Ten Valuable Lessons I Learned from Creating an NFT Collection
(Lessons in Artistry, Technology, Scaling, Promotion, Humility, and Integrity)
A few months ago, I woke up one morning with an inspiration.
I do some of my best thinking, planning, and writing in the morning, so having an idea wasn’t unusual. But this idea was different. It was completely out of the ordinary and seemed to come out of nowhere.
I got the idea to create a collection of NFTs.
It sparked my imagination. So, I pursued it.
How hard could it be?
Unfortunately, neither art nor programming was anywhere on my resume. My expertise was in sales, marketing, and executive management.
Despite my lack of experience, I was so inspired that I worked my way up the (steep) learning curve and figured out how to do it.
Now, I have created and released one collection of artistic NFTs. And I have three other collections ready to release.
I learned a lot of important lessons along the way.
Below are some of the main requirements for a successful project.
Do Something Original
From the beginning, I wanted my collection to be different. I wanted to make the NFTs in a different way. I wanted them to look completely different.
All the existing NFT apes, punks, birds, dogs, cats, bears, pandas, frogs, warriors, aliens, robots, dragons, unicorns, etc., are “generated” in the same way. The artists generate their NFTs randomly by layering various features together on a digital canvas. They start with one of a dozen or so different background colors. Then, they add the torso and head. On top of this, they layer one each of a dozen different mouths, a dozen different eyes, a dozen different ears, a dozen different hairstyles, a dozen different hats, a dozen different shirts, and so on. These different layers are then randomly chosen and compiled by a computer program.
My vision was different.
My idea was to take portraits of real human beings and change them artistically with the help of artificial intelligence.
I won’t bore you with the details, but it took a lot of research to find an AI program that could do the job.
But, the results are worth it. They are original. And they are much more attractive than generative NFTs.
Use a Method That Will Scale
Most NFT collections consist of thousands of unique images.
I wanted to be able to produce my collections at a similar scale.
Creating such a collection using AI required some extra functionality from the software. Running the same AI algorithm on ten thousand different base images would not have produced the results I wanted.
I quickly realized that I needed the AI to be able to change a single base image in dozens of different ways. These dozens of different algorithms allowed me to change a single base image in hundreds, or even thousands, of ways.
Produce Aesthetic Results
“Pretty” was a requirement from the beginning of my project.
Unfortunately, most of the outputs from the dozens of AI algorithms were not very pretty. Some were actually hideous.
The AI algorithms were able to generate many thousands of images. But the algorithms could not determine which were pretty and which were not.
So, I had to develop and use my own sense of aesthetics.
Creating a collection turned into an enormous task. To get one thousand attractive NFTs, I had to examine and cull out thousands of unattractive ones.
This made the creation of each new collection much harder and much more time-consuming. But it also made the resulting images much more attractive and artistic.
Choose the Right Blockchain
Today, most NFTs creators publish their work to the Ethereum blockchain. However, the costs of publishing on Ethereum are much higher than the alternatives. In recent months, the cost to publish an NFT smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain has been over $100. The price is lower today but is still in the tens of dollars.
Anyone who mints or buys one of your NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain will also pay network fees (called “gas”) that are in the tens of dollars. For each transaction. For each of your NFTs.
By comparison, publishing the same smart contract on Polygon or Solana costs pennies. Network fees for minting or transferring NFTs on Polygon and Solana are also inexpensive.
Many of the top NFT marketplaces now support Polygon and Solana, in addition to Ethereum.
For these reasons, I decided to publish my NFT collections on Polygon. And, I haven’t had any reason to regret doing so.
Get the Smart Contract Right
A smart contract is a computer program that runs on a blockchain like Ethereum, Polygon, or Solana. It contains and enforces the rules according to which your NFT collection will be generated, bought, and sold. It specifies how many NFTs there will be in your collection. It specifies when your collection will be released and who can mint the tokens. When users mint or buy an NFT, the smart contract specifies who will get paid. It can also specify that the original artist will get a commission whenever the NFT is resold.
The smart contract is too important to get wrong.
So, I knew that I didn’t want to try to program it myself.
Fortunately, there are some websites that will help you create the contract. And they will send the completed smart contract to the blockchain for you. They charge a small fee. But I thought the convenience and certainty were with the price.
Rampp and NiftyMints are two services that I am most familiar with. But I am pretty sure there are others.
