Tupac Shakur (August 2012)

This may be my last one for a while since I'm about to move to Tampa, FL to start my new job.  I've been wanting to revisit Tupac for a while now (especially since I've been listening to his music so much lately), and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  So much of Tupac's lyrics contain prophetic words-- particularly songs like "Keep Ya Head Up" that offer critiques of modern society's willingness to turn its back on folks.  Of course, on the flip side, there's a lot of violence in Tupac's story, so I feel like a phrase coined by my friend Daniel Johnson applies well: he was undeniably called, but he certainly made mistakes in living out that call.

Pursuing that prophetic theme, I decided to do a sunburst pattern in the background in imitation of stained glass.  The red, white, and blue have multiple possible connotations, but I honestly just picked them because they created a nice triad with the yellow/orange/brown tones on Tupac himself.  I leave the symbolism of these color choices to the observer.

Of course, one reason I really loved working on this piece was that I finally got to experiment with realistic skin tone.  People have often asked me about the reasons for my color choices ("Yes, but why is she green?  What does that mean?"), and the truth is usually disappointing: I just don't have any flesh tone post-its!  With Tupac, using a range of yellows through browns, I was actually able to develop something that resembled his actual skin tone, and now I'm excited to use this color palette again (you know, once I get settled into my new job).

Duck Dunn Portrait donated to Stax Museum

It's still pending a vote by their executive board, but I've dropped off the post-it portrait of Duck Dunn at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music!  There's a chance it might not be entered into the museum's permanent collection (i.e. the exhibit itself), but if that's the case, they assured me it would go somewhere in the building or possibly even to Duck's wife, June.  The Stax Museum and Stax Music Academy are awesome causes, and I'm stoked to be able to make this contribution!

Also, you can click here to see how this portrait was made.

Monsters of Classic Cinema (July 2012)

I wanted to do something a little goofy.  Continuing the theme of classic film, I decided to take a look at some of the best bad guys in film history: old school monsters.  Also, just for kicks, I decided to do sort of a Warhol thing and ditch the black-and-white in favor of full color.

Count Dracula
Dracula (1931)
portrayed by Bela Lugosi

Frankenstein's Monster
Frankenstein (1931)
portrayed by Boris Karloff

Larry Talbot/The Wolf Man
The Wolf Man (1941)
portrayed by Lon Chaney, Jr.

The Creature/Gill-man
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1951)
portrayed by Ben Chapman and Ricou Browning














Also, I had some supplies that I needed to use up before my next move, so here's this.  I used images of Buddy Holly for inspiration along with a tip of the hat to the Doctor Who 3D glasses bit:

Stream of Consciousness (July 2012)

This one probably has some sort of deeper meaning, but I'm not completely sure what it is-- perhaps something to do with the fleetingness of thoughts and dreams?  The woman depicted here is Martha Vickers, a noted actress, model, and WWII pin-up girl who is probably best remembered for playing Lauren Bacall's trouble-making younger sister in the classic Bogey/Bacall film noir, The Big Sleep.  One of the things I sought to do with this piece was exploit the wide range of blue tones available in post-it notes, and while I think I accomplished this, a few of the shades did sort of run together (creating a lower contrast image than I would have preferred).  Still, I'm pretty pleased with it.

I'll also add a close-up here where the different blue tones are a little more apparent.  Now that I think of it, I ran into a similar problem with the Duck Dunn portrait a few weeks back.  Yep, there are about seven different shades of blue available in post-its, but the contrast between them isn't quite as high as I'd like.  It'll do though.

The Boy Wonder (July 2012)

I'm on a bit of a comicbook kick lately, so it seemed like an appropriate time to capture one of my favorite superheroes using the post-it medium.  Yep, even though I'm a huge Batman fan, Robin has always seemed like the more interesting character to me.

