Creating The Party Gooberz — the complete story by Erick White
Hello — my name is Erick and I am the artist from the digital art project called The Party Gooberz. I drew the assets, and my buddy Jörg is the mad scientist behind the coding. This is our first Blockchain project and we are super stoked to share with everyone our creation!
The Party Gooberz are a group of rave going, house loving, party rocking, dogs who will live on the Flow Blockchain. This NFT project took over 5-months to create and, in the end, we were able to produce some truly awesome art pieces that will fit in anyone's art collection!
While there are many PFP projects out there, the Party Goobz were created to bring a sense of whacky, comical, and fun loving artwork to the Flow Community. I consider myself a funny individual, and get most enjoyment from making others laugh, so I hope my artwork brings a smile to your face, even for a moment ;) That said, this document will be a detailed review of the project that should answer a lot of your questions.
My Backstory:
I started creating the Gooberz back in June 2021, I had just been turned down from the 100th job application and life was closing in. At this point, I had liquidated most of my crypto holdings, so I could survive the coming months, while figuring life out in Germany. I had seen the NFT space explode, and wanted to join the community, but at the time, didn’t consider myself an artist.
So I reached out to a friend. My buddy is a cartoon artists up the street and I gave him my sales pitch. We could create a generative art project together, I was motivated and he could draw. He politely declined — like any sane person would. At that time, I had little more than American spirit to get me through this process and no concept art to show him.
Slightly discouraged, I decided if I was going to find an artist, I would have to have some concept ideas drawn out, so I started drawing. From Apache helicopters, to other random figures, I was spewing out random characters, until my 7 year old daughter said, “Why not draw our dogs?” Not a bad idea. We have two boxers, both getting older now, they could be a fun inspiration.
Figuring a more capable artist could refine the rough edges later, I started drawing dogs, I personally call our two boxers Goobers, so after a while I decided to name these cartoon characters Gooberz as well. Only much later, did I decide to send them to a party.
Having never found a artist, I had decided I would be the artist, and looking back, my artwork was so bad, I was lucky enough to be too stubborn to quit. Here are two of my first editions from the project — I literally showed these to people and was proud of my drawings. No shading, bad proportions, everything was off, but at the time, I was inspired to create!
For the first two months, I was drawing about 8–12 hours a day, everyday. I would wake up, grab the IPad and draw until I passed out on the sofa. Now, you have to understand, the above images were what I was proud of until Jörg, the programmer, said, “what about fixing your old assets instead of adding newer ones?”
WHAT!? What did he mean? Those top dogs were hilarious, but I listened to his advice and started to do a true critique of my artwork and realized the dogs had no shadows, wonky proportions, and the colors were out of balance. So for the next 2–3 weeks, I went back and re-drew every asset I had already created and updated them to add more details and subtle nuances.
During this time, I learned about the concept of versions and to keep refining the art pieces I had already drawn. I started to learn how to apply shadows, and stack them using different opacity levels, and building other layers accordingly. Luckily, I had spent the year before learning Photoshop, I was going to be a photographer before Covid killed that dream hard, but I had a good understanding of Layers going into this project, and that really helped.
Below (Left) you can see version 2. The shadows were being added, and the 8-ball was looking good, but the artwork didn’t all pass together. So I just kept drawing and editing. Have you ever read the book, Will it Make the Boat Go Faster? by Ben Hunt-Davis & Harriet Beveridge. I got my mantra from that book and eventually my artwork went from the image on the left, to the right. 4-months later, my artwork had developed into something I could be proud of, something people would like to look at. I mean, look at those silly dogs.
My Mantra:
Cut the bullsh*t and just keep drawing.
Whenever I would daydream about making a sale, or start feeling like I was wasting my time because no one would buy a single image — I would repeat that line over and over — Cut the bullsh*t and just keep drawing— and it worked. For 4-months, I did nothing but draw and refine the image assets seen in the project.
It is easy for me to get side tracked, or discouraged, while working on a project. That book, along with others, really helped me stay motivated and on-track with finishing the project. It is easy to get off the bus and try something new, it is easy to convince yourself to quit, to ease the pain of rejection before ever putting myself out there. All of these ideas come from our inner demons, and sometimes I just needed to stop thinking and just draw.
I’ll write a full list of the books that helped me another time, I might just drop them in my discord instead of writing a full blog post. Moving on.
Randomization:
So the artwork was in mid swing, new assets were being created daily, but the randomization script didn’t exist. The fear of creating a collection by hand started to set in, I started to calculate the time it would take to create 10k Goobz individually, spoiler, too long.
