Take a check at your wifi connection if you haven't heard of NFT's or NFT art. In the last few months, NFT talk has taken over the internet. The hot topic has left millions perplexed, from TikTok and Twitter to CNN News, as to what it is and how it may benefit them.
Because of its recent prominence, it has the potential to have a profound impact on the creative business. What's in it for a graphic designer and artist? Let's start with the basics.
What is NFT art?
You can't physically touch an NFT, but you can own it. For example, the original photo of "Disaster Girl" sold for $500k earlier this year; an NFT can be any sort of digital file. A wide range of products, not simply art, are monetized and sold. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey advertised an NFT of the first tweet, bids had reached $2.5 million.
What exactly does the acronym 'Non Fungible Token' mean? To begin, it is necessary to define a 'Fungible Token.' In terms of money, we may say that a 100 dollar bill is a fungible token since it can be exchanged for five 20 dollar bills and still have the same value.
A one-of-a-kind item will be created if Banksy signs this $100 bill. Suddenly, determining its worth is much more difficult because it's no longer just worth five $20 bills. Non-Fungible Tokens are unable to be exchanged for anything else. To summarize, this means that, just like any other investment, its value may rise or fall over time.
Specifically, we'd like to know how this new, digital way of selling art will effect artists and the creative business.
What do NFTs impact on creator?
1. Digital Art Ownership
It wasn't until the rise of Cryptocurrency that we could possess anything entirely digital. We repurposed and reposted video clips and motion graphics, but there wasn't this contemporary possibility to acquire complete, real ownership over a digital file or artwork. With the emergence of NFTs, creators can now rent, sell, or show their digital artwork in whatever way they want.
It is necessary for designers to have some sort of legal ownership of their work in order to be able to sell their creations. Using Blockchain's cryptocurrency service, NFT art may then be "minted" (tokenized) after it has been made. In order to track copyright ownership and keep records of creativity, the Blockchain is a digital transaction system that saves information in a way that makes hacking or scamming very difficult. All the credit for whatever digital masterpiece you develop and mint belongs to you.
In the end, this approach should allow digital artists to earn formal acknowledgement for their work, similar to how a painter like Gustav Klimt is honored for his infamous picture, The Kiss. Despite the fact that Blockchain does have contracts in place to support the legality of minting and copyrighting cryptoart, none of them have yet been tried or tested in court.
Several artists have already come out to say that criminals have fraudulently minted and sold their work for their own profit. However, the future actions of these artists remain uncertain in the absence of legal protection or preexisting laws on the subject.
2. A creative method to earn money
Digital artworks can now be categorized using NFT art, which is a completely new approach of monetizing the work of designers. With this method, designers may generate their work more quickly while still reaping the benefits of their creativity. There's no waiting for feedback or revising and editing your work to fit a client's needs, no chasing down clients for payment, and no preparing files for printing.
Royalties
This means that when an NFT artwork is sold, the artist is entitled to 8-10 percent of any subsequent sales. Zora, an NFT platform with a "Creative Share" option, allows users to buy and sell artworks right away, making it ideal for artists.
NFTs can’t stand alone
The value of NFTs has had a significant impact on the design industry. What is the relative worth of a physical work of art versus a digital one? The value of NFTs and CryptoArt is solely based on cryptocurrency. For example, an NFT costs 2 Ethereum, which is equivalent to around $2,255 in U.S. dollars, because they are sold in terms of Ethereum. Nevertheless, if Ethereum's value falls, so does the artwork's worth: the cryptocoin's value is constantly linked to the artwork's value.
3. Stretch across the globe
Until recently, the art-world buying and selling has been confined to actual venues and physical artworks, but this is no longer the case. Designers and artists used to get money from real-world events like exhibitions and auction houses, but due to current world events, many of these outlets have been shut down. Because of NFT trading, art collecting is now accessible to artists around the world, who may not have previously had a chance to sell their work to collectors.
