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.