An Interview with The Matic Greys
Links:
Website: https://thematicgreys.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheMaticGreys
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thematicgreys/
Discord: https://discord.gg/8MUsMKs8WS
Telegram: https://t.me/TheMaticGreys
Opensea: https://opensea.io/collection/thematicgreys
NFTKEY: https://nftkey.app/collections/thematicgreys/
Where are you from?
We're NY & Lousiana natives, now raising our family in Florida.
How did you first get into crypto/NFTs?
Our family began investing in crypto a few years ago after learning about the decentralized aspects of the space. We were fascinated by NFTs because of what they can do for artists of all levels worldwide.
What platform did you choose and why?
As a family project, we chose Polygon because we wanted a platform that was sustainable, secure, and accessible to everyone. Between Polygon's environmental focus (now carbon negative in 2022), their ability to provide all the security of ETH, and their fast, low-cost transactions, Polygon was quickly the best choice for us! We look forward to being active and growing within the Polygon community. We are honored to be among so many awesome projects!
What are the most important things in your life?
Family is the most essential thing in our life! We have four children, and they mean the world to us! We bring that energy into our project too! We want The Greys to be a real-world example for them of community, ethics, philanthropy, and the power of investing in yourself. One of the most important things to us when planning and building The Greys is that it would be a project focused on family, community, fun, and doing good in the world!
What do you enjoy when not creating art?
We are a family of artists, so we are almost always creating art, but when we aren't, we love learning new things. We are self-taught in the space, so we continually work on improving our knowledge. We just created our first microgame in Unity, and we are sharpening our skills in Blender with rigging, animation, fbx avatar creation, and buildings for our lands in the metaverse. When we aren't doing those things, we enjoy spending family time and beach days!
Tell us about your project.
The Matic Greys is, first and foremost, a family project created by myself (Joel aka Skribbl_Grey), my wife (Chelsea aka Earl_Grey), and our 19-year-old daughter and developer (Rayne aka QWRTY_Grey). They are a collection of 7,747 unique hand-drawn Greys living on the Polygon blockchain. (We chose that number as a nod to The Roswell Incident of 7/7/47) We have a fantastic set of partners that continues to grow, including TCG World, Umbria.Network, CryptoSkunkz, Ape In Poker, and Polygon Alliance!
We will be building our Mothership on a commercial plot in the City of the Asia Region of TCG World Metaverse, as well as developing over a dozen other lands throughout all 4 regions of TCG World, where Grey owners will have access to exclusive games, prizes, events, and votes on charitable donations!
We are also currently in the process of expanding our utilities and partnerships. Grey owners will now also have free access to a custom-built Grey poker room for tournaments with a wide array of prizes, thanks to our newest partner, Ape in Poker! We have a lot more in the works in the realms of gamification and an expanding presence in the metaverse.
We are looking forward to sharing those developments once they are completed!
What makes it unique?
Being a fully doxxed family project sets us apart in a big way. We view the Greys as an extension of our family and work hard to ensure every aspect is planned and executed meticulously. Our goal is to build something completely unique that will span generations.
We also took a different approach. We wanted to build our project 100% organically. We did a complete stealth launch with no pre-launch marketing. We didn't use a minting dApp. Our collection, website, and socials were all launched the same day, almost simultaneously. (As an unexpected alien invasion would! )
Thanks to the flexibility of having fast, low-cost transactions on Polygon, we could mint the entire erc-721 collection to Opensea so everyone could see the art and choose The Greys they connected with. We wanted to build value first. We kept our costs low to be accessible to everyone who wanted to get involved based on the art and community. It wasn't until recently we adjusted our cost to reflect the value of what we have built and provide a larger budget for development opportunities that are now available to us.
Where do you get your inspiration?
So much inspires us about this space! The ability NFTs have to close the wealth gap for so many people worldwide, the good we can do through charitable donations, onboarding more women into web3, the space is full of incredible people and opportunities to do good!!
Our inspiration for The Matic Greys came from our COO and mother of the project, Chelsea (aka Earl_Grey), who insisted when I was laid off during the pandemic that we pursue our passions and combine our loves of extraterrestrial phenomenon, pop culture, and NFTs.
What motivates you/your work?
What doesn't motivate us? We are so very blessed, encouraging us to give back and show our appreciation! The Matic Greys has changed our lives. We've had the privilege of meeting so many amazing people. We love our community, and they motivate us daily to build our project to its highest potential. We are also driven by having the chance to make an actual difference in people's lives! We are so excited about our first charitable donation and our first large charitable campaign with our upcoming Baby Greys!!
How has your style evolved over the years?
In many ways, it hasn't changed that much. All through high school and college, my notebooks would be filled with "scribbles" of aliens, comic book characters, and abstract inkings. The most significant evolution comes from focus and passion for building a collection that speaks to a wide range of people. Working on The Greys with my wife and daughter and collaborating on ideas has helped bring a more youthful, colorful, and feminine energy to the collection, especially The Baby Greys. I'm also colorblind so having their help with color schemes stepped up my art big time!
What's next for you/your project?
The Baby Greys!! We will soon be launching our second collection, The Baby Greys! Current Grey owners will receive 1 Baby Grey for every 2 Greys they own (up to 3 Baby Greys/6 Greys). The remaining Baby Greys will go to mint on our website.
25% of sales and royalties will go to The Ronald McDonald House, and we will work with The Giving Block to bring those donations on chain for public visibility!
The Baby Greys' art and metadata will be hidden until 100% sold and include a 1 of 1 with a bounty of $5,000!
They will also have plenty of utility! We plan on having utility not only in our lands in TCG World but much more, including real-life discounts and access to exclusive runs on our upcoming designer art toy lines, and more utilities being discussed in current talks with possible future partners!
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
There are so many incredible projects that we would love to collaborate with. Still, we get most excited about working with new and upcoming artists that are passionate about building something unique and positive in the space! We love groups like Polygon Alliance and The Artist Guild (from TCG World) for precisely those reasons!
If we had to choose one large collaboration, it would hands-down be with Polygon Studios. We feel they have an incredible vision for the metaverse and NFT gamification's future, and all of their work is incredible!