Gabe Dunston's Sticker Club

Stickers for May and June 2024

I had a lot of fun with these and I am excited to tell you about them.

I was reading some Mörk Borg lore about King Fathmu, a crapulent ruler of a doomed kingdom. I doodled in my sketchbook attempting to harness my inner skottie young and keep things nice and loose. I inked similarly with only one brush pen instead of a small collection. I think I kept the energy of the drawing in it's looseness.

When my wife saw the drawing she said, "Oh you HAVE to make a sticker of that." Who am I to tell her no? ;-)

The other design is a colored version from the youtube series I have been working on. I read someone who burns treacherous dice at the stake. The stake in this case is a toothpick, and the fire is provided by a candle. Such a cool idea I had to draw it. Loving the image so much, I had to color it and share it with you good people. :-D

Changing subjects, explanations are in order.

I have not yet shipped the stickers from April or May at time of this typing, but I will rectify that tonight.

There has been a death in my family recently. It was sudden and unexpected and we have been devastated in my house hold. Everything I was doing, all of my work, was put on hold while we scrambled to take care of family business. After the memorial service, I promptly got sick with a very persistent cold. Just in time to recover from that cold, I managed to give myself food poisoning solidifying my claims to genius.

At time of typing, I am the healthiest I have been for a solid month. I have the most energy I have had in two months. Which is good news, because I have much catching up to do work-wise.

That being said, envelopes are getting stuffed tonight, and stickers are going out first thing in the morning for April, May, and June. You folks have been patient and kind, and I thank each and every one of you.

All my best,
-Gabe D.

Sticker for April 2024

 April showers bring SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

Full disclosure, When I don't have a design that I'm happy with ready to go, I fall back on my highschool metalhead instincts, and I draw a skull. I never get tired of drawing skulls. I am a sucker in this way.

Hey, y'all want a new announcement? I have started a youtube series called Tales from the Tabletop. I collect a bunch of fun, funny, and teachable moment stories about different RPGs (mostly DnD), Pick my favorite, and then illustrate it. I'm only 5 videos in, but I have another 5 already filmed and ready, and I am editing two more as soon as I finish typing this post.

You can find the series here.

Or watch the first video here.

Feedback on any or all of it would be greatly appreciated.

That's it for this update. This month's sticker will be hitting the mail in the next day or two.

In the meantime, here are the stickers from the last two months that I forgot to post.

 Thanks so much y'all! Take care,
-Gabe D.

Sticker for January 2024

Since last month was Christmas, but the sticker was not at all christmassy, I figure I'd make it up to all of you with this little piece of winter wonderland.

Like everyone else on earth, I am a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan. So I figured I'd try to draw my own version of one of Calvin's own killer snow goons. I hope you dig it. :-)

-Gabe D.

Sticker for December 2023

Greetings friends!

You might be wondering why the sticker for December is so very Haloweeny when the sticker for October was very much not. Allow me to introduce you to a brand new affliction I call the "Halloween Hangover." 

In my house Halloween is a much beloved holiday and a great big deal to boot. The month of October is not spent getting into the spooky spirit. Instead, it is a serious time for serious preparations. Specifically, how will we decorated our yard and make the acquisition of our candy in to a sort of gauntlet that the neighborhood children must run. 

Consequently, early November becomes the spooky time of year for me. The halloween hecticity has subsided, but the horror movies in my various streaming services remain. So too do the collections of scary stories I accumulated over the year. 

Thus I penned this bloodthirsty fellow during my early November Halloween hangover. I sent the design to be printed as a sticker before it occurred to me that you beautiful people wouldn't be receiving these until closer to Christmas time. As a method of making it up to you, I shall make the January sticker sufficiently wintery in some form or fashion.

Thanks so much for being a member of my sticker club. As a token of gratitude, here is a photo of the sticker for last month that I forgot to post here (but did not forget to send). The cat pictured is named Puddles. We picked him up out of a puddle in a gas station parking lot almost exactly one year ago now.

All my best,
-Gabe D.

Sticker for October 2023

Greetings attractive people. Here is the new sticker for Sticker Club. 

This image was originally drawn for a kids book I made several years ago, but never released. It is called "Sometimes Kitties." It is a series of jokes in the form of cat facts. The original title was "Cats are a**holes" and on the cover I was going to design it such that the asterisks were formed by two cats facing away from the viewer. I was going to write it along the lines of books like, "Go the F to Sleep!" As I wrote, however, it became more apparent that wording the jokes wholesomely made the whole thing funnier and a good bit more gentle. 

That has more or less become my style. Subversive yet wholesome in equal measure.

Anyhow, this was my favorite cat illustration in that whole book, and I figured it'd make a nice sticker.

