Marco's Stuff

Winter Rooftops

2012-01-15T16:31:00.002-06:00

I have a soft spot for scenes like this.

The Bucci Bros - Family Cover Band!

2012-01-13T08:25:00.002-06:00

In October (at my cousin's wedding), some Bucci members of my family formed a 60s cover band by accident. This is our first studio recording!

Warm Up

2012-01-09T11:04:00.003-06:00

Today's warm up is a sketch of my cousin's French bulldog, Napoleon!

Sci-Fi

2012-01-06T01:29:00.005-06:00

If you know my blog...you know that it's a rare day that I post anything resembling sci-fi art. But this is what came out when I sat down to sketch tonight.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-29T15:46:00.001-06:00

Happy 2012 everybody! Go and hug a friend :)

False Start

2011-12-21T15:33:00.003-06:00

An unfinished illustration that got canned during production of one of my personal projects. RIP!

My Music!

2011-12-11T21:36:00.011-06:00

Intergalactic Dreamer by Disbanded
Introducing my musical side-project! I've been writing songs lately, and have a lot of talented musician friends to record with. I called the project Disbanded because the band lineup changes with each song. We record at my home studio - tons of fun. (And yes, that's me on vocals.)
Check out the band's page. There's two songs up right now, and everything is free!

Flying

2011-12-06T13:57:00.005-06:00

My favourite parts of flying are the takeoffs and landings. I was touching down in Toronto this morning and took a mental snapshot of the scene I saw out the window. This is the memory-painting right after I got home. Practice, people!

Sneak Peek

2011-11-18T20:41:00.004-06:00

Working on a personal story project for iPhone/iPad with a writer friend. Pretty psyched about it! Here's a sneak peek!

Hide & Seek

2011-11-09T17:29:00.002-06:00

Another one with these characters. I may or may not be doing a project with them ;)

Monster Slumber Party

2011-10-19T13:56:00.001-05:00

These parties only happen in October!

Stranded

2011-10-16T20:48:00.003-05:00

This is definitely the start of a horror movie.

Haunted Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-13T08:48:00.000-05:00

This brother and sister haunt the Pumpkin Patch, and come out on Halloween to play!

Cindy

2011-10-10T10:44:00.003-05:00

This is Cindy - the redheaded teenage girl who incinerates every boy she touches. It's a bit of a problem on dates.
(Another painting from my #bucciblogtober series on twitter!)

Dark Knight Trick-Or-Treat

2011-10-06T22:43:00.004-05:00

Who woulda thunk that The Dark Knight is a trick-or-treator? #bucciblogtober

Tonight's #bucciblogtober

2011-10-03T22:46:00.004-05:00

It's day two of #bucciblogtober on twitter! Trying to do a scary painting every night. Nosferatu, anyone?

BucciBlogTober!

2011-10-02T22:59:00.005-05:00

My absolute favourite month of the year! I decided to kick off a little series of scary paintings this month, which I'll be posting under hashtag #bucciblogtober on twitter. Gonna try to do a scary, sketchy painting every day this month!

Recording Music

2011-09-29T11:59:00.011-05:00

Internal Tyrant - by CalmOcean by Marco Bucci
Recording music has become a serious hobby over the years. I actually started doing this before I ever picked up a paintbrush...back when I was making recordings of my high school punk band. I've got a fairly decent home studio setup now, and love to have musicians over. I engineered this track recently for a great band called CalmOcean.
I find that sculpting sound is very much the same as sculpting form in painting. Interesting.

A Study From A Video Game?

2011-09-19T14:20:00.004-05:00

...if that video game is Riven! I've mentioned this before, but almost 15 years after its release, it's still my favourite piece of CG ever made (that includes movies). The light is so real, you could study from it as though you were actually outdoors. This one is from a particularly subtle scene in the game (hardcore fans should recognize it). Lit entirely in shadow, very close shifts of value and colour temperature were the only tools to reveal distance and scale.

