With all these entrepreneurs cashing in on NFTs (non-fungible tokens), it’s about time artists start making bank from their own art! Non-fungible tokens give artists the opportunity to make millions from their art, turning it from physical art and digital art into NFT art.
We’ve put together a dummies guide to NFTs teaching artists and entrepreneurs how to make NFT art and have also included a few interesting extra bits around the world of crypto, enjoy!
Artist? How to Create An NFT? How to Make a NFT Art Table of Contents
How to Make a NFT Art Section Quick Links
What is a NFT (Non-Fungible tokens)?
Do You Have to Be a Digital Artist to be an NFT Artist?
Best NFT Marketplace for Artists
How Much Does It Cost to Create An NFT?
How to Make a NFT Art Section Quick Links
What is a NFT (Non-Fungible tokens)?
What Makes an NFT Different from Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin & Ethereum?
Decide on The Art You Want to Make Into An NFT
Find an Online NFT Art Marketplace
Decide Whether You Want to Mint Your NFT Yourself
Choose Your Blockchain - Popular Options
Set Up Your Digital Crypto Wallet
Get Your Artwork Ready to Be Uploaded
Do You Have to Be a Digital Artist to be an NFT Artist?
Best NFT Marketplace for Artists
What File Types Can I Use to Turn Art into NFTs?
How Much Does It Cost to Create An NFT?
Best NFT Marketplace for Photography
What is a NFT (Non-Fungible tokens)?
NFTs give artists the perfect way to make money from their work. They have been around since 2014 but have been getting really popular as a way to buy and sell digital artwork. Over $22 billion has been spent by people buying NFTs in 2021.
So, what is an NFT? A non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital representation of a real-world object like the Mona Lisa. NFTs are usually unique, or part of a small collection, each one will have its own unique token (mint token), this is what makes them valuable.
Limiting the supply, inflates the demand and increases the price, this is why the Charlie Bit My Finger Video sold for over £650,000.
The problem that NFTs solve for artists is, “If my art is all over the internet, how do I allow a prospective buyer to own the original item’s intellectual rights?”. NFTs solve this by providing artists with a simple method of authenticating their art, acting as a proof of ownership. Some people call this “digital bragging” rights.
Non-fungible means that the tokens are unique and can’t be switched or replaced with anything else, moving us on to our next question.
What Makes an NFT Different from Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin & Ethereum?
Step into the world of blockchain, the engine powering both Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. If blockchain were a city, NFTs and cryptocurrencies would be two vastly different neighborhoods with their own unique characteristics.
Imagine blockchain as an impenetrable vault that's perfect for guaranteeing NFT ownership. NFTs, much like the cryptocurrency Ether, are predominantly built using the Ethereum blockchain network. Yet, that's where the twins stop twinning.
NFTs are the black sheep in the blockchain family. Unlike its crypto siblings, an NFT, or Non-Fungible Token, is a one-of-a-kind entity. Think of it as a snowflake in the digital world - no two are identical, and it can't be swapped out for another digital asset like Bitcoin.
On the other hand, cryptocurrencies are like the family favorite. They're fungible. You can happily swap one for another of the same type, like trading one Bitcoin for another, as they hold identical value.
Consider each NFT a digital masterpiece, entirely unique, ensuring it's non-fungible. You can't simply replace an original Van Gogh with a replica, can you?
Even giant corporations like Nike have begun to harness the power of NFTs. They're using this technology to authenticate their sneakers, creating an incorruptible verification process. For sneakerheads, this means each piece in their coveted collection can be authenticated and verified with ease, ensuring they own genuine, rare treasures.
How To Make A NFT Art
You can turn any piece of digital art into an NFT as long as you are the intellectual property rights owner of that piece of art and it is unique.
An artist can turn virtually anything that is unique into an NFT, we are talking:
- Pictures
- Physical Paintings & Digital Paintings
- Music
- Video Games
- Memes
- GIFs
Here are the steps you need to take to make your art into an NFT:
Decide on The Art You Want to Make Into An NFT
The first stage of how to make a NFT Art is to decide which piece of your artwork you would like to turn into an NFT.
If you’re a physical artist, you will need to think about how you will digitalise your piece of art before looking to see how you mint it on the blockchain. You can find out more about that here: Do You Have to Be a Digital Artist to be an NFT Artist?
Find an Online NFT Art Marketplace
The next stage of how to make a NFT art will be to look for an Internet NFT art marketplace. These are online art marketplaces that allow you to tokenize your work into a non-fungible token (NFT).
For most marketplaces you will need to pay a gas fee to list your NFT, this is pretty much like an eBay listing fee or transaction fee for using the Ethereum Blockchain Network.
What Are Gas Fees?
Gas fees is a payment that you make when you list your NFT. The money goes to cryptocurrency miners who are responsible for putting your transaction on the blockchain.
The actual gas fee is essentially a value that calculates how much computational work is required to process your transaction and the smart contracts you need on the Ethereum network for your NFT.