In the near future I plan on finally releasing this book. There will be a kickstarter to get a few copies made and sent out to the fine folks who want them. This sticker and others shall be part of the backer reward packages.

If you are interested in this project and want to know more, Please sign up for my monthly mailing list if you haven't already. 

Sign up here. 

Thanks so much y'all. See you at the next one. :-)
-Gabe D.

Sticker for September 2023

Greetings attractive people!
I would humbly like to present to you the new sticker for this happy little club of art loving cool people. I got my hands on some florescent markers recently. I am a strong believer that heavy metal artworks should come in two flavors:
Black and white (and optionally red)
Bright florescent colors
muted color pallete of mostly flesh-tones a la Frank Frazetta.

...Three. Three flavors.

Anyhow, this little skull drawing represents my first nascent steps towards giving this color pallet a try. More to come I'm sure. ;-)

In other news, I mentioned the Heavy Metal TTRPG that I've been working on for a bit, and I thought that I would elaborate. I have begun documenting the development process on the blog of my main site: CoffeeandHate.biz

You can check out the site, or just click here. 

At present I have only documented the earliest steps, but the game itself is in Alpha testing where I run games myself. I am currently working on version 1.6. Beta-testing will be someone else running the game whilst I sit and watch and sit on my hands and keep my fool trap shut!

Anyhow, I hope you look it up and enjoy what you see. 

In other news, I have dusted off my old "Sometimes Kitties..." kids book from a few years ago. I finished the art and writing on it some time ago, and having reviewed it lately, I think it is the sort of thing that deserves a chance to be printed. Even if only once. I'll be sure to keep you good people updated. 

In the meantime, thanks so much for patronage. I look forward to sending out more stickers!

-Gabe D.

Sticker for August 2023

Greetings all you attractive people! This month's sticker is a beat up controller meant to resemble, but be legally distinct from an old Sega controller. This is a bit of more art from the TTRPG I am working on called: Battle Jacket.

Despite taking place in a fantastical medieval world, things are mixed up and there is a class of player character called "Technomancers." These characters wield old video game controllers as a Wizard wields a wand, except all the technomantic spells are way cooler. ;-)

If anyone out there is interested in learning more about the game, I have begun writing a development blog about it on my main website.  Check it out HERE.

See yall nest time!
-Gabe D.

Sticker for July 2023

The sticker for July is this tiny little creature-man whose name I have not decided. Something small and nebbish, but cartoony as well. "Tak" maybe? "Gitch?" Feel free to weigh in in the comments.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am working on my own table top role playing game. Think old school D&D, but way more jokes and WAY more metal. This character is an NPC in the latest adventure for the game I am writing called "The Cursed Warlock." 

He is a Morlock Technomancer in the service of a rich and cruel treasure thief. 

A "Morlock" is a regular-ass human who was born with or afflicted with a series of mutations from magical mishaps, botched rituals, or plain old fashioned bad luck. They are still human, red blood and all, but the mutations may be more than cosmetic.

A "Technomancer" is a wizard/magic-user who has an almost preternatural understanding of the technological relics of the Before Time. They can make almost any relic functional again, but what that specific function is, is not always clear. 

I am shipping this sticker out tomorrow morning. If you think one of your friends would like to get in on this, please let them know. I'm happy to ship them July and August's stickers at the same time.

In the meantime, I hope all you attractive people like this one! :-)

All my best,
-Gabe D.

New Sticker for June 2023

The best name I have for this sourpuss is, "Unpleasant Frog-Faced Man."

I came up with this guy watching Poldark. Sooooo..... Confession time.

I friggin LOVE British period dramas. I'm a sucker for 'em. I used to be all about the Victorian era (think Sherlock Holmes) but lately I have been drinking deep of the well of Regency era romance dramas. (Think Jane Austen)

Yeah...

So to reiterate, these sticker designs come from things that I think are cool, fun to draw, or based on what I am watching/reading right now. 

Right now I am working on writing and illustrating from an over the top TTRPG. If Heavy Metal music was a Role Playing Game... That's what I am making. Lots and lots of skulls and over the top cartoony doom.  I am also watching and listening to a bunch of Jane Austen, Trollop, and the like. So gear up, because these stickers are gonna swing between crazy extremes, and I hope you attractive people are here for it.

(Thanks for being here for it :-))

All my best,
-Gabe D.

New Sticker for May 2023

Here is the design from whence I created the most recent sticker for may. I have no special story behind it except that I mother f-bomb LOVE the Space Man Spiff comics from the Calvin and Hobbes strip. That little red flying saucer was such a perfect cartoon design that I have never gotten over it and I like to pull it out every so often. 

So I drew this guy for a webcomic project I have been contemplating for quite some time now. It'll be mostly a bunch of single panel things with random characters like what you see above. Being as attractive as all of you are, I thought I would share the news with y'all first!