Kingdom Of The Sun

2011-09-07T09:35:00.002-05:00

I read that one my favourite Disney movies, The Emperor's New Groove, was originally called Kingdom Of The Sun. This is me pretending I was a concept artist on that film :)

Work Stuff

2011-09-03T12:45:00.006-05:00

Rare that I ever post stuff I do at my day job. These are some location designs I did for a new show called 'Mudpit' earlier this year, while working at Guru Studio in Toronto. In all cases, an actual 3D set was first built by the modeling department, which I would render camera angles from to block out my composition. That way, I could get straight to figuring out the mood and atmosphere of the location. The lighting department would then use these paintings as guides when lighting the actual sets in Maya.

FanExpo Commissions

2011-08-28T22:33:00.013-05:00

Another year in the books. AMAZING. I'm going through PCD (post-con depression) already.
Here's some commissions I did - pencil, ink and watercolor.
I had a blast meeting and hanging out with everyone!

Toronto Fan Expo

2011-08-23T17:09:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year again!!
Come visit me at Toronto Fan Expo this Thursday - Sunday. I'll have my book, as well as a some real nice prints on watercolour paper.
See you there!

The Royal Family

2011-08-03T14:02:00.003-05:00

My friends are in a great band called The Royal Family. They just released an EP, which I highly recommend you check out!
This is a painting I did of them.

The Funeral

2011-07-13T17:14:00.008-05:00

The final painting. I will have this as a 10x20" print at Toronto's Comic Con in August!

Edit: Here's the thumbnail, for those interested in peeking into the process.

A ... Drawing!?!

2011-07-12T13:03:00.006-05:00

I've been working on new illustrations to have as prints at this year's Toronto Fan Expo. I decided to get out the rusty ol' pencil to work out character designs and poses for a painting which will have like 5 characters in it. I'll post the final here soon.

Keys

2011-07-05T11:47:00.002-05:00

A few colour keys I did for an independent project that will probably never get finished. Fun while it lasted.

Childhood Memories

2011-05-30T14:00:00.002-05:00

I hope you have memories like this, too.

Venezia

2011-05-28T13:24:00.004-05:00

Another painting that's in my book. Inspired by some time spent in Venice a few years ago.

Sketches from Arizona

2011-04-28T15:51:00.008-05:00

I was in Arizona recently, with my watercolor/gouache sketchbook on-hand! For those wondering about my setup, it's basically ripped off of Gurney Journey. Here's a pic of it.

From My Book

2011-03-25T13:15:00.003-05:00

This was one of my personal favorites from my book.

Concept Art

2011-03-13T19:50:00.007-05:00

Here's a recent concept painting. Always fun to come up with this type of scenery. Hopefully it's not too dark on your monitor. I now 'calibrate' all my paintings on Apple monitors. They seem to be the closest thing to a standard reference these days.

Myst and Riven

2011-03-04T20:04:00.006-06:00

One of the reasons I got into art is because of the Myst and Riven games. Riven was released in 1998, and I still think it's one of the best looking things ever made. These paintings are inspired by it.

More Guitar Playing

2011-02-19T13:13:00.003-06:00

I've actually been playing guitar more than painting lately (not counting work). Here's my rendition of another Maneli Jamal tune, called 'Morning In Adanac'.

Morning

2011-02-03T19:22:00.003-06:00

It's getting harder to do stuff I like these days. I'm still unsure on where I stand with this one, but here it is anyway.

paintFACT: Composition Example

2011-01-28T14:15:00.004-06:00

This is today's post on paintFACT, my Twitter Painting Series. Every Friday I do a mini handout like this.

Prague

2011-01-15T14:46:00.002-06:00

A sketch inspired by my trip to Prague. Painted on the inside of one of my books. Watercolor and Gouache.

@paintFACT - A Twitter Painting Blog

2011-01-11T12:11:00.007-06:00

I thought it might be fun to do a little 'twitter miniseries' with motivational insights about painting. The twitter account is called @paintFACT. The goal is to post one new tweet per weekday. Check it out!

Winter

2011-01-07T21:07:00.005-06:00

Kind of a romanticized version of what I see every night on my way home from work.

Christmas Portraits

2010-12-27T20:11:00.002-06:00

These are little 8x10 portraits for my friends Ashley and Shawn. Oil on board.