Popular NFT Marketplaces
OpenSea
CryptoPunks
Rarible
Mintable
Axie Marketplace
There are a number of popular marketplaces, but the NFT space can be tricky and dangerous, so the first step we would recommend is using a NFT marketplace from the list above to create your first digital art token (NFT).
Decide Whether You Want to Mint Your NFT Yourself
Another option is to mint your NFT yourself. This is a pretty complicated process and usually takes someone 15 to 24 hours to finish minting their NFT.
There are really useful tools like OpenSea that you can use to mint your NFT without spending 15 hours…who's got time for that!
Choose Your Blockchain - Popular Options
We mentioned before that blockchain technology is the key technology powering NFTs. To start the NFT minting process you will need to decide what specific blockchain technology you would like to use for your NFT.
Some of the most popular blockchain choices for NFT artists are:
Ethereum
This is pretty much the best blockchain choice for NFTs, most popular NFT projects are built using Ethereum. The Ethereum cryptocurrency has the second largest crypto user base after Bitcoin and currently has the biggest global market for NFT minting, buying and selling.
Tezos
Tezos has a heavy focus on smart contracts, these are contracts that automatically execute when a certain scenario happens. This can make sure you as an artist get paid a certain percentage (royalties) every time your NFT gets resold.
Tezos is seen as the indie choice for minting NFTs and focuses on being the environmentally friendly choice for NFT minting as it operates with a reduced carbon footprint.
Some other popular NFT blockchains are Solana, Cosmos, Palm & Polkadot.
Set Up Your Digital Crypto Wallet
To create your NFT you’ll need a digital crypto wallet with some crypto in it. Most online NFT marketplaces accept the currency of the Ethereum blockchain network, this is called Ether. So you’ll just need to buy some Ether for your new wallet.
Some of the most popular digital crypto wallets for NFTS are:
Coinbase Wallet
If you’re just starting off down the NFT & crypto rabbit hole, Coinbase is one of the best crypto wallets around. It is extremely easy to use and very very secure. Meaning all your hard earned NFT income won’t get stolen whilst you're dreaming about your new house in Tahiti.
MetaMask Wallet
MetaMask is a crypto wallet specifically designed for the Ethereum blockchain, and allows you to access your Ethereum wallet on virtually any digital device.
Get Your Artwork Ready to Be Uploaded
Now you have your piece of NFT artwork digitalised and ready, your popular NFT marketplace selected, have chosen a popular blockchain platform and also have your crypto wallet ready, it’s time to mint your NFT.
Your chosen NFT marketplace will usually have a step-by-step guide, walking you through the process of uploading your digital file on their popular platform. The process will turn your digital art file into a non-fungible token (NFT) that you can market and sell to the public.
Create Your NFT Sales Process
You’re nearly ready to start making money and getting those royalty checks rolling in. The last stage of the process to mint your NFT is to decide what sales model you want to use.
Some popular NFT sales process are:
A Timed NFT Auction
This is similar to a normal eBay auction, you set the starting price for your NFT and let people bid within a certain timeframe for your work. If you have a strong social media following, you could use a timed NFT auction to get a higher price for your unique digital asset in the world of NFTs.
A Fixed Price NFT Sale
This is similar to setting a ‘Buy It Now’ price on eBay. The first thing you do is set a minimum price for potential buyers. The first person to pay you that set price gets your NFT, pretty simple really.
An Unlimited NFT Auction - Also Called An Unlimited Auction
This is similar to a timed NFT auction, just without the fixed time limit. As an artist, you control when you want to close your auction based on the bids/offers you receive.
Do You Have to Be a Digital Artist to be an NFT Artist?
Both physical and digital artists can turn their work into NFTs. As a physical artist if your piece of art is flat you can scan your artwork with a 2D art scanner.
This will then turn your physical art into a digital asset, ready to be minted into an NFT.
If you have a 3D piece of artwork, a 3D scanner can be used to turn your artwork into a digital asset ready to be minted into an NFT.
So no, you don’t have to be a digital artist to be an NFT Artist, you can turn your physical artwork into an NFT quite easily.
What is Minting NFTs?
Minting NFTs is the process of taking it from a digital file (PNG, JPG, MP3, MP4), adding metadata to it for the blockchain network and then publishing it on a NFT marketplace for sale. You can use popular online NFT art marketplaces to easily print your artwork, or you can do it yourself.
Best NFT Marketplace for Artists
OpenSea
Rarible
Mintable
Axie
You can find out more about each of these great NFT Marketplaces for Artists here:
Best Places to Sell NFT Art
OpenSea
OpenSea is a peer-to-peer NFT marketplace that has a wide selection of rare digital items and collectibles.
Rarible
Rarible is an open marketplace that allows artists to easily mint and sell NFTs. Rarible uses its own RARI tokens that it issues to allow artists to be part of the democratic community that powers Rarible.
Mintable
If you’re looking to save money, Mintable could be the perfect NFT marketplace to sell your art, as they allow you to mint your NFT for free.
Axie Marketplace
If you’re a fan of Axie Infinity you can design characters for their game, mint them as NFTs and then sell them on the Axie Marketplace.