A little backstory: Dick Grayson is an orphan who Batman takes under his wing, and one of the recurring themes throughout comics and cartoons is that Batman is attempting to spare his young protege from the same neglect and bloodlust that have made Batman the vengeful, bitter man that he is today.  Of course, Robin does his fair share of brooding as well, but he's ultimately a fairly lighthearted character, making the contrast to his mentor all the more stark.  In this piece, I tried to capture some of those more Batman-like tendencies (exemplified by the bat signal present in the background and the darkness obscuring Robin's face).

Of course, speaking of Robin's similarities and departures from Batman, it just hit me how much this post-it imitates the style of the old "Batman: The Animated Series" title card.  That was completely unintentional, but I'm glad it turned out that way.  That show had a phenomenal visual style that stirred in elements of comicbooks, art deco, and film noir sensibilities, so I count any similarity to it (no matter how accidental) as a good thing.
[sigh]  I know.  I am such a comic nerd.

In other news, I burned my index finger tonight while fiddling with a candle, so this may limit my post-it work for a bit.  I put aloe on it right after it happen, so maybe that will keep it from blistering up and I'll be able to work again tomorrow.  I'd cross my fingers, but that kind of hurts right now.

Morpheus (July 2012)

I needed a break from the hyper-detailed stuff and wanted to pay homage to Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (in which I'm currently engrossed), so here's Morpheus the Dream Lord.

Veronica Lake (July 2012)

I have kind of a fascination with 1940s-era actresses.  The "NOIR!" series was kind of an outgrowth of that, and this piece continues that theme.  There's just something about the movies of that era-- the barb-laden dialogue, the constant double crosses, the competent and complex female characters.  It's a pretty stark contrast to the more action/sex-obsessed films of today.  I digress.

The woman in this piece is Veronica Lake, and you might recognize her as the inspiration for Jessica Rabbit.  You know that iconic hair-over-one-eye look that actresses, models, and musicians have been using for years?  Yeah, Veronica Lake invented that.  More importantly though, she was a highly versatile actress.  Her first leading role was actually in a poignant comedy (Sullivan's Travels), but she could play the femme fatale and a slew of other characters as well.  Despite a rather turbulent personal life and a reputation for being temperamental, she was a reliably gifted actress who --in the words of director Rene Clair-- didn't believe she was gifted.

Also, fun fact: Veronica Lake was often cast next to actor Alan Ladd, but the pairing wasn't just about their on-screen chemistry.  An underlying factor was that Ladd stood only 5'5", and the 4'11" Lake was one of the few actresses next to whom he looked tall.

So there you have it: Veronica Lake-- gifted actress, enduring icon, totally post-it worthy.

The Best Ever Reaction to Post-It Art . . .

"And you do this for . . . fun?"

Punch-Out! (Part 1: The Wind-Up)-- July 2012

This piece is actually just the first part of something a little bigger, but the second part is still very much in the mock-up phase, so in the meantime, here's part 1 of "Punch-Out!"  I've taken a few cues from comics here.  In particular, the Marvel superhero Iron Fist has the amazing ability to focus his chi directly into his right hand making it like unto a thing of iron!  (Yes, that is the exact wording from Power Man and Iron Fist #66.  Read anything enough times, and it will be memorized.)  I wanted this piece to show the potential energy being harnessed in the wind-up of a punch, and the Iron Fist comics --with maybe just a dash of Kirby dots-- seemed like a good place to start.  What will come next?  Well, there's really only one logical direction for the follow-up, but with a small stack of books and some travel on my plate right now, that may be a few weeks in coming.

Random Art-Related Thought

The average observer would probably find it strange to walk into my home and find me measuring my dishes to see which plate I can use as a stencil.


Later realization that evening . . .
Wait a minute.  I keep a possum on my porch, and my walls are covered in post-it notes.  Measuring plates is probably the most normal aspect of my existence.

