How to create NFT Art – Beginner’s Guide

What is NFT?

Art has continuously evolved, taking on new forms, from cave paintings to digital masterpieces in the crypto realm. Until recently, it was believed that works of art were mainly tangible objects, especially if they were sold at fabulous prices.

Blockchain technology allowed artists to create intangible works that they could sell around the world, on favorable terms and in absolutely uncomplicated ways. This is how the art of NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) appeared, which is also called crypto art. 

NFTs are unique tokens that cannot be replaced with something of the same value. This can be illustrated with a $100 bill that can be replaced with another $100 bill or five $20 bills. But this approach will not work for Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “Mona Lisa”, as this work of art is one of a kind, and copies of it will be just copies.

Just as there is a certificate confirming the authenticity of the Mona Lisa displayed in the Louvre, the NFT is a kind of digital certificate confirming the ownership of a virtual asset. Such an asset does not necessarily represent an image; it may well be a music track, a short film, or a funny GIF-picture. By the way, at the expense of the latter, a viral meme called the Disaster Girl was successfully sold as NFT for 180 Ethereum, which at that time was equal to $473,000. This fact is for those who do not believe that people will splash out on the NFT art pieces. 

But the most original way to use NFT tokens was demonstrated by the Injective Protocol company that bought Morons (White) by Banksy for $95,000 and burned the painting in a livestream video. The company then pegged the non-fungible token to the digital version of the destroyed work.

Hence, now Morons (White) exists only digitally and belongs to the Injective Protocol. The company announced that it took such a step in order to create a full-fledged crypto-art from physical work, which exists only in the digital space. Well, this seems to be contemporary art for those with money to burn. So is it worth trying yourself as an NFT artist? Or perhaps this art form is overhyped, and its popularity will be carried away as quickly as the ashes from a burnt Banksy masterpiece?

Why should you create NFT art?

First, there is an incredible demand for crypto art. According to the Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2021, NFT sales in the first three quarters of this year reached about $3.5 billion. Hence, if there are enough crypto collectors willing to pay money, the contemporary artist is less likely to starve.

This format allows artists to get their work done faster and get rewarded for it. They do not need to participate in auctions or pay galleries to exhibit their work. If you work without intermediaries, you just need to create your account and pay a small service commission. Also, such an initiative allows you to better monitor copyright compliance and prevent the spread of pirated material.

Besides the fact that your work can be appreciated and the deal can be done safely and without unnecessary complications, there is something else that will definitely make the prospect of becoming an NFT artist even more attractive. These are lifetime royalties that artists receive each time their work is acquired by a new user. This reward can range from 2.5% to 10%, and this ensures that you will receive a lifetime interest on the resale of NFT artwork as long as these tokens exist. Not a bad passive income, isn’t it?

Different Ways to Create NFT art

The NFT market is growing rapidly, which leads to the emergence of new solutions in this area, which are gradually generated and implemented. While most NFT platforms used to be essentially just marketplaces, many are now used by artists as their workshops and as a way to promote crypto art.

These services can be used by both advanced artists and beginners. For simple NFT art, you don’t need any coding skills, and you can easily create them on the NFT marketplaces, of which there are now about fifty. Some platforms require a usage fee, while others are free.

In terms of areas or types, NFT art can take many forms and be music, a book, a poet or a domain name, just to name a few. Making NFT art isn’t just a matter of geniuses, and you don’t have to be Monet or Van Gogh to do it. Pixel art creators like CryptoPunks make thousands of dollars. It is enough to master some of the tools in the industry in which you want to prove yourself. Illustrator, Canva, Pixilart and Photoshop are widely used to create NFT images.

If you are not an artist but still want to get involved in NFT art, or if you have a project with difficult purchase conditions, you can find an artist and developer to do the work for you.

How To Сreate NFT Art in 6 Easy Steps

If you’ve determined that NFT art definitely lacks your creative work, the following guide will help you get started.

Step 1. Choosing a blockchain

NFTs can be based on different blockchains, which have different properties that you should be familiar with. The most popular among NFT projects is the Ethereum blockchain. However, for the use of such a popular blockchain, you will have to pay a large commission for gas. It consumes more power and has low scalability.

But it’s worth noting that along with the shortcomings, you will get the superior security features that Ethereum has, in contrast to other less energy-intensive and more affordable blockchains.

However, not everything is so gloomy, because with the development of this industry, more and more new and improved solutions appear, one of which is Polygon. It offers low power and gas fees, faster transactions, and higher scalability. Another excellent solution is Immutable X, which has completely abandoned gas charges, and whose scalability is maintained at the proper level. Likewise, Solana is fast, scalable and still allows for cheaper transactions.

