myelectronicdays.com - the art of Dave Greco

APA

2012-02-20T14:22:00.001-08:00

Austin Pets Alive Mural

2012-02-19T10:54:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to update with some real life happenings. I have quite a few paintings in progress that I hope to get to galleries in the next 6 months, so that's taking up quite a bit of time. I will definately update the blog with any progress on those as they are happening. I have had time though to do a volunteer mural for the new Austin Pets Alive facility that opened up downtown recently. It's for the kitten nursery and it feels great to be able to just spend a little time to do something for such a great foundation and program.

Small update for now, this is going to be a crazy year as far as work is concerned so expect alot of painting updates ;)

Wizard Zafaria Update

2011-12-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

With our recent launch of Zafaria, I've finally started digging through some pieces that can be released out into the depths of the interwebs. I didn't get a whole bunch of time working on this expansion pack so the amount of pieces will be a little limited for now. It should atleast fill an update or two.

First up was creating the new level 68 Death Spell "Katzenstein's Monster". Most of the concept itself was just creating the monster and the animation team would take care of the rest. Katzenstein was already a mad scientist cat already created for the game... so this was basically just an addition to his madness. They wanted a pretty basic Frankenstein vibe with less gore and as always, more kid friendly.

Here is a video with all the finished spells..Katzenstein is I think the 3rd spell used. (I also concepted the Basilisk, which I will upload later.)

Wizard101 68 Spells

Next piece was just establishing a look for the zebra mobs. We had pretty specific african tribes we were looking at for each of the animal species in the game. These zebras were probably the first concept I tackled for zafaria. Was alot of fun making these guys pretty stubby, but looking like they could hold their own.

Might as well finish off with one quick enviornment piece that was done for Zafaria, which was a large entrance way into the Elephant graveyard. Basically just wanted to mock something up for color and mood to give to the designers.

Still a ton of work I wish I could release at the moment. Time is flying lately and it won't be long before the flood gates open.

Hope everyone has a solid xmas this year, lets hope 2012 is full of a ton of new work.

A start of something new.

2011-10-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Been awhile since the last update, but things should be picking up pretty soon. As I said previously some months ago, I started at a new gig down in Austin that I love. Content is slowly starting to be released, which means I can finally start posting some of the work. Once large expansions come out, there will be very large updates of work. So right now we just have a recently released double player mount for Wizard101. Was a quick concept that went straight into production. Each piece will need specific approval but I will do the best I can. This type of work is really letting me stretch my boundaries and have alot of fun.

ALOT more to come in the next few months! (atleast 30-40 new images that I feel are post worthy)

Dave.

About Final

2011-09-06T11:11:00.001-07:00

This is about as final as I want to take this piece. I think it fulfills what I wanted out of it. Doesn't blow me away, but I had a good time working on it. i would like for my next piece to be alot brighter and not so clouded in darkness. I hope to start the next piece tommorow!

Carriage Day 3

2011-09-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Who knows who even sees this stuff, but I will continue to push these out. Here is day 3 working on this painting. Still going back and forth detailing things out. I don't want to hide alot of detail in shadows but the piece is pretty dark, and I feel like I really need that foreground contrast.

Still alot to add and tweak, possibly another assassin, the lady in the carriage and so forth.

Updated Carriage Painting

2011-08-30T14:39:00.001-07:00

Here is a few days worth of work on the mosst recent painting. Taking my time and thinking about alot of minor things while working on it.

Everything so far is basically the base im going for. I still plan to have a woman in the carriage, about 3 Skele assassins. Alot of work to go, but wanted to post!

The wacom inkling!

2011-08-30T08:59:00.001-07:00

Wanted to bring this bad boy up. Recently announced from wacom and available mid september.

Wacom Inkling

This will definately be an item I will be purchasing. Not only will this give me an added incentive to produce work in my sketchbook, it may even get me posting more daily sketches up on this blog.

Not to mention I usually despise scanning in sketchbook pages, which in turn makes it so 95% of all my sketches never even hit the internet.

I'm looking forward to the community embracing this thing and getting alot more work online!

Also great youtube video for it.

Wacom Youtube Vid

I am alive! Trust me.

2011-08-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Been a semi crazy summer so far, company in town in Austin, flying to MA for a wedding, and everything in between. I have managed to make myself sit down and tackle some more serious paintings though.

I wanted to get away from the 1 off, 1 sitting paintings of a character and do some more in depth "scenes" if you will.