Hooded Figure (July 2012)

A while back, I was toying around with the image of an old Crusader, and this piece is a variation on that theme, but there's some other stuff going on here too.  Visually, I'm still debating about tweaking the background a bit, but the high contrast of the orange and red was proving difficult to work with, and the current configuration still seems like the best option.  As to the meaning of the piece, let me get preachy for a moment . . .

Scripturally, the main resonance here is with Matthew 22.  While speaking with a group of Pharisees and Herodians, Jesus is presented with a challenge: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?  Jesus responds by asking for a denarius (the standard currency of the day) and then posing his own question: "Whose image is this and whose inscription?"  The crowd answers that it is Caesar's face and name on the coin.  The show-and-tell concluded, Jesus responds with the famous line, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's."

Genesis 1:26 speaks of human beings as bearers of God's image.  Song of Solomon 8:6 uses the image of a lover's seal set upon the heart.  Also, I know that there are passages about the Word of the Lord being written on the heart, but for the life of me, I can't seem to remember where those are right now.  I digress.  While the coin in Matthew 22 may bear the image and inscription of Caesar, Jesus knows that the image and inscription of God rest on humanity.  The coin belongs to Caesar, so let him have it; humanity, however, belongs to God.  This piece is an exploration of that theme.

Additional Note (7/28/2012):
My friend Kiki recently identified some things about this piece that I hadn't considered.  The white/blue hoodie and red crosses create a similarity to Christ's garb in standard iconography (white or blue robe and red sash).  Kiki described the piece as a modern depiction of Christ, and while that hadn't occurred to me, I like it.  Kiki also reminded me that the hoodie has a strong association with the Trayvon Martin case earlier this year, and the conflation of Christ and Trayvon certainly adds a bit of controversy to this piece.  Again, I hadn't really thought of either of these connections, but that's the beautiful thing about art: it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Also, this piece isn't for sale.  I'm going to be keeping it around.

Duck Dunn Tribute: the process

Alright, here we go!  Now that the post-it Duck Dunn tribute is complete, it's time for a little how-to segment.  This was definitely one of my more complicated post-it pieces, so doing a full analysis of the process would take too much time and be counterproductive.  Instead, I'm just going to focus on how I made the bass, and I hope this will inspire some other folks to give post-it art a try!

Step 1: Preparing the Workspace

I tend to use two computers for the more complicated or prolonged image work.  In this case, since I was working with two images, I uploaded one onto either screen so that I could do comparison work as I was going along.  Additionally, one computer will often double for facebook (thus insuring some contact with the outside world) or maybe even a movie if I've entered into the more mindless cut-and-stick portion of the work.  Also, I try to lay out all of the colors I'll be using on my cutting board ahead of time so that I don't have to go digging through a box later on in the process.  There's a good bit of guesswork that goes into this part since I don't always know if I'll be using the full range of colors that I pull.  For example, on this post-it, I initially planned to do some cutaway work on the body of the bass so that there would be orange showing through beneath the red, but this proved to be visually distracting, so I abandoned the idea, making the stack of orange post-its on my desk unnecessary.

Additionally, this is also a good time to take stock of the different brands I'm using.  As much as I'd love to stay loyal to 3M products, they just don't make the full range of colors that I need.  This often means turning to Staples or the internet to track down a less popular post-it color (like black or forest green), and sometimes this introduces another complication: even though all post-its have the approximate dimensions of 3"x3", different brands will often deviate ever so slightly (by as little as a 32nd of an inch).  When working with precise layers, this is something that needs to be taken into consideration to avoid difficulty later on.  In this case, my black post-its (an off-brand called "SpiderTac") were slightly smaller than my red, meaning that I would have to use caution later on in the layering process.

Other tools I like to have on hand include a transparent graphing ruler (for the most precise measurements and cuts possible), my trusty stenciling knife, a mechanical pencil, at least three colors of pens for planning purposes (preferably flairs or fine-tip sharpies), plenty of double-sided tape, and a self-healing cutting board.  There was a time when I would make most of my cuts with scissors, but the stenciling knife and ruler allow for much more precise detail work.  Also, the self-healing cutting board has been a tremendous help, but if you don't have one, you can still use cardboard or foamcore.  Now that everything is set up, it's time to start planning and making stencils. 