Thanks so much for your continued subscription. Stuffing my little envelopes and mailing them to you all is a high-point for me. :-)

Until next time!
-Gabe D.

New Sticker for April 2023

Greetings attractive people!
Allow me to introduce you to our terrified friend here: Agatha.
She began as a master's study sketch trying to improve my command of drawing women and hair. I have been watching/reading a lot of British period dramas. Almost exclusively taking place in the Regency era (think: Jane Austen). As a result: bonnet, plain frock, and candle light.

Showing off my many new pages of sketches to my beloved, she had a particular interest in our bonneted beauty. I named her "Agatha," because... she kinda looks like an Agatha... ...I mean, right?

Kicking it up a notch, I decided  to ink, color, and make her into a finished drawing.  I was so pleased with the results, and more than one person commented on how compelling her design was, so it was a no brainer to make her the next sticker for this lovely gathering of attractive people. I shall be mailing her sticker out FORTHWITH!

Please share with your friends. If any of them wish to have a copy of Agatha, they can sign up for this sticker club anytime at all this month and I shall send them one.

HOWEVER, she'll only be available for the rest of April. So please tell your friends to move fast.

All my best!
-Gabe D.

Gertrude and James for February and March

Greetings attractive people. This post is a twofer!

We will begin by discussing our gal, Gertrude. (Original art pictured below.)

This drawing is part of a series of works I've been making slowly and quietly in the background. I don't what to call them yet. The idea is to make a fun drawing that stands alone as its own thing, and then come up with a fun caption for it.

The caption for this one is:
"Some women like white wine, some prefer red. Gertrude prefers the blood of her enemies best."

...Or something like that. It's a work in progress.

The happy pincher crab character for March is part of the same series. 

This character began as an old drawing exercise that I used to do. I begin by throwing down a series of random and unplanned lines and shapes. Next I take a moment to try and discern what I have drawn, similar to seeing shapes in clouds. then I massage all the lines until it makes a coherent character.

It's a tough process that is remarkably mentally taxing and often leads to very mixed results. James here is the last time I have attempted this particular exercise. 

I am pleased with how he turned out, and folks have responded favorably to him, but... I don't know that I'll do that exercise again anytime soon.

It's been a busy time for me lately, but in all the best ways. Making and shipping these stickers remains something of a highlight every month that I get to do it. Thanks for letting me send them to you. :-)

-Gabe D.

The Grim Reaper Sticker for January

Greetings Friends!

The sticker for the January is this lovely little Grim Reaper that I originally drew for Inktober not too long ago. This little guy (who started as a big guy on an 11x17 sheet of card stock) was where I began to really loosen up and start playing with shape. Emphasis on playing. It's where I began to stop agonizing over making something realistic or plausible enough, and instead approached in the spirit of fun and tried to enhance that fun for the whole drawing.

More info in the video above if you are interested.

If you are interested in learning about how to improve your drawing, I took the time lapse footage from this edition of Art and Coffee. It's there for you as well if you are interested.

Here's the Inktober drawing after it was freshly scanned but before it was cleaned up.

And here is the final sticker.

Special thanks and welcome to our newest attractive members, Mike and Matt. Welcome to the club, you rule, and I cannot thank you enough. I'll be reaching out for your address and sending your first stickers in the February drop. You'll also be getting this Grim Reaper from this month, and our super fun logo sticker sent to all new members.

Thanks for being so great everyone!

-Gabe D.

Brain monster Sticker for December

Greetings Friends!
I'd like to introduce you to the most recent sticker that, I'm sure you have already received (And if you haven't for any reason, please get in touch so that I can rectify that.) I call this happy and perhaps worried looking fellow: Brain Monster.

And it is creative naming conventions like that why I get paid the big bucks!

Above is a video I made detailing where this character came from and how these stickers are designed. The number one question creative people get asked is "where do you get your ideas from?" The closest I can come to giving a coherent answer is in the video above.

The video itself is an experiment. I make videos exactly like the one above where I show a time-lapse of whatever art I am working on in that moment and wax philosophical about art and story-telling. I try to impart some of my life experience to folks who are young in their art journey.

(If you're interested, you can check it out here.)

Most of the topics come from what my art kids were asking me at the time, however in times of COVID, I have been unable to teach, and thus unable to listen to what The Youth are currently worrying about art-wise, so I have let it lapse slightly, but I digress...

I would like to extend a special Thank You to our friend La Prima Nerda for responding that she would like to see some of these videos, and I would very much appreciate if any more of you fine folks could give it a watch and let me know if it is the sort of thing you would like to see more of.  I am very interested in delivering the most value I can to the people who support me so kindly and diligently. 