Just started blocking this one in yesterday, having alot of fun with it. I would like to get very detailed with this one.. even carving out the small details of the carriage.

Posting it here will make me finish it ;)

Small post

2011-06-29T12:12:00.001-07:00

Wanted to throw up a quick post since I seemed to go afk from this blog for a month or so. Getting some projects wrapped up and hopefully gearing up for another big show in september, so hopefully I should be able to toss some info up on that asap!

Dave G.

OO Game of Thrones.

2011-05-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Just sitting at work today thinking back on some of the Visuals of HBO's Game of Thrones, an awesome book series and equally amazing show so far. This was just a quick 25 Min Sketch during some downtime today. Mostly just based off the Night's Watch, not exactly.. but of the same idea.

Gogo Prints now for sale through my online store.

2011-05-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

12x15
Giclee on Fine Art Paper
Numbered and signed out of 50 (only 10 are available through the store).

Very limited run of these prints this time around.

http://myelectronicdays.bigcartel.com/product/gogo

A royal speed painting.

2011-04-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick 1 hour speed I did today, I would like to dedicate it to the royal wedding ;D .. I saved off one chunk so there could atleast be some progess to look at. I think what's hurting me lately is I'm starting to paint with no direction to go in. I don't know if I am going to paint a character, a landscape, or the back of some dudes head in front of me. I think in the future, I am going to atleast set some kind of goal. here is the final. I really just have two steps saved that were probably at the 20 minute interval and then a bit later. I stopped myself at the hour mark on the dot.. even though I felt this one could use alot more.. time to paint faster!

Here was the first brickout.. where I had completely no idea where I was going. I was basically smacking down some muted color and and a way to dark of a shape. During this phase I flip and shift the image like crazy till I can find something that catches my eye. I try to keep everything as middle tone as I can for as long as I can.. then once I start punching value in, everything comes to life.

Have a good weekend!

The Oasis

2011-04-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

This was the first verson of the Oasis done for Homefront.. it was a first pass and and the final doesn't even resemble this at all. I was handed a brickout of the space, a brief description and that was about it. More to come!

Went way off.

2011-04-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Final of the most recent speedy.. which turned out to not be a speedy at all. I changed it about 30x over. Had fun in the process and started exploring all new brushes while spending time to tweak and make my own. This is about as far as I want to take this one.. would rather start on something new. anyways, enjoy.

Non-speed update.

2011-04-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Adding color and starting to slow down to actually figure out shapes and composition. long way to go!

Homefront Pre-Pro | Concept

2011-04-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

I've been digging through old work that was done on homefront and wanted to scatter it across this blog. I like looking back to see what we started with, and what we ended up with in the final game. This concept was basically an idea we were playing with, with the idea of the game taking place in a flooded manhattan. The idea was that the city was linked with man made bridges between buildings in the city, something that could have been very cool.

This second image was a detailed sketch of how we wanted the US Heavy Assault soldiers to look. I think the final color pallete and most the packs ended up completely different. but the heavy ballistic mask and everything else remained. The biggest challenge to creating the military MP characters was keeping them a "real world" military force while still making them feel like they lived in a starved grim future.

Started as a speed.. got more into it.

2011-04-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

Started with a mexican space station.. then over an hour later.. it became the backend of a wrecked ship in a swamp / jungle? not sure. I'm having alot of fun playing with the shapes on this one and constantly changing it... so this one will become more than just a speed paint. I enjoyed the shape of the last speed painting but wanted to do more with it. Right now I want to keep it in black and white for awhile so I can concentrate on values.. this one will get posted updates.

Speedpaint 4/15

2011-04-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Had a bit more time today. I felt like i was more focused on building shape and color more than anything else. Which is nice after doing concepts all day where you have to worry about the small detail that a modeler may need to know. I also think i have a strange love affair with the lasso tool. (1hour)

Speedpaint 4/14 #2

2011-04-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Had more time to kill today. I started just making shapes and it turned into the "generic" city view concept that I feel like you see alot of artists do.. but they are still pretty fun. There is alot more i wanted to do to it.. but I made myself stop at an hour. I hadn't even figured out what the ivory structure was in the middle. I'm trying to explore more with shapes and sharper brushes. I feel like this has the same lighting composition as the last one. Not to mention the insect creature looks like a giant penis..cripe.