LEGO Catalog Cover

2010-11-29T00:08:00.004-06:00

It's rare that I ever post anything other than personal work here, but given the season, I thought I'd share this one. This is the LEGO Product Catalog cover this winter! It was pretty cool to contribute to such a well respected toy company. Happy Holidays!

lookout

2010-11-21T11:08:00.002-06:00

Been doing lots of concept art at work, which is why I haven't been doing much of the digital stuff at home lately. This one kind of evolved from a quick, senseless thumbnail I did on a break. Funny how some paintings can sneak up on you.

Color Studies

2010-11-15T20:45:00.006-06:00

In my book, there is a short essay on the importance of doing small studies from life to help you understand the nature of light and color. Here's a selection of small oil studies from my archives. These are tiny...maybe 2x3". I consider these studies perhaps the most useful thing I do for myself as an artist.

Guitar Playin'

2010-10-28T16:54:00.006-05:00

Here's a first for this blog. I play music as a fairly serious distraction from painting. It's incredible how many artists I know also are musicians. Music must come from the same part of the brain or something. Anyway, this is a cover of one of my favourite guitar compositions, written by Maneli Jamal (whom I painted in the post below this). It's called Movement I: Norym, and is part of his fantastic album, The Ziur Movement. Go check it out at www.manelijamal.com

Maneli Jamal

2010-10-03T22:53:00.006-05:00

This is Maneli Jamal. One of my favourite guitarists, and am also proud to call him a friend. PLEASE go check out his music - you are in for a treat! I painted this over the weekend, with a full film crew in the studio, filming its creation. It will be part of a short documentary with Maneli and myself, talking about painting, guitar playing, and life as an artist. I will be sure to post it here when it's done.
Oh, and that frame was made by my Dad!

Travel Sketches

2010-09-28T19:25:00.004-05:00

These studies are probably the most fun I ever have as a painter. They're done fairly quick, 20 minutes or so. Those are dry watercolor pans, with white gouache.

Birthday Painting

2010-09-15T00:04:00.003-05:00

Well, it's my birthday today. And what better way to celebrate than with a painting!

Shipwreck

2010-09-06T16:28:00.001-05:00

Very Craig Mullins inspired. Not too many artists can mess with that guy...and I don't presume to be one of them. But I can try.

Cool!

2010-09-02T10:58:00.005-05:00

So out of nowhere, I got an e-mail from Jens Anderson, the genious behind the 'Colors!' application. I've done tons of sketches using that app on my Nintendo DS, and he asked my permission to feature one of them in the new release! Of course, I was happy to oblige. Thanks Jens!

Another Demo!

2010-08-23T22:35:00.007-05:00

Figured it was about time to do another one of these.

Superman - Sketch Club

2010-08-16T19:39:00.004-05:00

Our sketch club at work got revived! Despite the constant barrage of deadlines and revisions that come with working at an animation studio, it's nice to be able to take some time during the work day and paint for fun.
Also check out one of my co-workers, Brian Wong, to see his sketches for the sketch club.

The Book Is Here!

2010-08-03T20:05:00.011-05:00

I am proud to announce that my book, Imaginary Places: The Art of Marco Bucci is now available to order! It is a collection of my conceptual illustration work, some of which has been posted on this blog, and some of which is previously unreleased. The book features:

- 45 pages of full color artwork
- step-by-step painting demo
- essay on painting light and color

BONUS: The first 250 books will ship with a DVD containing 4 painting lessons. Each one focused on a different aspect of painting, including a video on custom brushes. Approx. 1:30 hours of video!

Click here for ordering info.

Thank you for your continued support!

Europe Sketch Dump!

2010-07-15T22:09:00.009-05:00

I was in Europe. Sketching.
These are all watercolour with white gouache, on a small moleskine watercolour book.

Monster In Rehab

2010-06-24T13:58:00.006-05:00

We have a sketch club at work...this week's topic: Monsters In Rehab. Although I think my monster is about to go into rehab.

