Getting Started With NFT Art
In nowadays artists have a lot of alternatives. They can use the traditional canvas, but on the other hand, they can use PCs and various software such as Photoshop, 3dMax, etc.
While digital art has numerous advantages such as new possibilities, special effects, etc. It has 2 serious drawbacks:
- Digital artworks are very easy to duplicate.
- It is difficult to claim or prove ownership of the artworks.
That is why until recently, It was very difficult to trade digital artworks, contrary to traditional artworks.
Modern developments have provided us with a new technology named: “Non-Fungible Token” or NFT. This means that these types of tokens cannot be copied or duplicate. It is based on “Ethereum” technology witch itself is based on the “Blockchain” infrastructure and it provides us “Smart contracts” which stores NFTs. A “Smart contract” provides us an ownership proof on an artwork. The “Ethereum” technology ensures that the “Smart contract” cannot be altered or duplicate.
The Ethereum environment also provides us a cryptocurrency called Ether (ETH) which is similar to the more popular Bitcoin. Artists can sell their digital arts, can be paid, and get royalties by the ETH cryptocurrency which can be converted to real money.
How it is done is beyond the scope of this article but I will explain here how you can take advantage of this new technology to your benefit.
Wallets:
Digital wallets are means of storing smart contracts and ETH cryptocurrency. There are four types of wallets:
- Physical hardware wallets: These are hardware devices. Similar to USB flash drives. Hardware wallets enable you to store your cryptocurrency offline. Thus making it the most secure method.
- Mobile applications: There are apps that can be downloaded into Android or IOS-based devices.
- Desktop applications: Applications that are being installed on desktop computers. There are versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- Web Application: These are simply websites that you can access from everywhere.
More details about wallets and how to choose one specified for your needs are details here.
Minting An Artwork:
Minting simply means the process of tokenizing your work and create an NFT. In plain words, this is the process of uploading digital art, create a smart contract for it, and storing it in your digital wallet. The digital file can be a static picture file (PNG, GIF), Sound files (MP3), or a video (MP4).
One of the most popular sites to do this is https://rarible.com/. The first step is to connect the wallet that you have created before. So go to the site and press the connect key on the top right corner of the screen.
In this screen, we see four wallet providers. these providers connect between the “Rarible” interface and our wallet. For example, if we press “WalletConnect” we will see a QR code like the one below:
With a mobile wallet application, such as “Trust Wallet” scan it and connect it to our “Rarible” page. if we use a desktop wallet, web-based wallet, or a hardware wallet we may copy the QR code to the clipboard and paste it to the appropriate place on the wallet interface.
After this stage, we can start the minting process by pressing the “Create” button on the top screen.
On the first screen, you have the choice of choosing between a single collectible and multiple collectibles. These options are almost the same. The only difference is that in the multiple options you have the possibility to sell your art multiple times. After you choose an option you go to the second page:
The first field is an upload field on which you can upload your work.
The next field is “Put on sale”. Here you choose whether you want to put your work for sale in the open market or just want to register your work on the Blockchain and put it on sale later. If you want to put it on sale then you can define an instant sale price in ETH units.
“Unlock once purchased” provides the buyer additional content to be revealed after a successful transaction. This additional content can be a URL link to a full High-quality file of your artwork.
Now you have an option to choose between adding your work to the existing “Rarible” collection or create your own collection. All the collections are managed by the EIP-1155 standard on the Ethereum network.
The name and Description are pretty obvious. These two fields describe your artwork.
Royalty rate defines how much you gain after each reselling your work on the secondary market. For example, if you set the royalty rate to 10% and the buyer will resell your work then you will receive 10% from the selling price.
The number of copies defines how many copies of your work will be available on the Ethreum network. If you define 10 copies then no one can buy or duplicate more than 10 copies of your work.
You can add additional properties like size, format, etc.
Now we can press the Create button and start the minting process.
Gas Rates:
Warning: The minting process costs money! you have to buy a sufficient amount of Ethers. The cost depends on many factors. How fast you want to execute the minting process, the ETH currency rate, and the contract you want to execute.
These costs are well known by the term “Gas”. In most cases, you will be given a choice to select between low speed, medium speed, and hi-speed. The higher the speed the more gas it will cost. More details about gas prices can be found here: https://etherscan.io/gastracker
Listing your work on other marketplaces:
Now, after your work has been uploaded you can list your work on other marketplaces, such as https://opensea.io/. Keep in mind that listing on other marketplaces will also cost you just like the initial minting process.
Withdraw revenues:
Now, after you have completed your first sale or even got royalties from reselling your art-work it is time to withdraw your revenues to real money.
There are several websites such as https://www.binance.com, https://coinmetro.com/, or https://paxful.com/ that can convert your Ethers from your wallet to real money and transfer it to your bank account.
Another method of withdrawing the money is through dedicated ATM machines. Here is a web URL that can help you to find an ATM near you: https://coinatmradar.com/