Speedpaint 4/14

2011-04-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Been a busy couple days but managed to have about 30 minutes today to crank something out. This was actually probably 20 minutes.. pretty simple. Its more brush and color than anything. I got about 20 minutes done with it.. and it just felt right for what i wanted to convey.. this was based on an idea of a fallen angel.

Speedpaint 4/6

2011-04-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

In an effort to get myself to paint more often and to loosen up, I am going to try to put up atleast a couple speed paints a week. Ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. I expect these to be pretty messy and quite sloppy at first, but I hope over time, my ability to block down serious color right off the bat will improve. I also hope for these to be more color and composition studies more than anything.

Spoke Art presents : Quentin vs Coen

2011-03-29T13:40:00.001-07:00

This is the piece I will be presenting at the upcoming quentin vs coen show at the Bold Hype Gallery opening April 7th. You can check out the gallery @ http://www.boldhype.net/

The show will only be open 3 days in New York so definately check it out.. I'm honored to be able to present my work with other such talented artists. There will be a very small set of prints available at the show and probably on spoke art afterward. There will be about 30 signed and numbered prints.

Been awhile.

2011-03-07T04:20:00.000-08:00

I figured it's been awhile so it's probably time for some kind of update. ALOT has happened in the past few months that has taken my attention away from this. Recently hit the unemployment line with fellow artists from my previous position.. something that was totally unexpected. After the panic fades and you have time to actually make a coherent thought, the whole process really makes you re-evaluate what you want to do in the next step of your career. After alot of thinking and planning, we are officially making the move to Austin, TX! I will be joining the awesome team at Kingsisle Studios, which I am very excited for. The New York chapter in my life is seemingly coming to a close... something that is somewhat heartbreaking for me. NYC has been a life changing experience and something that I will always carry with me.

Happy New year 2011

2011-01-05T06:53:00.000-08:00

Here's to an awesome 2011. I just recently found out about a Mad Men inspired show coming up and I will be contributing 2 pieces for. The show is in April and will be shown in NYC this time around. More details to come since I don't have alot of info right now. I'll post sketches and idea's soon as well.

Fighting for freedom

2010-12-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

Another post of some work from this previous year. I was pleased with the final of this image.. This image was based on the idea of the American resistance fighting with generations of US armed forces by their side. Another Homefront piece of course.

Some things work, some things don't.

2010-12-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

After some time of drawing things in and out of this piece.. I have about no idea where this piece is going or even where I want it to go. I hate it when a piece hits a wall.. and I can't seem to find the exit.

Personal update, the mermaid.

2010-12-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

Once in awhile, I end up sitting down and sketching things that my wife just loves. She is a huge mermaid nut and has been bugging me about painting a mermaid for her for years... I've done tons of thumbnails and sketches of mermaids in the past years but nothing really seemed to sit right. I had trouble thinking of one that didn't look like a disney cartoon. I think Ariel is just too ingrained in all our brains. I would say this is about 35% complete. I'm mostly trying to figure out colors and composition right now. Trying some new colors.. some added detail. I want the environment to be something interesting, but am having alot of trouble thinking of anything. A mermaid just hangs out in the ocean right? I really didn't want just a sea of ocean behind her.. so if anyone has any ideas, post them to comments! All ideas would be awesome!

I have to shoot reference for the hands.. Anything past blurry quick sketch hands I am awful at ;)

Homefront Officers

2010-12-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Alot of images and work is coming out for Homefront recently, a project I was recently involved with for about 4 years. So in the next few months I will be able to update shit blog with alot of work that was done on it.

This first mock was done for North Korean officers.. made to be a little more substantial than the average foot soldier. They wanted a real attention to detail when it came to pack variations and the way they carried them. There also was a need for a base vest, that would carry over to all the soldiers, so we wouldn't bog the modelers down into making 20 different vests.

Alice print available for sale!

2010-11-29T11:09:00.000-08:00

Just another quick update. The holidays have been crazy so far and we haven't even made it to xmas yet! I did manage to get the Alice print up for sale.. it's a small run
of only 50 prints. they are signed and numbered!

http://myelectronicdays.bigcartel.com/

new shop is live!

2010-10-31T09:31:00.001-07:00

With the wes anderson show going up this weekened, the prints are for sale from the show!

its 11x17 and they are numbered and signed! (100 available from me and 50 from spoke art).

http://myelectronicdays.bigcartel.com/

quick update!

2010-10-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

just a quick update! the upcoming bad dads show will be at the:

Lopo gallery
1171 Polk Street
San Francisco, CA, 94109

opening reception @

Saturday at 8:00pm - November 20 at 6:00pm

My original giclee print will be there along with 50 signed and numbered prints (out of 150)...