Webinar Sketch

2010-06-07T00:21:00.005-05:00

This was a 1.5 hour sketch for a live online webinar I did over at digitalpaintmagazine.com. First time I ever painted while commentating and answering questions live!

Europe Warm Up

2010-06-01T21:31:00.003-05:00

Going to Europe at the end of this month for 3 weeks. This imagined sketch is kinda maybe the type of stuff I'm anticipating painting from life while I'm there.
Update on the Book: It's at the printers! Looking like a mid-July release. I'll be sure to announce it, so stay tuned!

Monkey Island 2 Trailer - With My BG Paintings

2010-05-29T13:50:00.011-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, I did a lot of background painting for the upcoming re-release of Monkey Island 2. LucasArts just released the trailer on YouTube, and it's got a lot of my work in it. For those curious, my backgrounds can be seen at: 1:26, 2:37, 2:40, 2:59, 4:50, 6:17, and 6:56.

The Book: Sneak Peak!

2010-05-07T15:09:00.006-05:00

I'm happy to say that the book is just about to head off to the printers! I will announce it when it's ready for ordering! This is really exciting.
There's a few 'bonus' features with the book that I can't wait to announce, and I will do that soon. So for now, here's a sneak peak at the cover :)

Painting Pop-Up Video!

2010-04-27T13:52:00.005-05:00

Decided to have some fun with this one, pop-up style!
Music by Maneli Jamal!

Warm Up Sketch

2010-04-19T01:25:00.008-05:00

A video of a quick warm up sketch, with commentary.

War Boat

2010-03-22T19:01:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile. Sorry about that.
But I'm back, with another painting for my book!

COOL NEWS: Lucas Arts is just about to release a re-make of their classic Monkey Island 2 game. I had the opportunity to paint a lot of the backgrounds for it! Check that out here.

Cityscape

2010-01-18T23:21:00.007-06:00

Did this concept painting at work awhile ago for a music video we worked on. Its been released now so I guess I can post it.

The Book is Coming!

2010-01-09T15:28:00.003-06:00

I announced awhile ago that I'm working on a book. Happy to say that it's almost done! It's not easy doing paintings and stowing them away...but I want the book to have new images too. But here's one I'll let leak.

iTouch: Round Six

2010-01-05T21:47:00.003-06:00

Okay, I think my brain is empty now. Gonna give the iTouch a rest and switch back to bigger paintings for a bit. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T16:43:00.005-06:00

I dunno about you, but I'm kicking off 2010 with some iTouch sketches!

Anyone Sick Of These Yet?

2009-12-20T00:47:00.001-06:00

Just let me know.

Even MORE iTouch Paintings!

2009-12-16T23:25:00.005-06:00

This is now bordering on obsession folks.

More from the iTouch

2009-12-11T15:04:00.001-06:00

Loving this thing!

iTouch Paintings

2009-12-06T17:08:00.007-06:00

My Nintendo DS sketching days are over. It's all about the iTouch now baby! I picked up a copy of Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile a few days ago (as well as the Pogo stylus) and was instantly hooked. Great app, and feels more like real paint than Colors did. Expect more of these.

Being Silly...With Lady Agnew!

2009-12-01T23:38:00.005-06:00

Finished the Lady Agnew painting! Felt like goofing off a bit so we grabbed this photo. Definitely a wild ride to paint this; it's not easy on the ego comparing yourself to Sargent while you paint. I'm not kidding myself; his painting is superior to mine in nearly every aspect, but I feel like I came out with some valuable insight into his methods.

Julio Lunchtime Sketch

2009-11-26T14:27:00.003-06:00

We did a quick portrait sketch at work today, over our lunch hour. Always fun, and demanding too. Model today was my friend, colleague, and texture artist extraordinaire, Julio!
8x10", oil on masonite.

Working On A Painting

2009-11-22T22:47:00.002-06:00

Been busy lately. Figured I'd share a bit of what I'm working on. This may be the biggest challenge I've faced to date: a study of Sargent's masterpiece, Lady Agnew.

