Illustrator Stickers

After a very useful crash 30 min Illustrator savour session I managed to pick up the basics to build up images through shapes using path finder and the pen tool. I started off by using shapes to build make this holding hands image as a simple way of understanding how to understand.

Then I started building up the images...morphing the hair and nose. Also making 2 circles for the mouth and deleting one to leave a smile.

I also used this tool to create the zigzags as a shape. Here she looks terrifying, definitely not happy.

Then again to build up the face I made a tear drop shape and a smaller one in white to delete the middle.

Then came the rays of sunlight. Some of them went over the background but I don't feel like that really matters.

I then decided that my favourite part of the image was the face because it is so weird and makes me smile so I thought it could be quite funky just in the middle of the image.

I then started experimenting with this face and thought I could make some crazy hair coming out of the face also like a sun with some weird morphed shapes. 

Then I thought I should see what it looks like with multiple faces. This looks quite cool like a totem pole.

Then I started collaging the faces together. Figuring out what is too much and what works compositionally. It reminded me a bit of the musical Cats and their opening credits which has lots of different cat eyes moving starting off large and moving into the distance (screenshot below).

Too many... thought it might make a cool pattern though.

I quite liked it with the 2 large faces in the middle and different sized ones around it but then thought that to portray radiating happiness better it might be best to have one large face in the middle which inspires others to be happy.

I then went back to work on this image again, trying to add font to turn them into the stickers. I was struggling. I managed to get the words to write on a curve I had drawn but forgot that layers existed...

I then thought maybe the font would be better in the bottom in the same shaped curve as the smiley face... could represent a lucky horseshoe as well as a smile.

I also thought it looked a bit crowded with so many rays of sunshine so i took some of them out and I think this looks better. Still some of the angles of the straight lines don't reflect the angles of the circle.

I then started experimenting with the placement of the font on these faces. I think it works well here but I also quite like the connotations it has being at the bottom of the circle

Also to make it fit on the path I had drawn I had to shrink one of the words so I could see the happiness and I really like this as it accentuates the happiness and is more visually interesting.

With this one I had to move some of the faces around so that there was room for the font.

Here the font looks a bit squashed but I quite like how close to the bottom of the circle it is.

So these are the final 5 which I have to some how decide between. I have asked advice off my friends and they have all said different things. I think I quite like the simple single smiley face. Others really like the multiple faces and others like the faces with sun behind! How am I going to chose??

I decided to submit the image with 2 different central faces with others around because I feel it portrays the message of spreading happiness the best visually HOWEVER when I think about receiving the stickers on sticker paper I am imagining the single face coming back...and to be honest I feel that the face on its own does radiate happiness because it is so wierd it makes me smile looking at it.