As a result, many graphic designers find it difficult to maintain a stable source of income without taking on additional work that is not directly relevant to their field. It takes time for stability to blossom, but it can be found in long-term customers or in a steady flow of work. However, if you haven't previously established yourself in the field, it can be difficult to break into this competitive industry. As a result, the ease with which an NFT can produce revenue might potentially open up a sea of possibility for many creatives, especially those from less privileged.
NFT platforms, much like social media, give designers immediate access to a worldwide audience. It's also customary for performers with a large amount of followers to gain notice in the NFT sector. The problem for designers is to figure out how to convert their viewers into clients. You must identify your target demographic and learn how to build an emotional connection with them like any other brand. As a result, you'll have to look at several branding methods in order to discover what works best for you.
Inclusivity vs. Exclusivity
NFT's art sector claims to establish a safe haven for digital artists to earn a living. Whatever your specialization, whether it's realistic 3D motion graphics or blocky pixels like in the Nyan Cat film (which sold for $600,00 when it was released), anyone with a computer can create an NFT. Millions of creatives around the world might benefit from this.
However, you should be wary of the high minting charge. To get their artwork "minted" on the Blockchain, designers must compete with each other. Between $80 and $1000 is the range of prices, depending on the time of day and the network. This fee does not guarantee that designers will sell their work, but it does prevent them from selling it on the market if they do not pay it.
4.Significant impact on the environment
The environmental impact of NFT artworks is a hot-button issue in the NFT art community. Joanie Lemercier, a French artist, recently made headlines after her NFT sold out in just 10 seconds, raking in thousands of dollars. Incredibly, isn't it? In addition, he had no idea how much energy this transaction would use: 8.7 megawatt-hours, the equal of what his studio uses over a two-year period.
The sculpture was subsequently resold by the original seller, resulting in the same amount of energy being consumed twice. This shocked the artist, who had hoped to sell his work online as an environmentally beneficial alternative for shipping physical object around museums all over the world. In a subsequent remark, Lemercier detailed the lack of openness he encountered when studying the energy consumption of cryptoart platforms.
Because NFT artworks are so resource-intensive, many designers are concerned. There is a broader issue at hand here than just dealing in cryptoart; it has to do with the digital technique known as "proof of work." To develop and mint cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, proof-of-work, which first appeared in the early '90s, is now mostly utilized in the mining process. In order to get the most bitcoin, high-powered computers compete against one other, using a large amount of electricity.
Greener alternatives are being created, but as long as bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency, any creators who want to sell their work as NFTs will have to go through this environmentally damaging process.
Are NFTs the future for the art world?
Honestly, we don't know for sure! In April, the price of NFT art fell by 70%, but with so much potential, it doesn't appear that NFT art is going to lose momentum soon.
Personal experience leads me to feel that we have been steadily moving toward a digital age for the past decade, and that this is only the next step in that process. As a self-taught graphic designer, most of my work is intended to be printed, but since all of my work is done digitally, it feels like a squandered opportunity not to make an NFT. This is likely to be the case for many other designers as well. It would be a pity if the NFT industry failed to realize its full potential.
How to make an NFT?
You must first construct a "Cryptowallet" before you can begin selling NFTsonline. In order to use Ethereum, you must first pay the mining costs. To get started, you'll need to link your digital wallet to a marketplace for NFTs.
On NFT markets, designers and artists can sell their digital artwork as an NFT. NFT marketplaces are like eBay or Etsy, but only for non-physical goods! Rarible, OpenSea, Mintable, KnownOrigin, and SuperRare are among the most popular.
When you're submitting your artworks to these, be sure to consider how many you'll supply. You have the option of uploading a collection of the artwork with several copies, or you can publish it as 1 of 1, meaning there will only be one artwork created and sold. This is a significant consideration, because, like with traditional art forms, the rarity and number of original editions determine the value of a work.