Sketching In Boston

2009-11-09T13:25:00.008-06:00

I was in Boston on the weekend with my friend and his new Canon 7D. This was shot and edited in a few hours. Music by Ratatat.
AND looky looky what I saw!

SARGENT.

Painting Fundamentals

2009-11-01T09:54:00.003-06:00

This is an attempt to summarize the basics of painting in 10 minutes.

Mech

2009-10-22T19:27:00.010-05:00

Bit of fun experimenting on this one. That blur was achieved using a hand-painted depth map, which is a concept I 'borrowed' from 3D. A depth map is a grayscale image that represents the depth information in a still picture. Black represents short distance, white represents far distance (and everything in between). After I painted the depth map on a separate layer, I fed it into Photoshop's Lens Blur filter and dialed in the amount of blur I wanted.

Iron Giant

2009-10-17T19:09:00.007-05:00

My friends at The Labyrinth Book Store asked me to contribute a piece to their Iron Giant Project. Anything goes, as long as it somehow relates to the film. I decided to pretend like the events of the film actually happened, and this is a vintage photograph signed by an adult Hogarth Hughes.

More Matte Painting

2009-10-13T20:38:00.004-05:00

This is part of a personal matte shot I'm working on. I had a still plate to start with, which required some set-extention to fill out the city, and of course the sky scrapers are added with a combination of 3D and painting. This entire scene also exists as simple 3D geometry to facilitate a camera move (there's like a million little cubes representing most of those buildings).
I'll get back to regular painting soon, I promise!

3D Matte Painting

2009-10-03T18:22:00.005-05:00

Been buuussyy lately. The above image is part of a 3D matte painting. A familiar process to matte artists out there. I created a quick, 1 minute overview video of the process. A 10mb download.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW IT!

Exciting Commission

2009-09-22T21:58:00.003-05:00

This established gentleman is Fernando Rego. He is a clothier with a very high-end store in the heart of Toronto's financial district. Thankfully, he liked the painting and it now hangs in his store! It's 27x40", oil on board.

Sketch From Today

2009-09-16T22:57:00.004-05:00

One of those sketches that needed to come out while at work today. Took a second look at home and finished it up a little.

Castle Interior

2009-09-01T22:44:00.003-05:00

Just when you thought I was done with castles...
This one will most likely make it into my book that I'm still hard at work on. In related news, I was hanging out with Jason Seiler while he was here for the Toronto Fan Expo. He saw this painting while it was in progress, and suggested putting those chains on the wall. Thanks buddy!

Plein Air Painting Video

2009-08-29T15:23:00.003-05:00

I was on vacation last week and did a lot of plein air painting. I kidnapped my cousin and gave him a camera and told him to film one for YouTube. Figured this would be a good break from the digital vids.

Prints for Sale at Little City!

2009-08-23T11:08:00.008-05:00

Little City is a local online art community co-owned by one of my very good friends, Alyssa Bistonath. Basically, they host a small roster of artists and sell high-quality, archival prints. I have a couple of pieces available there, and will probably have different pieces every few months. Let me know if you order something, and I'll be sure to sign it for you before they send it off!

http://www.littlecityandhow.com

Tonight's Sketches

2009-08-09T23:00:00.003-05:00

Three sketches from tonight. Trying to push warm vs. cool colors without getting cheesy with it.

Again With The Castles

2009-08-04T21:44:00.002-05:00

You may have noticed that I latch onto certain subject matter for a few paintings in a row. Right now it's definitely castles. This was a sketch I pecked away at whenever I had a free moment, either at work or home. I've noticed that I tend to get better results when I let my sketches sit for a few days before coming back to finish them.

Castle Walls - Matte Painting

2009-07-25T22:10:00.003-05:00

This started as a digital matte painting demo I gave to some co-workers. The demo only lasted an hour, but I liked the direction the painting was headed, so I dumped another 3 days into it. It's rare, but sometimes I do enjoy dealing with lots of detail and layers.
(For those who are unaware, digital matte painting is a combination of painting/photo manipulation/photoshop trickery. It's like a street fight - anything goes!)

Wanna Be Sargent!

