Post-it Art

Summary

What to do with a big white wall and a sudden surplus of free time? Well, if you're a modern art fan like me, then creating your own post-it work might be just up your alley. Early in 2013 I found myself needing something to take my mind off things. Having left my vast art collection in northern Europe I was faced with a tough choice. Live with a white wall, forever mocking me, or do the unthinkable. Make my own art. I chose the latter.

I was stunned that I couldn't find a short yet comprehensive guide on creating your own post-it wall art. I will admit, it's not exactly the most arduous task I've ever undertaken, but I learned a lot over the 3 day weekend I spent piecing this together and thought I might as well share it with other budding artists.

Quick Facts

Created over the course of a 3-day weekend in early 2013.
The time spent placing every post-it totalled approximately 8 hours.
Approximately 1400 Post-its used.
No additional adhesive was used and every post-it is still up as of today in 2014.
Covered by Kotaku.

Resources

Kotaku Coverage

Motivation

As I've already alluded to in the introduction, this work is the result of me needing to clear my head and focus on something more productive than bothersome uncontrollable emotions. But more than that, it also allowed me to create something I find far more inspiring than a white wall.

A nice benefit of post-it art is the fact that it leaves the wall more or less completely unblemished. No need for any nails or holes in the wall, although removing the post-it's will probably also take a bit of time.

Lessons Learned

Color Range - Originally, I was planning to find and purchase post-its of color matching the image I wished to re-create. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any online sources within Japan that I could manage to order these particular items from. Instead, I ended up ordering the entire color range of standard post-its available from Amazon.co.jp. I think it still turned out pretty well.
Grid - If you've watch the 'how-to' video at the top of this page, you may have noticed I start out placing post-its within a smaller grid not covering the entire wall. I still don't quite understand why I didn't intially have the grid cover the entire wall. Make sure your grid will cover the entire are you intend to use post-its on.
Color Matching - I ended up just using my eyesight to match pixel colors to post-it colors. Although this ended up working out fine in the end, it undoubtedly made the whole process more time consuming and tedious. Is this pixel the darkest pink, or the almost darkest pink?! For optimal efficiency, I would recommend making every color very distinct on the pixelated guide image you create. So you know exactly which color on the guide corresponds to which colored post-it.

Gallery

Spatial examination. This photo helped me determine approximately how many post-its I could expect to fit on my wall. It also served as a preliminary color test.

The entire color range of post-its that I could purchase off of Amazon.co.jp. Not exactly average every day colors, but certainly enough to make some interesting art.