Above is the finished image from which the sticker was made. Below is the finished sticker for comparison.

At time of typing, the sticker for January is in my possession and shall be dropped in a blue mailbox either today or tomorrow. If you folks want to see video about it's making, just let me know, and I shall oblige.

Lastly, I wonder if I might ask a favor of you folks who have already given me so much...

Please, tell a friend about this club. Just one friend that you legitimately think would enjoy having their own custom stickers they can't get from anywhere else. I would like to expand our club size and spread more art, joy, and art-joy in the form of adhesive monsters, space creatures, and other fun things.

Until next time friends, thanks for all you've done, and thanks for being an attractive person who likes stickers/art.

All my best,
--Gabe D.

The Other Two...

Greetings Friends!

Just a few days ago I dropped this happy little Mantid creature in the mail for you.

And the month previous, I dropped this other happy fellow:

I'm sure you recognize these two, as well as the first one, from my promo photos for this sticker club, but where, I hear you asking, did these designs come from in the first place?

Well friends, as a comic maker I have been hard at work on the same Original Graphic Novel series for 8, almost 9 years now. It's definitely the dream to tell long and emotionally complex stories, but it leaves no room for drawing straight from my imagination as I have enjoyed doing since childhood. Random monsters, space aliens, and fun colorful characters getting up to no good are a life long love, and a much needed break from drawing characters that MUST stay on-model at all times.

Often these fun stand alone drawings begin, and live, in my sketchbooks on the days that I take off between paying gigs and comic chapters. They usually begin with a random assortment of shapes that I wrestle into fun characters. That's where these two came from. A random assortment of shapes that turned into a space mantis of some kind and a helmeted space traveler I have lovingly names Commander Blorch.

Here they are in the original sketchbook:

Drawn with blue-pencil, inks, copic markers, and white out in my pre-toned sketchbook. Just like the stickers themselves, they exist to be fun and to stimulate the imagination. Also to make any passersby of your stickers curious, and perhaps more than a little jealous. ;)

Now that these first three stickers are out and into the world, the real excitement begins. New sticker designs are underway and will be arriving early next month. I have already made, polished, and ordered stickers for the next two months' designs. There is a fully inked design for a third. For extra points, I have also recorded the drawing, coloring, and editing process for two of them. Which leads me to a question for you fine folks, should you be so kind as to answer:

Would you like to me narrate the creation of these sticker designs and post the videos here exclusively to you? Or would a time-lapse video over music suffice?

Thanks so much for being members of my the Sticker Club for Attractive People. It means a whole lot to me, and I count myself among the very very lucky that I have you all to send my stickers to.

Until next time, all my best,

-Gabe D.

[Not a] Cacodemon

Hello everyone. Thanks so much for jumping on this subscription. Your support goes a long long way, and I am grateful. At time of typing I have already sent out the first sticker to each of you with a complimentary "Coffee and Hate" logo sticker. (There is also one other surprise in there for you ;-))  If you don't get your stickers soon, please message me and let me know.

Now, where did this first design come from? Originally, I set out to make my own version of a Cacodemon from DOOM.

For those of you not in the know, DOOM was THE original First Person Shooter. (Wolfenstein came first, but we won't mention that.) Growing up, we did not have a game system. We did however have a PC.  My older brother got his hands on many games, both bootlegged and bought, and loaded every family computer we had with every game it could run, and I devoured all of them. What was the best of all of these games? DOOM.

I played the original DOOM and its sequel with the zeal of an angry boy with no other outlet. I was obsessed with it to the point that I matched the world record speed-run at the time. I loved the music, I loved the design, I loved the grim dark setting and storyline, and I didn't at all recognize the tongue-in-cheek humor that permeated the most violent video game of its day.

Now, decades later, still angry, but with tons of outlets, I looked back on the original DOOM and thought about what was perhaps the best, most iconic character that I would want to make my own version of. That would be the Cacodemon. While researching the original design for this creature, I happened upon an old controversy. The original design was stolen from a D&D manual.

Comparing the designs, I found it positively comical that anyone at all could defend that the Cacodemon of DOOM was its own original design. So comical in fact, that I would like to perpetuate such foolishness. So please enjoy my own 100% original design for a floating demon head monster with horns. I call it the "NOT a Cacodemon."

I took the design for the original and added a few of my own spins. I changed the shape of the head to make it leaner, and make the jaw more pronounced. I extended, sharpened, and multiplied the horns. I interpreted the mandible to have more spikes coming out of it, and I tried to give the whole thing a balanced asymmetry. Then came inks, and then colors. The results are depicted below.

Thanks so much for reading and subscribing. I can't wait to tell you all about the next one when I mail it.
-Gabe D.

P.S. This post will be public, but I plan on subsequent posts to be for patrons only.