2009-07-19T10:33:00.005-05:00

Usually my portrait paintings have a lot of 'patchy' brushwork, which is one of the ways I like to approach oil painting. But this time, I wanted to try to be more like Sargent, using broad, sweeping brushstrokes, and trying to make a statement in the fewest possible marks. In the areas where I got it right, I think it makes for a more powerful impact.

Painting Outdoors: Studies

2009-07-12T14:27:00.002-05:00

I refer to plein air painting often in my video commentaries. Here are some of my studies. This is where I do 99% of my learning about light and colour. In my opinion, nature is the best teacher, and you don't get charged tuition either.

Concept Illustration + Video

2009-07-01T22:51:00.005-05:00

I've been painting for my book...and decided to record one to feed the ol' blog.

Thumbs

2009-06-23T19:52:00.005-05:00

Did I ever post this? Three of these sketches were in that YouTube video I did a few months back. This is as far as I got with this particular environment.

Ambush

2009-06-21T22:37:00.004-05:00

I have a friend who teaches grade 5. For her students' writing class, she has them write stories based on some of their favourite paintings of mine (which is a huge honour for me!)
I told her that the class could write a story of their own, and I would take a section and illustrate it for them. This was a point in their story where the protagonists are prematurely celebrating their conquest, unaware of a pending ambush.

More Portrait Sketches

2009-06-17T10:19:00.006-05:00

My friend Steve was over yesterday, and I did a quick portrait sketch. This is oil on board, 8x10".

EDIT: Just added a quick sketch of Dean, one of the lighters at work. A few of us at the studio painted him over our lunch hour. I think the brushstrokes in that one are evidence of the time limit.

Working On A Book!

2009-06-07T19:22:00.004-05:00

I've been looking forward to announcing this! I'm in the early stages of putting together a book. The book will be a collection of personal illustrations (like this one, and this one). I want the book to be comprised mostly of new images, so for that reason my updates here might be a little slow, as a lot of my efforts will wind up going into the book. Maybe I'll leak a painting or two every now and then...like the WIP above. I currently have no estimated publication date, but I'll keep everyone posted!

Portrait Commission

2009-05-31T19:54:00.005-05:00

A recent commission. Oil on board, 18x24". The lower image is an extreme closeup of the head.
My goal with this one (other than capturing the girl) was to play with various levels of finish. The head being at the highest level of finish, and everything else tapering off according to how far away they are.

Lighting Keys + Video

2009-05-18T00:45:00.003-05:00

Been awhile since I did a video! This one deals with quickly keying out a shot and exploring lighting possibilities. I decided to do a commentary track again. Not sure how helpful that is. You can turn the sound off if you like :)

Tall Town

2009-05-12T13:40:00.006-05:00

I dunno. There's just something about nonsensical, whimsical environments that keeps me coming back to 'em. Anybody with me on that?

Character Art for the Film

2009-04-30T20:25:00.003-05:00

This is a colour key/concept rendering for a character in the short film. This started as a 3D model (which I did not do). I did a quick lighting pass in Maya, and then painted right over top of it in Photoshop.
And yes, I am aware that Pixar did a monster with blue fur as well. The similarity ends there, I assure you.

Environment Test for the Short

2009-04-27T22:09:00.008-05:00

Click HERE to see the Quicktime.

Threw a quick test together on the weekend to see how the hand-painted environments might look with the 3D treatment. The top image is the original colour key, and below it is the 3D set. The painting gets 'projected' right into the 3D scene, and the result is the ability to move the camera around the painting in actual 3D space. The quicktime video is just a simple camera move to demonstrate the effect.

More Keys & Designs

2009-04-23T14:11:00.003-05:00

A few more colour keys from the project. These sets will be built in 3D, then fully painted in 2D and mapped with a common camera projection technique. My goal is to make the finished set have the charm of a small thumbnail. So let's see how badly I can fail at that.

Side Project

2009-04-19T21:30:00.004-05:00

A couple work friends and I got together and decided to start a small side project! We're currently in the exciting early stages. The cool thing is that each person is a one-man department. I am the color/background department. Here's some keys that I've done, exploring various lighting and color design.