Step 2: Planning
This part requires some math and maybe even a bit of computer skill.  Personally, I like to start by using GIMP --GNU Image Manipulation Program-- to digitally enhance whatever images I might be using.  Usually, this means bumping up the contrast and color levels so that a more complex photo is boiled down to its most basic shades.  The picture at left is a perfect example.  For this image, I took a photo of the Lakland Duck Dunn signature bass, blocked out the background with a flat blue, and then played with the contrast levels until I had this image.  Once I had the image, I used GIMP to split it up into a grid which I could then copy square-by-square onto my grid of post-its.  (As long as I'm still on the subject of imaging software, GIMP is a pretty simple program, and it's available for free online.  If you're like me and are too cheap to shill out the cash for Photoshop, GIMP's not a bad way to go.)

Time to get to the actual grid work.  When making a grid of stencils like this, I first identify a color that I pretty much never use (meaning that I won't miss them when all the cut up little pieces go fluttering into the recycling).  Luckily for me, every pack of post-its usually comes with at least one color that provokes the reaction of, "Ugh, when would I ever use that?"  For me, this color is usually the vomit-inducing mauve shade to the right.  I never use that color for anything.  In fact, I kind of hate that color, but since it comes in most variety packs, I have tons of it on hand.  That means it's disposable, and that makes it ideal for stencils!  Back to the task at hand, make a grid with whatever hideous shade you decide to use, and then sketch the design onto it in pencil using the digital image as a guide.  This sketch can be kind of rough since it's mostly about getting a general idea of how the pieces will fit together later on.

Okay, time for something a little more detailed; it's time to start thinking about how the colors will all fit, and this is where the multicolored pens come into play.  For this particular piece, I knew for sure that I'd be using black, white, and red, so I paired a sharpie color to each.  Using my blue, black, and red sharpies, I indicated where the different colors would intersect (which was really a much simper process than I just made it sound).  It was also at this point that I decided to layer the image upward: the white pickguard would be my top layer, the red body underneath, the black shadows underneath that, and a blue background.  Some other time, I'll explain how to layer an image downward (which is pretty much just the same process in reverse), but for now, let's stick to this format.

Of course, the decision to layer upward introduced a new problem: white post-its (which are actually an off-brand called "Staples Stickies") are a little more transparent than other shades, so I ran the risk of the black or red layers being visible underneath.  My solution?  Add another layer of yellow behind the white.  With this extra layer, I could also add in the screws holding the pickguard in place, or I could even put some cracks in the pickguard or add some sort of other flourishes.  (This would eventually lead me to a huge mistake that would pretty drastically alter the look of the piece, but more on that later.)  Eventually, my stencils looked like the image at right.

Step 3: Cutting the Layers
Okay, time for the hard part.  Up until now, mistakes are pretty easy to correct, but once the stenciling knife is introduced into the equation, this medium suddenly becomes far less forgiving.  For purposes of convenience, I'm actually going to jump over to the other key image in this piece: the portrait of Duck Dunn.  Up until now, I've been focusing on Duck's bass, but since the cuts on the portrait were much simpler in places and involved fewer layers, this will be more conducive to explanation.  Here goes . . .

I'm working with a section of Duck's forearm here, so I've first layered the colors behind my stencil: dark blue will be the outermost section, the medium shade is the next, and a light blue will be behind that.  The basic rule for layering stencils like this is: the more cuts there are for a layer, the higher up it should be placed in the order.  Because the light blue section does not have any cuts needed at all, I have set it aside rather than layering it under the stencil.  Because the dark blue will ultimately be the smallest piece, it is at the top in the order.

