It’s one thing to know how to create digital art, but NFT digital art? That sounds like a whole other animal.
Ever since non-fungible tokens (NFTs) started to gain popularity — it is, after all, one of the biggest video game trends of 2022 — companies and tech enthusiasts alike have considered making their own crypto assets. The returns seem astounding, and everyone now wants in on the NFT gains the artist Beeple made back in 2021. The question is, where does one start?
In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of creating your own NFT digital art — while doing only half the work.
How to Create & Put Your NFT Digital Art Up for Sale: A Step-by-Step Guide
Whether you’re selling NFT digital art as a stand-alone piece or as an asset for your video game, this guide will walk you through the process of creating and putting your NFTs up for sale.
Step 1: Choose your NFT platform or marketplace
Before anything else, the first thing you need to do when learning how to create an NFT digital art is specifying your goal.
Do you plan to sell your NFTs as individual items on the marketplace like Beeple did? Or is your goal to integrate NFTs in video games as in-game assets or currency (which can then be exchanged for money or real-life financial assets)? Figuring out your primary goal will make the process of choosing the marketplace you want to sell your NFT digital art on so much easier.
If your main goal is selling NFTs, picking the marketplace first will narrow your blockchain and wallet options. This is because certain marketplaces allow only certain blockchains or cryptocurrencies.
Popular NFT marketplaces that support the sales of any type of NFTs include OpenSea and Rarible. Both support Ethereum blockchain technology, which works on a proof-of-work (PoW) system.
Step 2: Decide what blockchain to use
After selecting the marketplace you want to sell your work on, it’s time to choose your blockchain, which is the public ledger where NFTs are registered. This is a crucial step in the NFT creation process as it dictates how your NFT will fare once it’s up.
When deciding what blockchain to use, the factors you need to consider include:
- The smart contracts your chosen blockchain uses
- Transaction costs and speed
- The security system of the blockchain
Keeping these in mind will help you determine the safest platform to register your NFT on, preventing security breaches that could affect your NFT’s price and ownership.
The leading blockchains for NFT digital art creators are currently Flow and Ethereum. Flow is considered the greener and sustainable option, while Ethereum is one of the most popular and widely known blockchains out there. Popular NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, Rarible, and Decentraland support the latter.
However, while Ethereum sounds like the no-brainer choice, it will still do you some good to explore your options and see what blockchain is fitting for your goals so you can tailor your NFT creation process to your needs.
Step 3: Set up your wallet
The next step in creating your NFT is setting up your cryptocurrency wallet.
The growing interest in NFTs and cryptocurrency has brought with it a spate of wallet options you can use for trading minted digital assets. Some of the more popular and widely supported ones include MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, and Trust Wallet.
Now, you may be wondering why having a crypto wallet is essential to creating NFT digital art.
Turning your digital art into a unique asset through blockchain technology will cost you money from the get-go. Starting an account and minting your digital art, which converts digital items into non-fungible tokens, may be only some of the initial fees. Plus, your wallet is where you’ll be receiving payment once you’re able to sell your work.
Which Wallet Should You Choose
At this point in the process, choosing your crypto wallet should be easy. You’ve already determined your blockchain and you already know the NFT marketplace you want to trade your work in. All you have to do now is find out which wallets both support.
For example, if your chosen marketplace is OpenSea, you’ll discover that it supports MetaMask, Coinbase, Trust, Dapper, and Portis. Now, let’s say initially your blockchain of choice is Flow. Do any of these wallets support your blockchain?
Currently, none of them do; however, there is news OpenSea is integrating Flow soon. On the other hand, Rarible supports Blocto, a wallet you can use with Flow. This leaves you with the option to either wait for OpenSea to support Flow wallets or switch to Rarible to start selling your NFTs.
Step 4: Connect your wallet to a marketplace
The next important and unskippable step in the NFT creation process is connecting your wallet to the marketplace you’ve chosen.
Most, if not all, NFT marketplaces will ask you to connect your wallet first before anything else, given there are fees you need to pay upfront. Doing this from the start will also benefit you as it will make transacting on the marketplace smoother.