How to Display NFT Art
If you are an artist with fans asking how they can display their NFT art or if you have just bought your first NFT, you’re probably wondering how to display your NFT art.
Especially as art is to be appreciated by others. We’re going to fly through a few ways you can display NFT Art:
How to Display NFT Art in Real-Life
There are a few options you can use to show off your NFT art on the walls of your house, studio or office.
Displaying NFT Art in Digital Frames
Digital art frames used to be really ugly. But a lot has changed since 2010, there are some beautiful digital frames available for you to display your NFT art.
If your NFT is a photo or video, a digital NFT frame might be the perfect choice for you.
You just need to make sure the digital frame that you want to buy can handle your NFT file format.
Displaying NFT Art Using Infinite Objects
If you want to display your NFT art in some sort of video format, including a slideshow, Infinite Objects might be the perfect choice for your NFTs.
Infinite Objects turn your NFTs into moving pictures, playing a constant video loop
Displaying NFT Art Using Qonos
Qonos is an amazing NFT-based digital frame. It was made just for crypto fans who want to display NFT art on their walls. You can connect your Qonos to your crypto wallet and seamlessly display the NFTs that you own.
How to Sell NFT Photography
Thinking about how to sell NFT Photography? You’ll need to own the intellectual property rights for the photograph that you would like to turn into an NFT, but the process is exactly the same as turning digital art & physical art into an NFT.
You can view the full guide on how to make NFT art here. If you just want a simple summary of how to sell NFT photography, here you go:
- Decide on the photography you would like to make into an NFT
- Pick your online NFT marketplace for Photography
- Choose your blockchain platform
- Set up & fund your digital wallet
- Upload your digital artwork onto your NFT platform
- Create your sales process, pay your gas fee & you’re ready to sell NFT photography or your existing photography NFT collection alongside other NFT creators.
How to Turn Art Into an NFT
There are a few ways you can turn art into an NFT. The first step is to decide whether you want to turn a 2D or 3D piece of art into an NFT.
If you are turning a piece of physical 2D art into an NFT, you will have to use a digital art scanner to turn your art into a digital asset.
If you are turning a piece of physical 3D art into an NFT, you will have to use a special 3D scanner which will capture all angles, dimensions and contours of artwork. With 3D scanning it is usually best to outsource the task to experts rather than trying to 3D scan your own artwork.
You can find all the steps involved in turning art into an NFT here:
What File Types Can I Use to Turn Art into an NFT?
There are a few popular NFT file types:
- GIF
- JPG
- PNG
- SVG
- WAX
- OGG
- MP3
- MP4
The file type depends on the type of art that you would like to sell as an NFT.
How Much Does It Cost to Create An NFT?
This is such a good question. You have a range of options for minting your NFT and if you choose popular NFT marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible, minting your NFT can be completely free using their lazy minting option.
Some other NFT platforms can charge anywhere between $5 and $150 to mint and publish your artwork into an NFT, this usually depends on the size and quality of your artwork.
One thing to remember is that you will always be required to pay gas fees when minting your NFT, if you are using the Ethereum blockchain gas fees will cost you around $70.
Think about a gas fee like a service fee or transaction cost.
Best NFT Marketplace for Photography
There are a few really good marketplaces for both buying NFT photography and selling your NFT photography. These are a few of our favourite NFT marketplaces for photography:
- OpenSea
- Rarible
- Mintable
Best Crypto Wallet for NFT
A crypto wallet is a digital wallet specifically for crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum and NFTs. You’ll be using your crypto wallet to list your NFT on a marketplace and you’ll use it as a payment wallet each time you get paid for a sale or royalty.
The two crypto wallets that we recommend for NFTs are:
Coinbase Wallet
The best choice if you are just getting started with Crypto & NFTs.
MetaMask Wallet
If you’re slightly further along your crypto & NFT journey, check out MetaMask. It is specifically designed for NFT projects that run using Ether on the Ethereum blockchain network.
How to Promote NFT Art
For most artists, selling their art as an NFT is a good idea and a different way to make money from your hard work.
The good news is, if you already have a strong social media following, promoting your own NFT art can be a new way of providing something unique, special and valuable to your fans.
Some popular places to promote NFT art are:
Instagram is the perfect platform for promoting your NFT art collection, it is naturally a platform for sharing digital art and photos.
You can also run targeted ads on Instagram to build up the hype and demand for your NFT collection.
Discord
Discord is full of people looking to invest in the next NFT project, so it should definitely be part of your NFT promotion strategy.
There are a bunch of public servers you can join where people are talking about existing NFT projects or trying to promote new NFT collections.
Reddit has a huge audience with subreddit threads of hyper-relevant topics, including NFT art.
Some popular Reddit subreddits that you can use to buy, sell, and promote NFTs are:
Telegram
Telegram is full of people who love crypto and everything around crypto, like NFTs. Once you find interesting channels, build a relationship with the audience, then promote your NFT art.
Help Out The Community! Share This With Another Artist
If you know an artist who you think could make money selling their artwork as NFTs make sure you share this article with them. Community wins, every time!