It is also important to remember that each blockchain has its own token standard. This means that it only supports certain wallets and NFT marketplaces. For example, if you create your NFT art on the Solana blockchain, you will not be able to sell it on marketplaces that do not support Solana, such as OpenSea.

Step 2. Creating a crypto wallet

A crypto wallet is required to store your NFTs and cryptocurrencies. When choosing a wallet, consider its compatibility with your NFTs and the NFT marketplace you intend to use.

After purchasing the cryptocurrency, it must be sent to the wallet you created. Some of the most common are MetaMask and Trust Wallet.

For storing large cryptocurrency sums and expensive NFT, it is better to use hardware wallets, for example, Ledger Nano X, which by the way works very well in tandem with MetaMask.

Step 3. Buying some crypto

Many people prefer to have ETH as there are several NFTs created on the Ethereum blockchain. Crypto is used to pay gas fees that are paid to miners to process and verify transactions on the blockchain, and to create your NFTs. The cryptocurrency needs to be consistent with the blockchain and marketplace you will be using.

The crypto can be purchased on exchanges such as Godex.io, where a trade can be made with a few clicks without complicated registrations, or Coinbase, a time-tested cryptocurrency trading platform.

Step 4. Choosing a marketplace 

You can turn your masterpiece into NFT using special platforms that are both NFT marketplaces and NFT workshops. 

In general, all services of this type are divided into two groups: curated platforms and self-service platforms. The first category is for advanced and authorized artists who create truly worthwhile, high-quality, and therefore expensive works. The fees on these platforms are higher, but they are reliable. SuperRare is one of these sites.

The second category includes platforms for aspiring artists. And it is not even necessary to be one, since everyone can make an NFT from their selfie and successfully sell it. Among the most popular platforms: Rarible, Mintable and OpenSea. The latter is the largest. Posting your work, creating a collection on OpenSea is free, but in the case of the first sale and activation of the account, you will need to pay a commission from the Ethereum network ($30-100). In addition, OpenSea will deduct a 2.5% commission on each successful NFT sale. Royalty is limited to 10%. Rarible uses its own RARI token to reward active site users. For the placement of each new token or the creation of a collection, you will need to pay a fee (about $30-100 for each publication). Rarible cooperates with OpenSea, which is convenient, since by posting work on one site, it will be shown on two platforms at once. The Mintable platform allows you to post and sell NFT completely free of charge.

There are platforms that resemble closed communities that you can join by fulfilling certain conditions. For example, you can post work on the Foundation only by joining the official community on Discord, which is possible only by invitation. Some platforms are only suitable for creating NFT images.

Step 5. Creating an account and collection

After choosing a platform, you need to create an account on it, as well as a new collection, where your NFT work will be minted. At this stage, you will need to configure the settings regarding a royalty percentage, choice of blockchain, method of payment and other data. It is important to take care of the visual component as well: logo, banner, description of your collection. Work on it in the same way as if you were working on opening your offline store. Create an atmosphere that will make your customers happy to be there.

Step 6. Creating your NFT

The first thing you need to do is upload your file to the platform. This file can be a picture, photo, music track, GIF, and so on. Make sure the platform you choose supports your file type and extension.

Do not forget to come up with a title and description for your file. This will make it more attractive and increase the chances of a successful sale. Specify the number of copies in which the token is issued (default 1). Click “Create”.

On the sale page, customize the settings that best suit your non-fungible token. Specify the address of your wallet to which the proceeds from the sale will be sent.

When setting the price for your NFT, take into account the size of the gas fee, usually information about it pops up immediately after the creation of the NFT. There is no fixed fee, and sometimes it can be quite high.

What are the prices for NFTs: How much should you pay for the NFT images you create?

The price can both scare away and attract the attention of the buyer, so this matter must be approached with all responsibility. Too low a price underestimates the value of the product, moreover, it can lead to losses for the creator. 

When determining the cost, you need to take into account the costs of creating and placing a token on the NFT market. If you thought you could make money without investing in your business, the following information may upset you.

You will need to pay different upfront payments for different blockchains. Blockchains that follow a proof-of-work algorithm like Bitcoin and Ethereum are slow and expensive, but more secure. Proof of Stake blockchains are faster and cheaper, newer and therefore less reliable. Examples of such blockchains are Solana, Polygon, Tezos, and Cardano.