In about another a week my online store should go online where I will have the other 100 for sale. working hard to get all this online asap! Once all this goes up, there should be ALOT of working coming out on it. I'm hoping this gallery show presents more gallery work for myself!

upcoming show - bad dads

2010-09-30T11:55:00.001-07:00

For the upcoming show in San Francisco, titled Bad Dads. A show dedicated to the films of Wes Anderson. Will post gallery name, location, and opening when I get more details. My entry for the show

17x22
Giclee on Watercolor paper.

back again.

2010-09-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

Good to be back writing this again. My life lately has been one crazy whirlwind, and it's going in a place that I'm very much looking forward to. There is going to be alot more "out of work" art beaing created so this blog is going to get alot of attention. I have one gallery show I'm contributing to at the end of October (more details soon), and more gallery work in the future as well. I've changed jobs lately and I feel like it's going to really let me see and produce my full potential.

It's great to be excited about creating work again.

Dave.

40k final

2010-03-11T07:43:00.001-08:00

Here is my near final 40k Final for the recent sketch I did. I wanted to get this piece done this week so I pushed pretty hard on it, probably making it a little higher rez than it needed to be. After getting advice with some close 40k fans.. we turned this more into a Alpha Legion Chaos Marine.

I actually enjoyed working on this piece alot.. and I think some of that came through. So maybe alot more Warhammer 40k pieces to come!

dave.

- sketch updated-

2010-03-04T06:36:00.001-08:00

Just bricked out a really quick black and white off the recent sketch. I'm not sure I'm gonna take it much further.. something doesnt sit right for me with it. I may take some elements of it later on for a piece.. but for now I'll probably call this one a constant wip.

dave.

- v3 2010 -

2010-03-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

So here is my near final. I think there is alot of small stuff to tweak on this but I'm pretty satisfied on where it came out. Really putting in an effort to add more than on subject or character in a piece... even if they are unfinished or only parts of one. Hoping this piece will kick start a whole new series of more dynamic pieces (compared to my older works). So LETS HOPE in the next few days i can get a couple sketches online here to start on the next! If people ever even saw this page I'd ask for comments on ideas for another piece.. ::crosses fingers::

Dave.

- v2.2 2010 -

2010-03-02T06:39:00.000-08:00

Started adding color and detailing. I probably should have put up some more versions before it got to this stage.. but I got sucked into working on it and lost track of time. I'm trying to work both my lights and darks at the same time.. so right now its lacking some contrast and some form. I am also unsure about his helmet design as he is starting to look like some kind of superhero.. which is not what I'm going for. There should be quite a bit more work to be done on this in the next few days or so. I want to be able to able detail alot of the armor that is happening on the foreground figures along with some of the background characters. Also to be able to finalize some lighting and color.

- v2.1 2010 -

2010-03-02T06:15:00.000-08:00

Wanted to do a quick update with the greyscale blocking that's being done. I've always wanted to do one of those "mid battle" action shots.. so here's my chance!

- v2 2010 -

2010-03-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

Finally back to starting a new piece. What I wanted to do was take part of an old design I did for cghub and update and actually finish it. I liked certain elements of the design before but that it was way to thick, blocky, and lifeless. I wanted to create a piece that had alot more dynamic motion and energy to it, while also creating a more interesting composition.

More updates soon.

- final -

2010-01-08T08:05:00.001-08:00

Well here is the final for now. I guess it's enough for what I would like to do to it. I could have kept adding details after details... but in the end.. it invoked the mood and color I wanted it to have. More pieces to come just this week!

- update near final -

2010-01-07T12:46:00.001-08:00

Totally changed my whole idea for this. I felt like it was two worlds that didn't make any sense with each other. I also wanted to beef up more fantasy / sci fi stuff for my portfolio. So i totally redid the outfit on the girl. Maybe she kills these huge birds to protect these little space monkeys. Theres still alot more rendering to be done.. her feet.. hands.. maybe more of a "living space" that these little guys live in. Also maybe a dead carcass of a huge killer bird.. not sure.

- update -

2010-01-06T11:41:00.000-08:00

Started to block in some more values.. detailing those little space monkeys out. Trying a new technique on how I'm using my brushes as well. Painting with a hard edged brush and erasing out almost all of it.. then repeating it. Right now... I'm not sure where this piece is going and that bothers me. I want the piece to tell a chunk of a story.. even if a simple one. A girl in a fleece surrounded by space monkeys just isnt doing it for me. I may have to do some major revamps to the subject matter... updates on that soon.

