Check out Pete's Van! (And a call to local artists!)

These two above are of a design by a local artist and friend of the shop, Pete.

This story starts with two things happening: first, Pete drew his own van. Second, we upgraded our shop — by a lot. We got a new printer and needed to test out all the effects it's capable of. After printing off a batch of our own logo stickers for our packaging, we turned Pete's van into a sticker, cementing our shop's big capacity and capability upgrade.

We run Vancouver Sticker Company out of Vancouver, WA — we're print/cut nerds, not artists. We're really good at color accuracy and clean cutlines, but if you handed us a blank canvas we'd probably just print a test grid and call it art. Pete's van sticker is proof of what happens when actual artists get involved instead.

We've worked with artists across the country this year, and have been heads-down getting our production workflows locked in. We made our website simple. We took away the distractions.

Turns out we took away too many distractions. It needs art. It needs stickers. It needs... help.

Here's the deal: if you're an artist based in/around Vancouver WA (or close enough to make it count) and you've got a design you own outright and think would make a rad sticker, send it our way. If our web designer falls in love with it, we'll print 25 4" stickers on our dime, shoot some product photos/video with them for our site, and send the batch to you to sell in your own shop — completely free.

Want the extra push? We'll cross-promote on our socials too, so your art gets in front of the massive, sprawling audience that is our Instagram's 35 followers, including our own family members. We'll post your images, link your profile and store, and see if we can't drive some more sales your way. If you sell out, you'll have a discounted reorder link any time you need it.

How it works:

1. You send us an image you own outright and think would make a good sticker.
2. We'll evaluate your submission to make sure it matches whatever design aesthetic our web content manager needs as they go through the pages. This'll be an ongoing thing over the next couple of months as we work on enriching the site, so don't be discouraged if the timing doesn't line up right away. We'll get back to you.
3. We'll make a sheet of them in a few different sizes and effects (total quantity varies based on what we need).
4. Our resident photographer will take a bunch of pictures of them before packaging them up and sending them to you, free of charge.
5. We retain rights to use those photos to promote our products and enrich our website as our catalog expands.
6. You'll receive a 20% discounted reorder link and cut files of your designs, for use with us or through any other sticker printer you like to work with. If for whatever reason you'd rather we scrub your images from our servers, it's no problem either.
7. If you'd like, we can promote the images on our social media feeds and try to get them placed in a few local area shops we work with.

The Guardrails:

• You live and/or work in Vancouver, WA and the surrounding areas. Update: if you're a Vancouver native who grew up here and moved away, we'd love to work with you too!
• No AI. Make it yourself. Yeah, Claude went through this post. Yes, in case you were wondering: we're hypocrites.
• Nothing derogatory or negative. We're trying to sell stickers over here, not SSRIs. If your design puts down any other group, we'll politely pass. The one exception: if you want to make fun of Vancouver BC, have at it. Marketing thinks we need to start an internet beef with those folks for stealing our city name and becoming popular and cool without us anyway.
• Nothing overtly sexually crude. We're not prudes, but children are allowed on the site. For that reason, your super lifelike charcoal relief drawing of an upside down pineapple will be printed upside down, which is right side up, and we won't be winking at anyone.
• No weed stickers. Okay, only a couple of weed stickers. Fine. Please, not just weed stickers.
• You've got to own the artwork outright. We get rights to print it up for the photos we need, send you the cut files, and delete our copies. We'll keep a copy of the cutfile on hand for a year before deleting it, should you wish to order more.
• If your sticker is advertising your business or a logo, you must own that business, and it must be based in Vancouver, Washington.

Pop open the chat window on our site and ask the house robot, Derek, to connect you with one of us, and we'll get back to you throughout the day. We'll be happy to talk about the best way we can work together.