When it comes to gas fees, you must follow the golden rule: do not mint NFT art when the gas price is higher than the artwork itself. The meaning of this is obvious and does not require explanation.

If your NFT art piece is unique, unparalleled (perhaps a collectible or a product of ingenuity), you can charge a higher price. Many NFT projects also offer additional benefits to their owners, such as membership benefits, exclusive merchandise, metaverse lands and VIP events. In such cases, the price of your NFT may also be higher.

The fact that the artist’s name also affects the value of the works, is not front page news. An illustrative example of the painting by Peter Paul Rubens “Portrait of a Lady”, which for almost 140 years was considered the work of his student: after the discovery of the true authorship, the price of the painting soared about 40 times. Hence, if you are new to the NFT industry, it is best to start with a lower price that can be increased once you have established yourself.

Advantages and Disadvantages of NFT art

Pros

For artists who peg their artwork to non-fungible tokens, their properties are of great value and a host of new possibilities.

By bringing their creativity to the digital world of NFT art, artists will be able to:

– prove that the work was created by them; this is especially true for digital artists, since before the invention of tokens it was almost impossible to confirm the authenticity of their creations – be it paintings, drawings, animations, videos, or even music tracks.

– to determine its uniqueness: a file can exist in one copy, or it can have several copies, each of which will be pegged to its own token. However, the price of such replicas will be lower than the one and only NFT. It can be compared to a limited edition of engravings;

– sell your product on any marketplace or directly “from hand to hand”;

– discover a whole new audience and potential buyers around the world;

– receive royalties from each subsequent resale of their work, if this is provided in the code of the NFT piece.

Cons

Aside from the benefits, there are a number of reasons why many people hesitate to support digital art.

First, this art is vulnerable to server crashes and hacker attacks. For example, many artists have been attacked, as a result of which their works in the public domain have been illegally assigned NFT codes. Thus, the swindlers stole a large number of art works and began to actively resell them. 

Secondly, although blockchain platforms themselves pay special attention to copyright, this process has not yet been regulated at the legislative level in many countries. Also, buyers only get the right to dispose of the token, but the authorship still remains with the creator. In a word, significant changes have taken place in the legal field, but work and work will have to be done on the final unification of all norms and rules.

Third, the environmental impact of transactions worries many artists. Joanie Lemercier, a French artist, was worried by the fact that it takes as much energy to sell one crypto art as the studio uses in two years. It is not surprising why so many users and artists refused to support such a system and actively asked blockchain companies to suspend the harmful effects on the environment.

Conclusion

Selling cryptocurrency or NFT art can change the entire creative industry; its appearance is only the beginning of what will seem to ordinary future generations. However, only time will tell what its ratio to offline sales will turn out to be. Yet when talking about NFT tokens, something else is more interesting. The excitement around virtual artworks reflects an important feature – people are ready to pay not for content, but for a certificate of authenticity, which is typical for the entire art market. 

FAQ

How to sell NFT art?

Once published on the marketplace, you can simply leave your NFT there and wait for someone to find it – of course. However, if you are an unknown artist without a solid audience base, this is a bad way to sell your work. There are millions of different non-fungible tokens on the platforms, among which your NFT piece can get lost, no matter how original or unique it may be.

Therefore, the second half of the selling process should involve promoting or marketing your tokens by building a social media presence and acquiring followers who will be interested in your creativity.

What Risks Are Associated With NFTs?

The transition of art to a new format is exciting action, but like many exciting activities, it is not devoid of risks. Here’s what confuses many artists with good reason:

• It is difficult for an unknown artist without subscribers to start selling. Due to the high competition and many other pieces of art, your NFT can get lost, so you have to resort to marketing to attract the attention of collectors to your work.
• Due to high gas fees, the price of the NFT has to be raised, which can lead to the loss of potential buyers.
• Perhaps the most daunting risk is the speculation that is currently filling the market. Investors artificially create hype in order to get a quick return on their money. However, if all NFT art rests on this alone, this bubble will burst sooner or later.

Are NFTs overhyped?

Of course, there is some hype and excitement around NFTs, as this is something new and different. Considering the advantages that this technology gives to artists, it can be concluded that the popularity of this art form is well deserved. However, only time will tell how far this will go and what place digital art will take in society.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that the content of this article is not financial or investing advice. The information provided is the author’s opinion only and should not be considered as direct recommendations for trading or investment. Any article reader or website visitor should consider multiple viewpoints and become familiar with all local regulations before cryptocurrency investment. We do not make any warranties about reliability and accuracy of this information.