Be Prepared Before You Mint
Get your web wallet set up in advance. Get some crypto into the wallet. MetaMask is the most used web wallet, but there are others available. If you are planning to publish and mint on the Ethereum blockchain, you will need some ETH in your wallet. The same is true if you choose to use Polygon or Solana. In those cases, you will need MATIC or SOL.
Learn to use IPFS (Interplanetary File System). This is a permanent, decentralized, internet filing system. You will almost certainly want to store your NFT images on IPFS. Images placed on IPFS have a unique identifier that is permanent and immutable. This will give your NFT buyers confidence that the NFT images won’t vanish after they have paid for the NFT. Pinata has an easy-to-use interface for IPFS that simplifies the process.
Generate metadata files for your images. The metadata file contains information about the location of the image, the name of the image, its characteristics, and so on. Having a separate metadata file for images is not required. But many NFT buyers expect it.
Make sure your images and metadata files have the correct file names. The names of the metadata files must exactly match the names of the image files. Rampp, mentioned above, requires that the file names be only numbers. For example, “1.png” (the image file) corresponds to “1.json” (the metadata file). “2.png” corresponds to “2.json”, and so on. NiftyMints only requires that the file basenames be the same. For example, “Ape#1.png” corresponds with “Ape#1.json.
Remember also that the metadata file must be in a very specific (JSON) format.
Market Well in Advance
This is the one I wish I had known before I started.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that people will “beat a path to your door” when you publish your NFTs. It doesn’t matter how beautiful or useful your NFTs are. If no one knows about them, no one will buy them.
Marketing is at least half the battle in this business.
Start early — before you publish your collection. Your goal is to establish a community of people who are looking forward to the release of your NFTs. You want to develop a list of people who are ready and willing to buy your NFTs as soon as you release them.
Create a website. Set up profiles for your NFT business on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram. Set up a “server” on Discord. Clearly show and tell people what they can expect. Accumulate a mailing list.
Without a community behind you, you are wasting your time and money by publishing a collection.
Differentiate Your Collection
There are thousands of artists and developers out there who are all trying to gather a community and sell their NFT collections
How are you going to make your project stand out? How are you going to be able to rise above the noise of all those other projects?
From the beginning, you must find or create a differentiator.
Perhaps it’s the quality and beauty of your artwork. Maybe it’s the utility of your NFTs (in the metaverse, or a game, or in the real world). Or it could be the innovative technology you are using to create your collection.
Whatever your differentiator is, focus on it. You need to have a message that is clear, distinct, and different when you start promoting.
Maintain Your Integrity
When you wade into the ocean of NFT marketing, you’ll find that there are a lot of sharks and leaches.
The sharks are the marketing individuals and companies who make their living by getting you to pay them to “promote” your project. Many of these rely on “shilling” and “spamming” to get people to join your social media channels.
“Shilling” is dropping mentions of your project into hundreds or thousands of unrelated sites. “Spammers” send direct messages (by emails and direct messages) to hundreds of thousands or millions of unsuspecting users.
The “leaches” are the promoters who promise you anything so that you will send them an advance payment. Then they disappear.
I recommend that you figure out ways to promote your project that don’t involve shilling or spamming. First of all, both of these are not very effective. Second, most people don’t like getting unsolicited emails or messages that they haven’t signed up for. And third, you can waste a lot of money this way.
In this case, “maintain your integrity” means “find and use legitimate promotional methods”. Make your project a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.
And, of course, deliver what you promise.
Be Patient
Realize that your project may not attract thousands of dedicated followers overnight. Your collection may not sell out in the first two hours.
If you believe in what you are doing, you should be willing and able to be patient.
Keep going. Stay focused. Tell your story to everyone who will listen. If you have a quality project, you will eventually succeed.
Conclusions
A list this long may seem daunting.
Honestly, it has taken a lot of work to accumulate this experience and data. But all of it can be done by a single person.
Of course, it would be easier with a team.
I have tried to lay out the process in a series of manageable steps. While there is some complexity to each of them, each one is achievable.
I hope this is useful to you.
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About AvatArt NFT Studios
AvatArt Studios has introduced three “cross-over” NFT collections created with the help of AI. We believe that our NFTs are extraordinarily attractive and distinctive. This makes them fit into both the “Art NFT” and the “Collectable NFT” categories.
Please visit our website to see samples of our “artistic collectibles”.
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About the Author
Richard Crites is the founder and artist at AvatArt NFT Studios. He is also CEO and Founder of OmniBazaar, Inc. He has 40+ years of entrepreneurial success and exits in four separate industries. Rick holds a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Stanford University. He has been active in cryptocurrency and blockchain since 2013.