- new piece larger -

2010-01-05T13:16:00.000-08:00

Here is what the larger piece will look like. theres still alot i want to edit and figure out. I'm probably nixing those wierd wings by her head..sometimes my hand thinks on its own. Also what shes wearing below the waist and how shes positioning her legs. I wanted it to be a sweet and innocent peering down. But right now it feels like she might have to go to the bathroom. ;x

Still figuring out more line work. i really want to bring these little creatures to life.. give them a small little village that shes stumbled upon. I'm hoping for a pretty detailed piece.

- new piece 2010 -

2010-01-05T11:13:00.001-08:00

Happy new year everyone. I wanted to kick off the new year with a new piece. I wanted to go back and show the stages of this piece as it goes. I'm probably only about an hour into the piece.. just starting with a quick outline of some of the main characters... This is actually a zoomed shot of the larger piece. I will hopefully have it all blocked in very soon.

This piece is basically a rehash of a very old piece of mine I wanted to modernize. So lets see how it goes!

- sketches -

2009-12-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

Going to start getting some more sketches going on in this blog. This should atleast give me more reason to just dig back into my sketchbook.

- a day in the life -

2009-11-08T13:13:00.001-08:00

Finishing a friday off at Kaos.

- board designs -

2009-11-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

I stepped into unfamiliar territory lately and tried making some board designs. They were actually alot of fun to do.. what they are gonna be used for? I have no idea. It was definately a pretty fun excercise to put myself through. I was thinkin of boards that people could print and just hang on their walls.. maybe even do a couple series of them.

- bal -

2009-11-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

More with the older unfinished work. This is actually something I may take another look at and try to redo or finish. This was also another collaboration between zach and I that had a great basis. Alot of it was the idea of this child with an imaginary friend monster. I do like how his design was coming along.. it's def something i may explore fairly soon.

-old work-

2009-11-03T10:24:00.001-08:00

I wanted to be able to catch up on some past work.. So there will be a pretty large art dump lately. These were some mock covers that were done up in collaboration between a friend and I on cloak and dagger. Ultimately in the end, it was something I wish i had pushed further and I may return to it someday. Both were done pretty quick, probably 1 sitting each.

2009-11-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

Back to updating this with new images, sketches, life updates, etc.
This was a quick painting I did for the cghub competition a few months back. I wasn't very happy with the final piece.. it felt like it was missing alot. Another painting shelved!

4+ hours of color

2008-12-10T04:57:00.000-08:00

This is how its shaping along after about 4 hours of messing with color. There is alot of things I did and didn't like while I painted this. I will probably finish this up.. but i think the biggest problem with this piece is I didn't have a finished goal in mind while painting it.

First color comp

2008-12-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

Started blocking in color into the piece. Not 100% sure where i want to take it. I don't know if I want this in a forest, in a cave, on a clifftop, no idea. So thats really starting to affect the color choices I make. Still more to explore...

Really just dumping in brush patterns and color to help inform some decisions i may make in the future. I know right now im pretty unsure about the cloth around her legs.

New drawing, initial sketch phase

2008-12-08T06:23:00.000-08:00

Tossing up a new sketch I'm about to get started on for spectrum this year. For this drawing I really had no idea what i wanted to do.

I began the drawing more interested about the shapes that I was making rather than anything else. Trying to figure out lines and shapes that are appealing just on their own. After spending time drawing the who knows what headpiece on the woman, I tried to figure out a solid base for the piece.

The idea was to have this goddess type woman walking through a pool of loyal followers and worshipers, but walking through and draining out their essence in some way. It's not really a mind blowing idea but I figured it would work for the piece.

The drawing doesn't convey to much of the draining aspect, since I hope to address that in the painting itself. Anyways, here is the first sketch.

Next step, color and value comps.

2008-12-07T15:57:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my first attempt at a semi-functional blog. What I am hoping to accomplish with this, is a little insight on my creative process within my work, and how my thought process comes into play. Fair warning, I am an awful speller and usually my sentences make little to no sense, so for now, I apologize. I'm lucky if I remember to even put periods between sentences.

Hopefully this will continue to grow as I create more and more work down the road. Also, thanks to anyone who might actually be reading this and finding any interest at all.

draw it up.

greco.