Until recently, Russian artists were selling their work through Instagram or international platforms. But in view of the latest restrictions, which also affected the transportation of paintings abroad, many are looking at NFT, and some are already actively using it, selling digital works around the world. Read on, how to monetize art in today's realities.
A little more about NFTs
NFT is a non-fungible token. What is a token? This is information about a digital object, for example, a painting - its price, creator, previous and present owners.
The information is in the blockchain network, which is something like a giant filing cabinet, the fragments of which are scattered and not managed from any one center, so the blockchain network is called decentralized. In view of this, information about the token is unchanged, but supplemented. For example, when a work passes to a new collector, becomes more expensive or cheaper, this is reflected in the token.
The actual file of the picture, which is the object of the token, is located in the decentralized cloud. The file and the token are linked by a code.
In other words, NFT is like a digital evidence of your ownership of the original digital file. As a registered owner, you can dispose of the original object: sell, transfer or destroy it, and this right is assigned to you indefinitely, as long as the Internet exists in the world.
Create an NFT? No problem!
NFTs are generated on blockchain networks, the most popular of which in the world of visual art is Ethereum, therefore, it is about Ethereum that we will tell further.
The cryptographic currency of the Ethereum blockchain network has the same name and is designated as ETH. The sale and purchase of a certain NFT occurs only in the network of its creation - a token generated in Ethereum is sold for ethereums. Here it is worth mentioning that any crypto is a volatile financial instrument, before working with it, it is necessary to study and weigh all the pros and cons.
By creating an NFT, you start a digital algorithm: a record of the parameters of the artwork token and a list of allowed operations with it (sale, etc.) appear in the blockchain network.
This algorithm, also called a smart contract, is comparable in its functions to the registration of a contract. NFT is generated at the time of the first transfer of funds in the blockchain under such an agreement.
Who creates smart contracts?
You can generate an NFT on your own by writing a smart contract, but this is a task for a programmer. If you are not a programmer, use templates from marketplaces - platforms that trade non-fungible tokens. Let's explain in more detail.
The fact is that individual smart contracts are written, as a rule, for large projects that teams of programmers, authors, and marketers are working on.
It is technically difficult for a simple author, especially a beginner, to generate a smart contract: specific knowledge is needed. And to sell the work, you will need a separate website, an advertising campaign, effort and time to gain the trust of potential buyers: not everyone dares to conduct a transaction from a crypto wallet on an unfamiliar website. The data of the latter, as well as physical cards or accounts, is not accepted to be entered on dubious resources.
Of course, the method has significant advantages: 1) generating and selling NFTs under your full control; 2) no need to lose a percentage of transactions. But the difficulties that await you along the way are unlikely to pay off.
NFT trading platforms
Marketplaces have ready-made templates of "smart contracts" to generate them, you do not need highly specialized knowledge. And the key point is that buyers trust trading platforms. In addition, other marketplaces are engaged in the promotion of artists, publish new items - it is easier to find buyers in such conditions.
Disadvantages: 1) from each sale you have to deduct up to 15% to the marketplace; 2) as a rule, the work is tied to a specific trading platform without the possibility of transfer.
However, the pros still outweigh, especially for beginners. Therefore, I will continue to talk about the sale of NFTs from trading floors.
STEP ONE - choose the type of site
Marketplaces are conditionally divided into open and curated.
Everyone can get to the open ones, often for free. The most famous sites of this type are opensea и Rare, any beginner can create and put up for sale NFT here.
Lack of: there is a huge flow of tokens on open marketplaces, among which your works will immediately be lost. But you can promote them using third-party resources, social networks, and more.
As for curated sites, you can’t just get on them - you need to pass a curatorial selection or get an invitation from another artist who has already sold something on the same marketplace. Thus, there are fewer works on curated sites (Foundation and others), but they are more expensive and of better quality, including those from world-famous authors.