The good news is connecting your wallet to your marketplace is fairly simple to do. If it’s your first time in OpenSea, you’ll be prompted to connect your wallet when you go to Profile, a support page on its official website says. As for Rarible, you can simply go to their ‘Connect wallet’ page and select your wallet based on the blockchain of your choice.
Step 5: Create digital art
Now comes the star of the show. After getting past the technical aspect of the process, it’s time to create your NFT digital art. Of course, without a piece of digital art, you won’t have anything to turn into an NFT.
There are two approaches you can take with this step. The first is by making the piece of digital art yourself. If you’re an artist, this way is preferable. The second is by using any of your existing work. The NFT creation process is open to any type of media, which means you can mint virtually any kind of digital item. More on this later.
However, if you don’t have any existing work and your aim is, say, to use NFTs as video game assets, you can take the magic approach and cut your work in half. We’ll devote an entire section to what this approach is later in the article.
Step 6: Turn your digital art into an NFT and put it up on the marketplace
After selecting the digital art you’ll be creating into an NFT, the next thing you need to do is mint it. In many marketplaces, uploading your digital art will suffice because minting is already a part of the process when you put your NFT up for sale.
This is the case for both OpenSea and Rarible. However, in some cases, you might have to pay extra just to mint your work before any transactions are made (e.g., someone buying your work).
Step 7: Market your work
Despite the big purchases often peddled in the crypto community (think Nyan Cat and Jack Dorsey’s tweet), selling an NFT may actually take some time and a ton of marketing effort.
Several experts advise building an audience and community first in your NFT trading journey. Promoting your work and yourself as an artist goes a long way even in the world of NFTs. So treat this as you would any artistic endeavor you plan to earn money from. Have a platform, market on social media, or consider investing in paid ads.
Is Digital Art the Only Thing You Can Create and Turn into an NFT?
Now you might be wondering whether NFTs are exclusive to static digital art — and the short answer is no.
While digital art is the most popular type of NFT, it’s not the only item you can create an NFT out of and sell in the marketplace. Anything digital can be an NFT, whether that’s a video, a piece of audio, a gif, an animation, or even a tweet.
As long as it’s something you can upload to the web, you should have no problems turning it into an NFT.
How to Do Half the Work in the NFT Creation Process
Let’s say you’re not an artist, and your investment in NFTs goes as far as needing them for major productions like a high-fidelity video game your company’s developing. You might be thinking, “There’s no way I can create digital art for NFT minting.”
The solution is simple — you need to start outsourcing digital art to seasoned professionals. In doing so, you instantly get to create a stunning NFT while cutting half the work in your NFT creation process.
There’s a huge network of creative talent you can find online, and you can connect with good ones on recruitment and freelance platforms like LinkedIn or Upwork. Hiring artists yourself is a good-enough solution if you have the time to source them and your project requires minimal support.
However, if you don’t have the time to scour through these platforms and require a digital art team ASAP, you go for the approach that saves you time, money, and resources.
It’s a low-risk, high-return approach many business owners fail to take advantage of. But it’s one that reaps the most gains. This approach is partnering with an outsourced team.
Outsourcing as Essential to the NFT Creation Process
You already know the primary benefits of outsourcing. There’s cost reduction, scalability, and 24/7 availability. These alone will jump-start your project instantly.
But when it comes to creating digital art you want to turn into NFTs for large-scale productions, outsourcing is the magic approach because of the volume and quantity of assets your outsourced team can make.
Plus, with this outsourced team, you can easily start on other projects requiring different art styles. Depending on the outsourcing partner you choose, you can outsource 3D animation, 2D digital assets, and augmented reality art to them without wasting any time.
Outsourcing has been key to the success of many businesses, and it goes without saying that leaders in the NFT digital art space would be remiss to pass on this easy solution.
In Summary
The seven steps to creating your own NFT digital art are:
- Choosing your NFT platform or marketplace
- Deciding what blockchain to use
- Set up your wallet
- Connect your wallet to a marketplace
- Create digital art
- Turn your digital art into an NFT and put it up on the marketplace
- Market your work
Searching for ways to lighten the load in creating NFT art? Look no further because you can connect with our digital artists who can create breathtaking digital art for all your NFT creation needs.
To partner with our talented team, send an email to sales@narrasoft.com or message us on our chat box below or contact form. We look forward to working with you.