Creating NFT Art

If you are an artist and want to use NFTs to sell your digital creations, there are several options, but before discovering them, you need to keep in mind some basic notions.

1. NFTs are 100% digital tokens that exist on a blockchain.
2. They contain several pieces of immuable information: date of creation, number of editions and the wallet of the author.
3. An NFTs properties are called metadata: name of the author, name of the work, link to the content…this metadata may or may not be immutable.

Confusion therefore often occurs between the blockchain verification and the metadata that can be edited afterwards.

Step 1: Choose the Right Blockchain 

Before thinking about the platform that will allow the creation (mint) of your NFT art, it is important to know which blockchain it uses. Depending on the consensus that the blockchain uses, a balance must be found between several elements:

• Security
• Decentralization
• Scalability
• Ecology

To date, there is no blockchain that has found a perfect balance between these three elements, many projects are working on it but to say they have arrived there would be a lie.

For example, thanks to ‘Proof of Work’, Ethereum is very secure and decentralized but cannot support many transactions. ‘Proof of Stake’ blockchains allow for a faster and greater number of transactions but are more centralized and less secure.

Recently, ecological concerns related to the electricity consumption of blockchains have taken on a lot of momentum. Taking into account this parameter when choosing your blockchain requires additional verification on how the electricity that powers the project has been produced.

For more on the blockchain trilemma, check out our chapter ‘Trustless Consensus on the Blockchain‘

Now that we’ve seen the fundamentals of blockchain, how do you create your first artistic NFT?

Step 2: Craft your First NFT Artwork

It has become very easy to mint your first NFT. Let’s see how to do it in three steps on the most used platform : OpenSea. The process is very similar on other platforms. Some options will be offered more or less, but in the end the concept remains absolutely the same.

OpenSea will ask you to authenticate through your web3 wallet. Several choices are offered such as Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, or Venly.

On mobile devices, the Trust Wallet and Opera Touch can be used as well.

It’s time to choose what your NFT is going to be! Several formats are supported: image, video, GIF, or audio within a limit of 100Mb. Next, fill in the basic properties like the name as well as a link to the project.

The following steps will add the metadata to your NFT:

• A description.
• The collection to which it belongs.
• The properties, this can be hair color, eye shape, etc.
• The levels, which can determine a grade for example.
• The stats, used to specify the generation number, ranks or serial number.

It is also possible to add unlockable content (a code, a better quality image…) and specify whether it is explicit or sensitive content.

Then comes the number of editions of your NFT supply. Determining the number of editions is essential, especially for artworks. Is it a unique piece? Or are there several editions of the same work? 

The choice of blockchain is also crucial. The fees on Ethereum are currently high and therefore the transfer of the NFT will be expensive. Other solutions should emerge in the future to leave more choices to the creator.

If you want to learn more about the technical part, do not hesitate to consult the OpenSea Developer Documentation!

It is because this method has become so simple that today there are so many NFTs, like any artistic creation. It is important that the meaning behind the work is reflected beforehand. Even more so on the blockchain, because the ultimate goal is to make your digital creation immortal.

It can be a free expression or a political message, an existing landscape or a fictive universe, a still image or programmable art… thanks to digital tools, every day digital art expands on what is possible to create.

For the moment, the link between the physical and Web3 universe has not yet found an adequate formula in terms of automating exchanges. For example, NFT certificates of authenticity in a painting must be transferred manually at the time of purchase.

In the art sector, it is therefore important to think 100% digital when you want to create your first NFT.

Step 3: Create your NFT Community from A to Z

One of the most underrated aspects of popular artists in Web2 is to think that their community will follow them into Web3, except that one of the main values conveyed by NFTs is real ownership.

This is in direct contradiction with most of the conditions of use of social networks that retain almost all the rights of use of the media hosted on their platform.

The popularity acquired on Web2 therefore ultimately has little value within Web3. Unless you are already recognized worldwide, one of the first things you will have to build is a strong community, who also own crypto.

Collectors of art NFTs do not buy randomly! They like to know the history of the artist, his motivations, and his reasons for coming into the ecosystem. They may, of course, simply be attracted to the aesthetics but usually, other things play a part in their decision to purchase.

Ultimately, the roots of public blockchains have eminently political origins and to deny this aspect is an error. Decentralization is not just technical, it is also the foundation that everyone brings with them to build the web of tomorrow.

>>> If you need support with your project, check our consulting offers <<<

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.