The supervised sites have divided niches among themselves: for example, elite works are exhibited at Superrare, costing from two ethers. Celebrities from Russia such as Recycle Group and AES+F sell their works here.
Makersplace has a lower barrier to entry, but the quality is just as good as KnownOrigin, the trendsetter in 2D NFT art. The artist chooses one or another trading platform depending on how difficult it is to pass the selection there and what the target audience is there.
Recently, the Foundation marketplace, on the wave of popularity, has attracted a lot of authors and, as a result, low-quality content. However, the advantage is that the auction of your work may be on the main page of the site, and there are still a lot of buyers on the Foundation.
Bottom line: start with open marketplaces, simultaneously applying for curated ones. Until recently, an author could get an invitation to the Foundation through contests on Twitter.
But before registering on any of the sites, you need to open a crypto wallet.
STEP TWO - open the wallet
A wallet in the cryptographic space is both a storage and a main document, all your accounts on trading platforms are tied to it. Consider the process of creating a Metamask wallet, convenient for selling NFTs on the Ethereum network.
Download the Metamask browser extension or smartphone app. After that, the crypto wallet opens in a couple of clicks, most importantly, save the password and seed phrase in a safe place. The latter is needed to enter the crypto wallet in case of a browser change, without it access will be lost forever.
STEP THREE - replenish the wallet
For each operation in the blockchain, a reward (gas) is paid to miners - owners of computers serving the network. In this case, they perform calculations when you create a token, put it up for sale or change its value, make a transaction.
This is the situation on all trading platforms other than Rarible, where gas is debited only when the work is sold, and in some cases the gas is paid by the buyer, not the artist.
The amount of gas depends on the current load on the blockchain. On the Ethereum network, gas is approximately equal to 0,005–0,03 ETH, you can find out the exact value on monitoring platforms such as Gwei.at. You can also adjust the minimum throttle time.
To create an ethereum token, you need to replenish your wallet with 0,05 ether to cover the mint payment (creation operations) and the list payment (putting up for sale).
You can buy currency and replenish a crypto wallet through a crypto exchange; its disadvantage is the commission (which varies depending on the load on the network) for sending the currency to your wallet and the relative possibility of hacking the exchange, in which case you will lose all funds.
STEP FOUR - registration on the trading platform
Log in to the marketplace through your wallet - this is how to log in to the application through facebook.
Sign the input using the web extension or crypto wallet app. Enter your data, links to profiles in social networks, additional information into the account.
STEP FIVE - create a collection and a separate non-fungible token
Often, a marketplace requires tokens to be combined into collections, so let's consider its creation on the example of the Openasea site. First you need to open "My collections" and click on "Create a collection", then add a logo and cover icon, name and briefly describe the collection in an original way. You can also specify your website and social networks.
Here you will also see what percentage will be deducted to you as the author for the subsequent resale of the object. On Opensea it is up to 10%.
Now select the blockchain network. Opensea has Ethereum or Polygon. The Polygon network is unattractive for buyers (it is less secure than Ethereum), but it is beneficial for authors, since they do not have to pay for gas. For the same reason, the Polygon is filled with low-quality content, and it is undesirable to upload valuable works there.
Opensea pays gas only by creating collections in Ethereum, while creating and selling individual NFTs don't pay. This marketplace compares favorably with all analogues (apart from Rarible), where gas is paid for everything.
After making a collection, make a token of an individual painting. On Opensia, for this purpose, you should open the Create section in the menu and fill out another simple form, upload the key file in the highest resolution. Then select the collection to which the system will assign the created NFT, and click on Create.
The token created in this way can already be sold.
STEP SIX - choose how we will sell
Sometimes artists sell paintings to a certain buyer by prior arrangement, that is, without being put up for sale. But at least at first, you will definitely encounter the need to expose them all the same.
Key selling methods:
- For a certain price set by you, the first collector who agrees with it becomes the owner of the work;
- Through an auction lasting until the selected date or within XNUMX hours of the first bid;
- At the price offered by the buyer - you can agree to it or not.