Luckily, in comes Jörg, he is a friend of mine I wrangled in to help with the project. The dude is a wizard behind a keyboard. I remember the day he came over to write the randomization script for Photoshop. Watching him write a script and debug it was eye an opening experience that made me appreciate his craft.
He comes over, he already had some stuff written, and we were going to test out the code. He hits play, and fail. F*CK — is the only thing running through my mind at that moment. That’s it, I’m screwed I think to myself. I ask Jörg if he can fix it and he simply responds with, “of course” in his relaxed German accented English. “Not a problem” he says.
He starts debugging, hits play again, fail. Four hours later, he simply says, “Finished”. What? Really? Hell yeah! He goes about explaining how it works, it is a Javascript that turns on and off the layers within Photoshop.
Just like that, I was back in the game!
As a non-programmer, I was watching him work and it was an interesting experience to see how a script gets written and can come to life before your very eyes. I now consider the code as a part of the artwork itself. The script combined assets in ways I never would have imagined, creating some really interesting pieces. I was impressed.
For a moment, I had thought my project would fall apart because this randomization issue, but he explained how to adjust the curves, and where to add my inputs, and just like that, I was producing .PNGs. It took a while to narrow down my chosen curve levels, but in the end, I couldn’t have created this project without his help. Thanks Jörg!
Simply put, we have two variable options. Even or Long-Tail distribution and I can adjust the curve on the long-tail to produce the images that are most pleasing to the eye.
The Lore:
As a Futurama and Final Space fan, I imagine the story board would be written in that wacky science fiction style.
The Gooberz got rich FOMOing into NFTs and now spend their new found free-time to party non-stop. This raving group was touring the world when they were lured to a Victorian styled home with fancy lighting and impressive sound systems.
Little did they know, there was a mad-scientists in the basement looking to steal their groovy ways. The Party Gooberz effectively move into the house, and there are all kinds of wacky experiments happening; from alien invasions, to awesome house music, the Party is just getting started!
The Artwork:
As I mentioned, I’m heavily influenced by the shows Futurama and Final Space, I love wacky science fiction and that is what I tried to bring to my art project. The idea was the Gooberz were going to a Halloween party, so a lot of their clothes is to match the theme.
There are a total of 12 different layers. 4 for the background, 7 for the Gooberz, and 1 Flash from the camera.
Everything was drawn on my IPad using the Procreate App. Only minor adjustments were made within Photoshop — interestingly enough, my IPad started wigging out toward the end of the project. It started creating strange artifacts in the middle of the lines but I was able to finish and that is all that matters.
The Backgrounds:
This is an area of the project that really brought the Gooberz to life, and one of the areas I am really proud of, let me tell you why.
The Gooberz are supposed to be attending a lively house party, but were often seen in front of boring ass blank walls. I spent a lot of time thinking on backgrounds that would be interesting, and match the mood of the project.
Then one night, it hit me like a brick, NEONS!! They needed neon lights, because every good party has fancy lighting. So I stayed up until 4am drawing different background accents to bring the Party element to the Gooberz. This was the final layout for building the background.
The backgrounds are put together over a 4-step process: Color>Neons>Darkening>Accents
There are enough variants to produce over 40k different backgrounds for your Goober to have. This addition really helped bring the Gooberz to life, so each one is in individual art piece. The backgrounds really help set the mood of each Goob. Not all have neons, and that works too, the trick was finding the right balance that brought a cohesive feel to the collection.
Example of Background being built.
Body and Chest Pieces:
The next two layers are the body and chest pieces. There are a total of 16 different color bodies, and 18 different chest pieces. Ranging from basic colors, to elaborate illustrations.
These two features are added to the mix using a long tail distribution curve, instead of the even distribution found on the backgrounds. The long-tail meant less dogs will be Starry Night and more would be Goober Brown.
This also means, the more complex chest pieces would be used less often. Using a long-tail distribution has two reasonings; First, for rarity purposes. Secondly, and which I find more important, artistic balance in the project.
Clothing
The next layer is the clothing, there a total of 39 different shirts, including 1 no-shirt option. These are set to an even distribution curve. This was an artistical decision where rarity couldn’t play a role, I didn’t want too many dogs wearing the same outfit, they are going to a costume party after all, they can’t all show up in the same shirt.
There are some shirts that are re-colors of the same product but majority of the outfits are one off specialties.
A lot of the shirts were drawn with a deep-V style cut, this was to provide reduced coverage of the chest pieces, but some of the cooler chests will be covered at times, and that is okay. It is just a part of the artwork.
Collars
After the shirt is placed, the dogs receive the collar layer. There are a total of 22 different collars, including one no collar options. These are all set for a long tail distribution, so more dogs will receive no collars or more basic versions. This was meant to add rarity and maintain balance in the artwork.
Plus, not all Goobz could afford the baller “Pick yer Poison” chain. And not all of them would be cool wearing bones around their neck. But these two below, are really rocking their gear for the Party.
Side note, anyone remember Flava Flav from that reality MTV series a long-time ago? The below clock chain was inspired by him and that show.
Eyes:
The eyes can really set the mood of your Goober, there are multiple different variation that create some whacky characteristics for these party animals. There are a total of 32 different eye pieces, and these are also put on a long-tail distribution curve.
A long-tail was used to ensure the rarer eyes were used less often adding to the rarity along with balancing the piece even further. From cute puppy eyes, to colorful rainbows, and angry robotics, there are something here for everyone.
Ears, Hats, and sometimes Glasses:
Next up, is the top of the dog. This is the Ears, Hats, and Glasses section. These were also set to an even distribution of assets. I had originally planned on using a long-tail distribution, but much like the shirt, I wanted more variation in the dogs than the long-tail was providing.
The brown ears are cute, and arguably make some of my favorite pieces, I really wanted each dog to feel unique in their own way. So after a lot of tests and trials, I eventually landed on dividing them out equally which makes for some truly comical combinations.
There are a total of 41 different ear options for your Goober to have, from cute floppy ears, to elaborate overlords, there is a true mixture to add to any party.
The below headpiece was inspired by the film Men in Black, I wanted it to look like the command station raised up from the inside of the GooberZ head, you can see the hydraulics on the sides.
The stitched body was inspired by Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, another cult classic.
Mouths:
There are a total of 31 different mouthing options, and these were also put on a Long-tail distribution for rarity purposes. They couldn’t all be rocking golden bones, or those would no longer be cool.
One of my favorites has to be the skeleton hand, I had that idea in my head for over a week before drawing it out. I loved the idea of some silly dog digging up a skeleton and carrying around a hand giving the bird. That said, there are lots of fun options out there and the mouth/eye combinations can make for some silly emotions.
The headpiece below this, with the cables coming out was inspired by the film Advantageous, which was an interesting movie. This model is getting older so she decides to move her consciousness into a younger body. I wonder where this Gooberz thoughts are going?
The Flash and .PNG
Then last but not least, the flash for the camera. One last overlay layer is applied to the top which highlights the dogs faces adding to the contrast between character and background.
Then the script finishes, checks if any of these Goobz already exists, and saves a .png for the collection, and that my friend, is how we made the Gooberz.
The final image is 1000x1000pixels and approximately 1MB is size, they will be stored on IPFS through the hosting service Pinata.
Control Measures
In the end, I did not put together a single Party Goober, every image you see in the collection was assembled by the script written by our programmer, Jörg. That doesn’t mean I didn’t comb through the collection to replace some bad eggs.
To ensure the characters were visible, I went through the collection to scan for contrast issues between the dog and the background. If a background didn’t populate accordingly, or came out overwhelming, it was replaced for another image.
I did not control for other measures, I really just wanted the viewer to be able to separate the dog from the background. I found other variables were handled properly from the script.
Artwork Conclusion:
That’s it, this is how we were able to create 10k unique art pieces in the span of 5-months, for your viewing pleasure! I absolutely love how they came out and proud of the collection as a whole. This is my first blockchain art project and I’m in love with each and every one of my Gooberz, and I hope you like them too!
They will be launching on our own Marketplace, built on the Flow blockchain. We chose Flow due to the low gas fees and NBA Top Shots being one of my first NFTs. I like the energy Flow is bringing to the table and hope this art collection adds something of value to their chain.
Launch
Jörg is finalizing the contract now, and then it needs to be approved by the Flow team. We were hoping to launch before Halloween but it looks like that will be pushed back a little. It happens.
If you are interested in purchasing one of our art pieces, you will need to have a Blocto wallet that is funded with FUSD. It is really easy to get once you have FLOW inside your wallet.
The sale will take place in a grab bag style and costs $69 per draw. Reach in, and see what you pull out. There will also be a secondary marketplace, on our website, if you wish to choose your specific Goober.
Final Words
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Please, join the discord and become an active member in the discussions! I created the artwork, now it is time to create a community of Party Gooberz!
Discord channel: https://discord.gg/4FZCM4mGFp
- Erick — the artist behind the pen. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_XZ3oLPKb1We_cQznFAbwg
- Jörg — the programmer behind the code. https://de.linkedin.com/in/j%C3%B6rg-maier-15b21b15a
Ps. if you are a NFT guru and have some fun ideas on how to boost the community reach out to me on social media.
