Ducc Man - Duck Head - OG Character

Ducc Man done for a class project in Rock & Hip Hop.

Materials: Digital + graphite, but for the head: faux fur, x1 ping pong ball, acrylic paint, paper towel (for structure), packing paper, duct tape, frozen cheeseburger box, pizza box, chicken wire (for reinforcing the cardboard) and hot glue.

Idea: The class project was to design our own protest song. My friend had the idea: "you know what sucks? Capitalism. You know what doesn't? Ducks." so I went with it. Ultimately it came down to the concept of "rich white quacks sitting back" using blood money. As for the head, when it came time to present the actual assignment, I turned in the concept sketch with the writing portion. I figured since I owned the purple collared shirt, blazer and tie I would just need a duck head and I could become the duck man and present the actual finished artwork, however latex costume heads cost too much so I used materials laying around and created the head pictured in less than a week.

The following is an in-depth explanation of the symbolism used in the portrait taken from said project:

"The lyrics have been represented with a portrait cover of a wealthy white man with the head of a duck- literally a duck man. Rich, white, old men are the leaders of many things in this society, in many ways- primarily they are the high ranking corporate business owners and those in control of monopolies which thrive off of blood money (hence the blood-stained cash in his hand). These men are best described as quacks-- which is why the representative is a white domestic duck. Not only is he a white duck to represent that he is a white man, but the fact that he is a domestic duck implies the extensive time this system has gone on. Ducks were domesticated at least four-thousand years ago in Southeast Asia, though there is evidence of them being used in Egyptian sacrifices. Several large companies had existed back in 1776, meaning it has been around for quite some time- just as domesticated ducks have been. The purple of his shirt indicates wealth and royalty, being a color with an expensive background (coming from Tyrian purple, a dye produced from the sea snail known as Bolinus brandaris, which became worth its weight in gold). His crown, as well as the rings on his fingers shimmer with gold and silver, red corundum (ruby), sapphire, emerald, amethyst and scheelite; gemstones available only through the mining and metal industries. Scheelite is especially unusual for jewelry, as it is a tungstate mineral, valuable to production of tungsten-- the most heat resistant metal prized in applications such as filaments for light bulbs and electronics. Though he may seem innocent at first glance, being a nice duck with a crown, deep down he hides the costs of his monopolies from consumers so he may continue to thrive off the lives of those in need for money and shelter...a true quacker."