Unzip StickerSlap_StudentFiles.zip. In Illustrator choose File > Open (Ctrl+O / Cmd+O), go to the Starter Files folder, and open StickerSlap_Starter.ai. A navy night-sky artboard with cream sparkles opens. The background is locked, so you cannot move it by accident.
2. Choose File > Save As. Set the format to Adobe Illustrator (ai). Name the file LastName_StickerSlap.ai and click Save. Click OK in the options box. From now on you work in your own copy.
3. Set every unit to pixels so the numbers in this lesson match your screen. On Windows choose Edit > Preferences > Units. On Mac choose Illustrator > Settings > Units. Set General, Stroke, and Type all to Pixels, then click OK. Every size, stroke weight, and offset in this lesson is in pixels.
4. Open the Swatches panel with Window > Swatches. Check that Ink Navy, Pumpkin, Slime Green, Grape, and Bone are in the list.
5. Open the Appearance panel with Window > Appearance (Shift+F6) and the Graphic Styles panel with Window > Graphic Styles. Leave both open.

• Save As right away so you never work in the starter file itself.
• The Tab key hides every panel. Press Tab again to bring them back.

• Click, do not drag.
• Group the two words. The style in Step 3 goes on the group, not on each word.

1. Click the Midterm Zombie group with the black arrow (V). The Appearance panel header reads Group with one row, Contents.
2. Click the Add New Fill button at the bottom of the Appearance panel. A Stroke row and a Fill row appear above Contents, and your letters disappear under a black fill. That is expected.
3. Drag the Contents row to the top of the list. Grab it by the empty space on the right side of the row, not by the word. The letters come back.

   

4. Click the Stroke row right under Contents. Set its color to Ink Navy and its weight to 10 px. This is the keyline around every letter.
5. Click the Fill row under it and set it to Grape. This becomes the block shadow in Step 4.
6. Click Add New Stroke (the first icon at the bottom). Drag the new Stroke row to the very bottom of the list. Set it to Bone and 50 px. Open Window > Stroke and click Round Cap and Round Join. This is the die-cut sticker border.

   

   

• Row order is the whole trick: top row paints on top.
• Select a row before you change a color. The color goes to the selected row only.

1. Click the Grape Fill row. Click the fx button at the bottom of the panel, hover over Distort & Transform, and choose Transform. Set Move Horizontal to 1 px and Vertical to 1 px. At the bottom, set Copies to 14. Click OK. Fourteen 1-pixel steps stack into a solid 3D block shadow.

   

   

2. Click the Bone Stroke row at the bottom. Click fx, then Distort & Transform, then Transform again. The same values come up: 1, 1, and 14 copies. Click OK. The cream border now grows with the shadow, so the shadow never pokes out.
3. With the Bone Stroke row still selected, click fx, then Distort & Transform, then Zig Zag. Leave Size at 10 px and Ridges at 4. Under Points choose Smooth. Click OK. The border edge turns into a soft, wobbly cloud.

   

   

• Click the row before the fx button. The effect belongs to the selected row only.
• Copies is at the bottom of the Transform box. Without it, there is no 3D block.

1. Select the Midterm Zombie group. Open the Graphic Styles panel menu (the lines at its top right) and choose New Graphic Style. Name it Sticker Slap and click OK. A new thumbnail appears.
2. Select the Quiet Floor Ghost group with the black arrow. Click the Sticker Slap thumbnail. The whole look lands in one click, and each word keeps its own color.
3. Tilt the stickers a little, like they were slapped on by hand. Select the whole Midterm Zombie group with the black arrow and set its angle to 5 degrees. Use either method. Properties panel: type 5 in the Rotate angle field under Transform and press Return. Menu: choose Object > Transform > Rotate, type 5 in Angle, check Preview, and click OK. Both give the same tilt.
4. Select the whole Quiet Floor Ghost group and set its angle to -4 the same way. If nothing turns, click in the field and press Return again.

   

5. Check the tilt on each complete sticker. Click the group and look at the selection box: the whole lockup, shadow and border included, leans as one piece, and the Appearance header still reads Group: Sticker Slap.

• Select the group first, then click the thumbnail.
• Tilt small: 3 to 6 degrees.

1. Press L for the Ellipse tool and drag any ellipse in empty space. Click the black arrow. In Properties set Width 900, Height 480, X 900, Y 800. In the toolbar set Fill to None and Stroke to None. The ellipse seems to vanish, which is expected. To see it, switch to View > Outline (Ctrl+Y / Cmd+Y), then use the same shortcut to return to Preview.
2. Click and hold the Type tool in the toolbar and choose the Type on a Path Tool. Move the pointer onto the edge of the ellipse until a small wavy line appears beside it, click, and type FREE CANDY HERE. Click the black arrow. The words now follow the ellipse. Illustrator may put them on the lower arc or off to one side. The next steps fix that.
3. Set the font to the same heavy font at 110 px and the color to Pumpkin. Open Window > Type > Paragraph and click Align Center. This centers the words within the stretch of path they occupy, so the gaps at both ends match. It does not move the words to the top. Do not confuse it with Type > Type on a Path > Type on a Path Options and Align to Path: Center, which only controls how the letters sit against the path line. Leave that one alone.

   

   

4. With the type-on-path object still selected, find the center bracket, the short vertical line in the middle of the text. Hold Ctrl / Hold Command and drag it slowly along the ellipse until the words sit on the upper arc. Holding the key keeps the words from flipping sides while you slide them. If the words end up upside down or inside the curve, drag the center bracket across the path to flip them to the other side.
5. Fit the words to the arc. Change the type size in Properties if needed, and drag the start and end brackets (the vertical lines at each end of the text) in or out. A good result is readable, upright letters following the upper curve with about the same empty space at both ends.
6. Choose Object > Group (Ctrl+G / Cmd+G) with the path text still selected. Group first, then style. Click the Sticker Slap thumbnail. Drag the curved sticker to the lower left, below the two main stickers, so it does not touch them.

• Align Center centers the words. The center bracket decides which arc they sit on.
• Group the path text before you apply the style.

Parts A to D build the big green and orange break. Part E is a separate pass: small chips cut out of the letters. Only the copy is ever outlined or cut. The three originals stay live.

• Copy and lock first. Once you expand and keep working, the live style on that copy is gone.
• The Knife only cuts what is selected when something is selected. Select the letter faces first.
• The main crack and the chips are two passes. Finish the crack before the chips.

• I have four stickers on the night-sky artboard.
• Midterm Zombie and Quiet Floor Ghost are small-word-over-big-word lockups, each grouped.
• Every styled sticker has a navy keyline, a Grape block shadow, and a cream wobbly border.
• Free Candy Here reads upright along the top of a curve.
• Three stickers use the same Sticker Slap Graphic Style.
• The fourth sticker is an expanded copy with a main crack, a two-tone recolor, and a few small chips cut out of the letters.
• I exported with Use Artboards and the file name starts with my last name.
• I uploaded the JPEG, not the .ai.