Because this section of the piece was actually layered down rather than up, I'm cutting away with both my dark blue and medium blue underneath the stencil.  (Again, more on the exact nature of that distinction a little later.) 

Once my first cut is made, I can pull away the section to be discarded and then remove my medium blue layer.

With the medium blue level removed from the stencil, I can go ahead and place double-sided tape on the back of it and stick it in place on the portrait.  Note that I already had a light blue post-it note in place and merely put the medium blue over it.

Now it's time to return to my stencil and cut out the darker blue section, tracing the second of my lines to get a smaller shape which I can then tape into place over my larger (as shown in the next picture).

In a piece that has been layered down, the exterior-most color (in this case, the darkest blue) doubles as the color of the background.  This grants a considerable amount of leeway not really available in the layered up pieces (which will require a bit more precision).




This is the basic process of cutting multi-layer post-its from a stencil, but while this particular section of the grid has been pretty simple, the layering and cutting is often a much more intricate process.  For example, in producing the neck of the bass, I had to cut out half a dozen grid sections that looked like this:

No fun at all.

Step 4: Bringing It All Together
(and Identifying Mistakes)

Okay, time to put everything in place and get everything taped down layer by layer.  I've sort of demonstrated the taping process already in the above section, but I want to go ahead and talk about taping down the bass since this is where I made two pretty crucial mistakes on this piece.  At this point, I had cut out most of the things I needed to, so it was just a matter of transferring my layered up post-it bass onto the layered down post-it portrait, starting with the black layer and then building up from there.

One of the major drawbacks of layering down is that your subject matter is built directly into the background, meaning that you can't really move it around if you identify an imbalance.  Luckily, since the bass was layered up, I was able to play with possible configurations before getting it all anchored into place.  I decided to angle the bass slightly-- the goal being to create a less restrictive configuration of all the elements at play and to give observers' eyes a path to follow as they examined the piece.

Also, you might have noticed the dots of white on the bass's bridge and pickups.  To produce these, I actually stuck bits of white behind those cuts in the black to create a partial extra layer between the bass and the background.  This cutaway seemed like an easier approach than trying to stick tiny pieces of white onto the black post-its.  When possible, it's good to avoid using tiny pieces of paper since they're more likely to peel off with time.  Yep, when working with post-its, bigger is better.

Time for the next two layers.  I added the red and then the yellow.  At this point, I still hadn't built up the neck though, and this was with good reason.  Much like the construction of a real bass, my post-it bass's neck was going to overlap onto the body, and that meant getting the pickguard fully layered.

Well, in applying the top layer of white to the pickguard, I did something stupid: I got carried away with my flourishes.  It genuinely seemed like a good idea at the time to cut a bunch of over-the-top spirals into the pickguard.  After all, Duck Dunn was a legendary pipe smoker, so cutting in a pattern that resembled smoke swirls made perfect sense.  There was only one problem: it looked truly awful.  I was stuck.  I had ruined the white layer of the pickguard, so my only options were to cut a new white layer or to leave the pickguard yellow.  At this point, the yellow had grown on me, so I opted to keep it, but this created an imbalance in the piece.  More on that later.

Placing the neck was kind of an ordeal since everything needed to line up just so, and getting all that intricate fretboard work taped in place was no picnic.  Thankfully, I managed it alright and had what I thought was a finished product . . . or did I?  Hmm . . . I don't know.

There's something missing.  Sure, the bass is eye-catching, but it isn't quite flowing right.  Duck's too much a background to the bass, and it's just not quite balanced right, and there's all that yellow in one spot of it that isn't really echoed elsewhere, and that right corner just feels so empty, and . . . and . . . blah.  How could I fix this?

