The History of Hype Battle: Interview with ZON
Watch the full interview with ZON and Kodandi
Hype Battle started in September 2021 and it has been an incredibly popular art contest in the NEAR NFT community. Hosted by HypeDAO councilmember ZON, Hype Battle had humble beginnings. The original idea, he says, was to, “allow artists to like try out different styles if they wanted to and then possibly win some cash on the side for doing it. As Hype Battle went on it kind of transformed into something else.” The most recent Hype Battle in March 2022 featured a collaboration with NEARNauts and produced some amazing fan art, but ZON also facilitated collaborations with Marma J DAO, CODAME, and VANDAO.
Over time, the contestants leveled up their artistic skills and the competition between artists got fierce. According to ZON, “I think it’s important for artists to challenge themselves because as an artist you should be ever growing. You should be ever wanting to evolve. I know as an artist I always wanted to evolve.” Many artists took up this challenge every month, even new artists and beginning artists. “I tried to make it so that everyone could enter,” ZON explains. The NEAR token prize is also an important motivating factor in the feedback ZON received from participating artists, “a lot of the artists love the fact that you could win NEAR just for trying something new or you know trying out a subject in their style.”
Not only has Hype Battle been an opportunity for the artists participating to grow, but ZON reports that it has been a personal growth experience. “I’ve managed to look at art in a whole different way. I’ve managed to see all the different kinds and different styles of art,” ZON recalls, “Maybe my opinion of art isn’t the only opinion that matters. I mean obviously not, but you know I had that realization during that course.”
April 2022 marks the end of ZON’s reign as host of Hype Battle, but we all hope that a new host will take over the duties. ZON’s wish for the future of Hype Battle, “I think if it’s going to continue I would hope someone would continue to keep the dignity of that and maybe even take it to new heights.” ZON tells us, “I’m actually ready to move on to my next adventure.”
We will all miss ZON’s presence in the Hype Battle and as a HypeDAO council member but foresee big things in ZON’s future. “I’m working on a comic book company,” ZON explains, “I have a bunch of different artists right now helping me work on different comics, different characters, and different world-building ideas.” We are also anticipating ZON’s creative work with the Pretty Punks team, “They hired me for their 3d art director so I’m actually going to be working on what I want to call the pretty palace, a place to host all the Pretty Punk events that’s going to be happening in the metaverse.”
ZON’s work hosting Hype Battle and his presence on the HypeDAO council will be missed, but he takes his tremendous creative talent and skill onto his new endeavors. HypeDAO is working on the best way to continue community engagement through a creative contest like Hype Battle, and keep the energy of Hype Battle going.
