NFT art how do that?
June 12, 2021 12:06 AM Subscribe
NFT art has been in the news lately. I understand the underlying eco-crime aspect of it and want to leave that aside. Can anybody provide a basic how-to on the sales side? Let's say I got art and want to NFTize and sell it. How?
Don't worry so much about the eco. Bitcoin is purposely made to be hard/difficult. As I understand it, some of the other crypto-things like Etherium or whatnot are just simple non-resource intensive things that accomplish the same things. You could sell a NFT using just generic PGP. The market as it is is just the tracking of ownership and doesn't have to be OMG ruin the environment bad vs just a harmless fad.
It's just a digital signature that's public record and easily checkable.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:52 AM on June 12, 2021
It's just a digital signature that's public record and easily checkable.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:52 AM on June 12, 2021
I have no interest in buying or selling NFTs but if I did, litemint.com would be the first place I investigated - mainly because Litemint runs on the Stellar network, and not only is the Stellar network not engaged in eco-crime, its transactions are very cheap and they settle very fast.
Rather than use the Freighter wallet recommended on Litemint, I'd stick with the one I already use that's built into Keybase. Not because I've heard anything terrible about Freighter, but because I've used the Keybase wallet and like it.
posted by flabdablet at 3:57 AM on June 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Rather than use the Freighter wallet recommended on Litemint, I'd stick with the one I already use that's built into Keybase. Not because I've heard anything terrible about Freighter, but because I've used the Keybase wallet and like it.
posted by flabdablet at 3:57 AM on June 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
As I understand it, some of the other crypto-things like Etherium or whatnot are just simple non-resource intensive things that accomplish the same things.
Ethereum, like Bitcoin, has proof-of-work at the heart of its consensus protocol, which makes it waste energy at a rate proportional to its token price; and Ethereum tokens are currently trading at about one fifteenth of what Bitcoins are. So, not quite the medium-sized-country scale of waste that Bitcoin is currently responsible for, but certainly getting up there.
Ethereum is also designed to support decentralized executable code in order to implement "smart contracts". It is in no way simpler than Bitcoin; quite the reverse. Ethereum transactions, like Bitcoin transactions, are also currently quite expensive.
The Stellar consensus protocol uses no more energy than is required to push the bits around between nodes, transactions cost no more than is absolutely necessary to create a speed bump for spammers, and I would very much like to see it become the default choice for NFT creation until the fad has run its course.
Full disclosure: I have spent a substantial (to me) amount of money on buying Stellar Lumens and have a direct financial interest in seeing their value increase.
posted by flabdablet at 4:07 AM on June 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Ethereum, like Bitcoin, has proof-of-work at the heart of its consensus protocol, which makes it waste energy at a rate proportional to its token price; and Ethereum tokens are currently trading at about one fifteenth of what Bitcoins are. So, not quite the medium-sized-country scale of waste that Bitcoin is currently responsible for, but certainly getting up there.
Ethereum is also designed to support decentralized executable code in order to implement "smart contracts". It is in no way simpler than Bitcoin; quite the reverse. Ethereum transactions, like Bitcoin transactions, are also currently quite expensive.
The Stellar consensus protocol uses no more energy than is required to push the bits around between nodes, transactions cost no more than is absolutely necessary to create a speed bump for spammers, and I would very much like to see it become the default choice for NFT creation until the fad has run its course.
Full disclosure: I have spent a substantial (to me) amount of money on buying Stellar Lumens and have a direct financial interest in seeing their value increase.
posted by flabdablet at 4:07 AM on June 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: Hey guys thanks for the input so far. I am wondering about the mechanics of selling as much as all of this other useful info. My "art" is random digital crap, and I do not care if it sells for USD 0.02, but I do want to sell it. So once I have a wallet and some kind of crypto setup, where do I flog this stuff?
posted by Meatbomb at 9:41 AM on June 12, 2021
posted by Meatbomb at 9:41 AM on June 12, 2021
First, you should ensure demand: you say you don't care if it sells for USD 0.02, but on many platforms you must pay to "mint" the NFT before you can sell it and this minting requires ethereum "gas", or fees. These vary widely but will likely be more than 2 cents. Some platforms, like opensea, don't require you to mint the NFT before it sells, and some using different underlying cryptocurrencies have different/lower fee structures. Opensea does require a gas fee to activate your account before you sell your first item, so you could end up in the negative if nothing sells. The current NFT market is dominated by the top players, who have communities on twitter or discord and do "drops" where a batch of work goes on sale for a limited time.
Most of these platforms have "get started" guides, like: https://opensea.io/blog/digital-art/the-beginners-guide-to-creating-selling-digital-art-nfts/. In general the steps are:
1. Open a wallet with a provider supported by the market, like MetaMask
2. Fill out some forms on the marketplace to mint your item, this will involve uploading your art and registering with the blockchain. There might be a fee.
3. Fill out some forms on the marketplace to start an auction or put your item up for sale for a fixed price. Sometimes your first time doing this will require a fee to register your account.
4. Someone buys the work or wins the auction, this is when you will get paid.
Keep in mind that many platforms work with certain wallet providers, so it's best to decide where to sell before you open a wallet and buy some ethereum. Also, some platforms like SuperRare will want to "approve" you before you can list items on them.
posted by hermanubis at 4:42 PM on June 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Most of these platforms have "get started" guides, like: https://opensea.io/blog/digital-art/the-beginners-guide-to-creating-selling-digital-art-nfts/. In general the steps are:
1. Open a wallet with a provider supported by the market, like MetaMask
2. Fill out some forms on the marketplace to mint your item, this will involve uploading your art and registering with the blockchain. There might be a fee.
3. Fill out some forms on the marketplace to start an auction or put your item up for sale for a fixed price. Sometimes your first time doing this will require a fee to register your account.
4. Someone buys the work or wins the auction, this is when you will get paid.
Keep in mind that many platforms work with certain wallet providers, so it's best to decide where to sell before you open a wallet and buy some ethereum. Also, some platforms like SuperRare will want to "approve" you before you can list items on them.
posted by hermanubis at 4:42 PM on June 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
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NFTs serve as a layer of protection against infringement on your work. This makes sense because lots of art these days has never tangibly existed (I.e something created in digital form only like on InDesign, etc.) so it’s great for those folks to have an option because the traditional ones don’t make the digital cut.
What I’ve learned so far from my lawyer (*A* lawyer, NYL, and just one lawyerly opinion): If it exists at all in real life (I.e. hand drawn sketches then scanned to clean/edit in say, Adobe Illustrator) then NFTs are really not a good option for protection. NFTs are serving as an added layer of protection against infringement. If it exists tangibly in real life, boring unsexy copyright is your BFF. If it’s only digital and there is no tangible evidence then NFTs could be a good protection strategy.
Good luck and thanks for asking this!
posted by floweredfish at 2:34 AM on June 12, 2021 [2 favorites]