nft FAQs
You may have seen me post on social media about NFTs and thought ‘...what the hell are NFTs?!’
It's a fair question! Below I explain, in very simple terms, what NFTs are, why I’m creating them, and what could be in it for you. I’ll also link to some articles that I found really useful, which explain all this waaay better than I can.
If you already know about NFTs... then you might want to skip to why I’m getting involved, or head straight to my NFT collections on Opensea and Foundation.
So what is an NFT?
In very simple terms an NFT is a unique digital file that can be bought and sold with crypto currency. Most NFTs are digital art, but they can also be tweets, videos, and really anything else that exists digitally.
NFT stands for ‘Non Fungible Token’, sounds sexy right? Non fungible basically means unique - it can’t be replicated. A painting, like the Mona Lisa for example, is non fungible - it is unique and so only one exists. Whereas a bitcoin or £10 note is fungible - one coin (or note) can be replaced by another as they are of identical value. This Creative Bloq article explains it well.
NFTs are bought and sold - mostly, on the Ethereum blockchain with a crypto currency called ETH - and people are making a lot of money this way. NFT collectors follow the art market, buy and sell NFTs, and make huge profits in the process. NFT artists are able to be creative, sell their work in digital format.
What do collectors do with their NFTs?
Here are some cool things people can do with their NFTs...
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Virtual galleries - magical places where you and anyone you share the link with can ‘walk’ around and view your NFT collection. Here’s mine.
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Digital frames - a bit like the digital photo frames that were popular in the '00s but way better.
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Instagram for NFTs - kind of... Tryshowtime claims to be that, NFTs you own will show up on your profile and you can follow other artists and collectors that you like.
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Hang a real print on a real wall - Once you've bought the NFT you get access to the file to print from. Or the artist may offer a print or the original painting as 'unlockable content' with the NFT.
Why LeopardsLunch NFTs?
While making money from selling my art is obviously a big reason why I’m getting into NFTs, it's not the only benefit for a digital artist like me.
As a creator, every time your NFT is sold you will receive a royalty payment. So if you sell an NFT cheaply at first, but your work becomes more desirable and sells on for a lot more, you will get a piece of that. Which isn’t how it works in the real art world.
In addition my NFTs will always attributed to me, the artist, because this information is attached to the digital file. So many artists have their work stolen or copied, I’ve seen people claiming my work is theirs online and it’s annoying!
It also means that I can afford to work freely and creatively and use bright colours that wouldn’t replicate well in print (like electric blue, which I LOVE). I do love creating work for clients, but it’s also fun to have a paid-for creative outlet.
Some people create and buy NFTs just to make money, and don’t seem to care what the art looks like. But quite a lot of collectors buy art that they really like, from artists that they want to support. These are the collectors I’m appealing to with my NFTs. I want my art to be affordable and collectable.
There’s an amazing NFT community, with a lot of help on offer to market your art and build a following. It’s a steep learning curve but I’m loving it so far.
If you are interested in finding out more about NFTs
...and how to invest in my work (from the little I've learned so far)
please get in touch - I love talking about it!