Which method to choose depends on how you promote your work and what platform you sell on. On supervised marketplaces, the second method is preferable - after the first bid, your lot may appear on the main page of the site, which will attract buyers and, therefore, increase bids. The second method is also suitable if your work is widely covered on the Internet outside the marketplace.
However, keep in mind that the first bid is usually less than the desired final value. Therefore, on some sites (for example, Foundation) you can set the minimum bid.
We recommend that artists without an audience who are placed on open marketplaces set the cost of the token themselves.
One way or another, try to impartially evaluate the work, without depreciating your work, but also not forgetting that overpricing will scare away buyers.
Paintings by novice artists sell for an average of 0,2 ETH. After several sales, the price can be raised.
On Opensea, click on the List next to the main NFT image, select the type of sale: auction or set price. Even if you choose the second option, some collectors will offer you their prices.
STEP SEVEN - promotion
For successful sales, actively develop your brand. NFT artists usually gain an audience of subscribers through social networks.
Until March 4, 2022, Russian authors launched marketing campaigns mainly on Twitter, where they entered into dialogues with buyers and other craftsmen, shared their experience, talked about themselves, and took part in voice conferences.
Due to restrictions, activity has moved to YouTube and Clubhouse, where there are many people interested in NFT. And also on the Discord platform there are live communities of NFT marketplaces with separate threads for discussing digital works.
In addition, you can take part in competitions from international companies and apply for grants. Information about such events and events in the NFT world is covered in the NFT Bastards Telegram channel.
Other artists promote the picture even before its publication in the NFT format: they announce when this will happen, show subscribers the stages of creation and finished fragments. According to this scheme, promoted authors sell paintings in a matter of hours.
Attention: beware of scammers who tend to order NFTs from artists according to certain parameters. They attach a link to a task or a sample - when you click on it, you get a virus that breaks into a crypto wallet. Therefore, it is dangerous to use links from strangers, but even the profiles of users you know can fall into the hands of intruders.
STEP EIGHT - sale
Buyers are different: some enter into a conversation with the author before buying, others make a bid and tweet the artist's nickname, and still others purchase the work silently and completely anonymously.
When a potential buyer makes a bid, you receive an email notification, so make sure that messages from the marketplace do not get lost in spam.
During the auction, the authors tell their community about the first bid and interest new potential buyers. Sometimes this results in a bidding war: buyers try to outplay each other in a matter of minutes before the close of trading.
Upon purchase, the token goes into the buyer's wallet, but the title image of the work remains with the author in the portfolio (without the right to manage it). The buyer may sell, forward or destroy the purchased works. And the history of the token reflects all transactions with it, including offers of value and change of ownership.
STEP NINE - withdrawal of funds
When a transaction is closed, its value, minus the commission percentage of the trading platform, appears on your crypto wallet. Money can be transferred to fiat - a physically existing currency.
It is more convenient to convert cryptocurrencies through special exchangers, whose rates, as well as user reviews, can be viewed on Bestchange. The exchange itself takes place as follows: you transfer the crypt to the specified wallet, pay gas for the operation, then enter information about yourself and the bank card number in the appropriate field. Wait for the funds to arrive in your account. Keep a small amount of crypto in your wallet for future NFTs.
What are the chances of success sell NFT work?
Success in NFT directly depends on brand promotion. This is a long and painstaking work, but the popularity of the NFT artist is immediately international, and this market continues to grow.
Hack and predictor Aviator: if you create digitally (computer graphics) or your works (painting, photography) can be digitized, try your hand at NFT. If you are a master of physical works, then perhaps the NFT format will bring something new to them: animating the image, adding hidden content. Use the new features to the fullest, do not limit yourself to just scanning pictures.
Generating an NFT is easier than studying the market and starting to navigate the prices. But when you find your niche, you can focus on developing your own creativity, without being distracted by fleeting trends.