Why aren’t more artists doing NFTs? (Issue #4)

+ spotlight on artist Jonathan Quintin, quick hits & good reads

Jan 18

Sup cool cats! The Fat Cat Fun(d) is two friends (kevinhabits and stevenmeets) sharing news, notes and thots about the exploding NFT space.

🤔 Why aren’t more artists doing NFTs? (YET!)

An established artist tries to enter the NFT space, and numerous questions come about - great for understanding an artist’s journey:

“Would these sell on this platform?”
“Does animation do better than static images?”
“Would you recommend selling multiple tokens instead of a single token?”
“How much do gas runs usually cost to upload to Rarible?”

Imagine you’re a digital artist new to the whole buzz around NFTs and crypto. Just to get started, you’ve got to learn:

what are bitcoin and ethereum and how to buy some
setting up a digital wallet like Metamask and transferring your bitcoin or ethereum to that wallet
how to mint your NFT in a marketplace like Rarible or OpenSea (easily another 5-10 steps)

As the thread so clearly shows, it’s a complicated process made even harder cuz money’s involved at every point, plenty of bad advice, and fluctuating gas fees etc.

And then the hard work begins of actually marketing your NFT and telling your story.

Challenges for would be NFT artists boil down to (i) technical learning curve, and (ii) customizing your marketing for this new medium.

Compared to 5 years ago, the NFT space has come a LONG WAY. It’s WAY easier now, the projects are WAY better, the market is 10x more active and liquid, and these trends will only continue.

If you’re an artist of any kind and want to mint NFTs and participate in this world, message us, we’d be glad to help!

👨‍🎨 Artist Spotlight: Jonathan Quintin

British digital artist Jonathan Quintin (website, IG, Twitter, SuperRare), whose client list includes Google, Manchester United, Tommy Hilfiger, etc., has truly embraced NFT art.

A few things stand out about his cryptoart:

Personified subjects. In his Astro & The Universe Series, collectors follow the adventures of a whimsical astronaut named “Astro”.

*Astro found himself drifting through outer space deciding where to travel next. Maybe The Moon?*

*Who is Astro missing? What are the sounds in his head? Where is he?*

Prolific on social media. Jonathan posts everything! From works in progress…

mbsjq 💎🚀🌈 @STUDIOJQ

The Before & After... Tempted to add motion to this. Should I? #astroandtheuniverse

…to real-time auction updates…

mbsjq 💎🚀🌈 @STUDIOJQ

💎⚡️🚀DANCE | SOLD to @IamSirNigel for 17.0 ETH ($21,046.17) 🚀💎⚡️ My biggest #NFTart sale to date! SO SO HAPPY! Thank you so much sirnigel. Astro in safe hands! 💎 Amazing collaboration between @STUDIOJQ & @Hackatao superrare.co/artwork-v2/dan… #cryptoart #NFT @SuperRare

…to #openstartup-like metrics:

mbsjq 💎🚀🌈 @STUDIOJQ

26 Artworks tokenized 21 Sold 13 Different Collectors 5 Remaining 3 With Open Bids Thank you so much for the support collectors and thank you @SuperRare for the awesome platform. Watch out for tomorrow 👀🤭🚀😱 ➡️ superrare.co/mbsjq #thankyou #cryptoart #NFT #nftart

⏰ Quick Hits:

Buy a physical good, get a cryptotoken too. The future of merch?

The Jiho @Jihoz_Axie

Bought a 200$ $YFI hoodie from @TheMetaFactory. Got $600 worth of $robot. This is the future of merchandising.

A Sotheby’s curator purchases a digital art piece from @muratpak

Pak @muratpak

..in the meantime @Sothebys claims their first NFT: "The Cheap"

Jesse Walden @jessewldn

💯 "Established art cultures online and in the physical world won’t be early adopters of NFTs. A crypto-native subculture will emerge around the medium first."

d.mirror.xyz 🌫 @Iiterature

New post https://t.co/sh2e5TEeIu

🤯

gmoney @gmoneyNFT

NFT's start to make a lot more sense once you realize that everything in the real world except money is an NFT.

What makes crypto art and NFTs valuable? FLEXing 💪

gmoney @gmoneyNFT

9/ But with a NFT, by posting it as my avatar on twitter and discord, I can quickly "flex" with a picture. Ownership and authenticity can be quickly verified online. It has the same effect as wearing that Rolex in real life, but digitally.

And this tweet lol

XCOPY 🏴 @XCOPYART

fortunately it's quite hard to panic sell cryptoart

📚 Good Reads:

Why 2021 Will be the Year of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): “2017 ICOs, 2018 Smart Contracts, 2019 Stablecoins, and 2020 DeFI. It’s Time to Pass On the Torch: Non-Fungible Tokens in 2021.”

Simon De La Rouviere is an absolute OG in the crypto and NFT space. He helped design the ERC20 standard which just about every ETH fungible token uses, and is a novelist and creator among other things. Highlights from his blog:

Neolastics: similar to Cryptokitties for art, a smart contract generates a piece of art for you, which is priced on a bonding curve
Seasons & Longevity of Community Tokens: the potential of community tokens to reward fans and encourage participation

A 2020 year in review for social tokens: “In perhaps the most notorious development of the year, creators experimented with micro-raises through social tokens. Alex Masmej raised $20k through $ALEX to fund his move to SF and Kerman Kohli raised $20k through $KERMAN.”

@Cooopahtroopa’s thread on the topic: