Adventures in NFTs — An Interview with Kristy Glas
After falling in love with (and collecting!) her work over the last couple of months, I was lucky enough to interview Kristy Glas, artist of fantastical scenes and pixel cats. Kristy is approachable, open, and kind — a real gift to the budding crypto-art scene.
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It seems your work has taken off in the NFT/Crypto Art space over the last year. What got you into the space?
Hive blog, previously known as Steemit. I started blogging about my art around 3 years ago and got to know many awesome artists there. Around half a year ago I noticed more and more blog posts about NFT-s, honestly those sounded too good to be true. I took a week off to research and read everything I could find, trying to understand it. I decided to give it a try myself, so I applied to Knownorigin and Makersplace. I applied twice to each and KO accepted me first, so I started tokenizing there.
How do you describe NFTs to people who have never heard of them?
It depends on who I’m talking to, it helps if they already understand crypto. I’ve explained NFT-s only to a handful of people so far, so I’m still working on how to describe it best. I let them know that there are platforms that tokenize the art with permanent contracts, so the collectors have proof that they bought the art from the artist. Also that a lot of the platforms require prior verification before tokenizing to avoid art theft. I usually show my own art profiles, and give ideas for what the person can try tokenizing themselves. I recommend setting themselves apart with a particular style, not necessarily just art style and to preferably plan bigger projects.
How has it felt having people start to buy your work?
I tokenized my first art right before sleep and was surprised to discover the first edition sale by the next morning. I actually couldn’t believe it, and refreshed the website a few times to make sure. I didn’t expect to sell anything the first week and I was ready for that, certainly didn’t expect to sell out that fast. I was really excited, I tried figuring out who bought the art, but didn’t understand it. I didn’t know about Twitter NFT community, it took me some time to become active there
The first week I still had some reservations, wondering if the sales were just the beginners luck. Then the next week I got the idea for the Adventure series, at that point I was having so much fun I stopped worrying about sales, as long as I wasn’t losing money. I gifted some of the art to my most frequent collectors, as I had no other way to contact or thank them. I am still very thankful for the sales, and really happy for how well received my art has been since I joined. That has motivated me to paint way more and to be more confident in painting what I want.
Where do you personally see the NFT space heading?
More interactive art, more collectables like cards, games, books, music. Basically all of the entertainment we already enjoy on a regular basis, but in NFT form, where the collectors and creators have more interaction.
I expect to be surprised, for new forms of entertainment to develop, but this part could take a decade.
Have you transitioned into being a full-time artist?
I’ve been a full time artist for 5 years now, working on an indie game, but it’s not released yet. :)
What is your daily working routine like?
It’s inconsistent. Every day is kind of different, I want to develop a more effective routine, but it’s hard to stick to one. I just try to get something done every day and when I feel like I’m falling behind, I remind myself of everything I have done that day including all small things. This helps me not stress out and just focus on progress.
Sometimes I drink coffee (never more than 1), more often strong black tea.
I often wear fingerless gloves while drawing, in summer I use the silky artist glove (2 fingers one).
I keep lots of notes, and I recently got an awesome planner notebook.
Sometimes I draw an hour at a time with breaks, other times I draw a whole day with minimum breaks.
I do check social media a bit too much lately, trying to cut that down to a more productive amount.
I like to have at least 2 projects/artworks active at a time (usually more), so if I get bored, I switch to the other.
Do you listen to music while you work?
A lot, usually pretty quiet volume, set to recommended youtube playlists. Sometimes I find specific songs to match the artwork’s mood for inspiration.
Many of your pieces have an accompanying story — is writing important to your process?
Yes, actually writing is a challenge for me, but it helps me focus my racing thoughts. Even fiction writing can be very reflective and reveal deeper thoughts.
One of my goals is to write and illustrate a short young adult book, but I’m only an amateur writer. I’m slowly developing my own writing style. I know with art the best way to improve is to keep drawing, and I believe it’s the same with writing, worry less, write more. It can be challenging, but in the end it’s always worth the extra effort to make the painting feel more real, lively and important in some way. I believe that thanks to my art blogging experience, I’ve gotten better at expressing ideas and stories verbally.
Your art, particularly your Adventure series, has a very fantastical bent. What artists/media do you draw inspiration from?
A bit from everything, I don’t limit myself to just favorites. I might like a specific color I see that day or an interesting flower, or even a theme idea I hadn’t considered before. It’s several different sources of inspiration per artwork. I do collect a lot of art and photos on Pinterest as well, it can be really helpful for a lot of smaller details like adding shape variety to plants.
Combining writing and art is inspired by my favorite young adult books: Septimus Heap, Artemis Fowl, Spiderwick, Unfortunate Events, Harry Potter and many more similar books, especially the ones with illustrations.
The very first digital artist I really followed was Feng Zhu, he was among the first to create Youtube Concept art Tutorials that are more than just about drawing. He explains how to approach design and ideas with curiosity, to get inspiration for nature, experiences, books and from anything we come across. Good ideas are more important than drawing skills.
Your Pixel Cat collection on Rarible has a bit of a cult following. Do you have cats?
:( Not yet, that’s why I draw so many, it’s missing in my life. I really hope to have a cat sooner than later. ❤ Then I might finally stop drawing so many cats ;P
What kind of stuff did you like drawing/painting as a kid?
I painted lots and lots of sea and clouds with oil paints when I was a teenager. Before that I drew a bit of everything, I didn’t have specific preferences, I simply wanted to draw everything. A lot of the art I made was as gifts to my parents and sometimes for other people. They actually stored all of the art, and I’ll check it out when I get a chance.
Do you play video games?
Yes!!! Many, mostly indie titles and lots of puzzle games. :D Some of my favorites are Hollow Knight, Fez, Don’t Starve, Minecraft (with mods), Rain World, Necrodancer, Portal, Rusty Lake, Submachine, Terraria, Witness, Monkey Island and many more…
Who are some of your current favorite artists?
Tony Diterlizzi- he’s an artist and a writer, his stuff is really magical and he was one of my first favorites.
Sixveeceear- incredible pixelartist, she never ceases to amaze. Her style is varied but all very distinctively hers.
Celestial Fang- Discovered her relatively recently, her colors are just so incredible and I want to learn so of it.
Asur Misoa- her Spirited Away fan art is one of my all time favorite artworks.
NFT community favorites:
Fvckrender-BROKEN_BEAUTY artwork in particular.
Totemical-Temple of the Moon, my favorite of his artworks so far.
Pxlpet- too cute, and really memorable artstyle.
Katy Arrington is incredibly motivational and has made me re-evaluate how I use social media.
I mostly remember images, I’ve always been bad at remembering names. I’ve many more favorite artworks, but don’t want to make the list too long. I certainly prefer modern artists/illustrators over any classical ones.
Anything exciting that you’re working on that you’d like to share?
My first short video animation, which is half done and a bit darker than the rest of my art, it’s a collaboration with Jokreg, he made the music.
A really cute collaboration with Orabelart, it’s also half way done.
My Adventure art, Async genesis piece, but that’s still just in the planning phase…
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I’d recommend following Kristy’s delightful feed on twitter and checking out her art:
http://superrare.co/kristyglas
http://makersplace.com/kristyglas