Step 5: Improvise
One of the best things about the post-it medium is that you can always add more layers, so that's exactly what I did.  Using MS Word, I found a font that I liked (Constantia) and typed up Duck's name and dates.  I printed that up and traced the text onto white post-its (which are awesome for tracing because of their aforementioned transparency).  Of course, in tracing the text, I had to make sure to leave little gaps here and there so that it could remain an effective stencil (see my previous comments about how much I hate working with tiny little dots of paper).

Once I had all the text where I wanted it on the stencils, I placed them over black post-it notes and began cutting out the letters.  Once that was done, I mounted yellow notes behind the lettering (to match the yellow pickguard).  Finally, after playing around a bit with placement, I anchored the text in the lower right corner of the piece, overlapping just slightly onto the bass and obscuring Duck's hand (which is fine since I did kind of a crumby job on the hand anyway).  Stepping back to look at the whole thing, I decided that I was now legitimately done.  The finished product looked like this:

And that's how a post-it piece is made.

Go try it out.

Also, feel free to email me (tom.lewis@duke.edu) with questions, comments, or pictures of your own post-it endeavors.

Happy Post-it-ing.

Duck Dunn Tribute Update

After a solid week's work on this project, it's finished!  The post-it tribute to Duck Dunn is complete, and I have a slew of photos of the whole process.  All told, there are about twelve layers to this piece, meaning it took some serious time and energy.  For that reason, I'm going to relax a bit before I go back through the photos, and I may even continue to make changes here and there.  In the meantime, here's a shot of the finished product:

Current Project (as of June 12th, 2012)

Duck Dunn (1941-2012)

Just a heads up: my current post-it piece (a tribute to legendary Memphis bass player Donald "Duck" Dunn) is taking a little more time than anticipated for multiple reasons.

1) It's a little more complicated than usual and should consist of about eight layers when completed, making it the most geometrically complex image I've created to date (the previous record holder being a four-layer self portrait).  Much of this complexity comes from a new technique I'm toying with: creating a double image by reducing away one image from the background tone and then layering a second image over it.  I realize that explanation may not make much sense without some sort of visual, and that leads me to point #2 . . .

2) I'm photographing the whole process!  I've been saying for years that post-it work is actually pretty straightforward, but since no one has ever agreed to let me teach them the technique, I'm just going to throw it out on the internet and see what folks do with it.  Admittedly, the Duck Dunn piece is probably kind of an intimidating introduction to the medium, so I may attempt this again with a simpler project some other time, but for now, this works.

3) I'm in the midst of a job search right now, and that's meaning a lot of research and a good bit of travel, and all that is definitely slowing me down a bit on the art front.  In fact, I'm trying to push myself a bit on this piece because I'm about to go out of town for a week and a half, and I'd hate to leave an unfinished project for that long.

If all goes according to plan, I should have this project knocked out by the end of the week!

--Tom

Just for fun . . .

With a little assistance from my friend Seth, I've whipped up this image paying homage to (from left to right) Dr. Stephen Gunter, Dr. Willie Jennings, and Dr. J. Kameron Carter-- three of Duke Divinity's most stylish professors.  This may have to find its way onto a t-shirt in the near future.

Duke Divinity Logo Redesign (Spring 2012)

The original Divinity logo

Lately, I've been designing a t-shirt for the Divinity School.  Even though we couldn't reproduce the image for copyright reasons, my favorite design so far has been a retooling of the standard Divinity School boat logo with a pair of supporting hands underneath.  This was a smaller project involving a little bit of physical cutting and pasting along with the usual bag of digital editing tricks.  We can't technically turn it into a t-shirt, but the image is being passed around via facebook as an inspirational message to div students in the midst of the stressful pre-finals season.

Revised version

With the above image being restricted, we instead wound up going with this stylized version of the Duke Divinity Pentecost stained glass window whipped up by yours truly through GiMP.  This will be the image on this year's Divinity t-shirts:

Also, here's another design I've been tinkering with.  There are so many shots of the iconic Duke Chapel tower, but this is one of the few that shows the cross behind it, and that's a symbol that I really treasure: