Every once in a while a trend pops up that completely changes the way we interact with things. And by now, you probably know the term Web3, NFT, or the decentralized web well. In fact, if you use platforms like Twitter and Instagram, it’s pretty hard to miss.
Suddenly everyone is replacing their profile photos with pixelated CGI characters. Everyone from cryptocurrency enthusiasts to actual celebrities seem to have jumped on this trend. These collections of pixel art are more commonly known as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.
And in this article, we are going to talk extensively about NFTs.
Most importantly, we seek to answer the question, “What is an NFT?” . And, how you can make your own and post it for sale.
So, let’s start from the beginning.
What is an NFT?
An NFT, which is short for “ Non-fungible Token ”, is a part of a digital asset that is stored on the Ethereum blockchain. Non-fungible simply means that each individual piece is unique and cannot be replicated.
If you or someone else creates an NFT, you are automatically assigned a token for your individual asset. And this token is the only way to verify that you are the owner of that particular piece.
The tokens are completely stored on the Blockchain and are visible to everyone. This helps create a strong sense of ownership, which can then be validated by those who interact with your digital assets. The NFT app is simple enough to understand. But its usability in real world scenarios is much broader than just a crypto asset.
Let me explain this in more detail.
Why are NFTs popular?
There is no denying that people are having a lot of debate about the usability of NFTs in real world scenarios. But, saying that, it’s hard to deny the fact that the idea of decentralized ownership is attractive.
In recent months, projects like Royal have begun simplifying NFTs by onboarding world-class musicians like Nas on their platform. By negotiating a deal with Nas to publish his music on the blockchain, fans can buy a piece of the music and own the rights.
So every time someone listens to Nas’s songs and gets paid for it, you can get a piece of that income too. This is appealing because it creates a deeper connection between the artist and his fans. In fact, it puts artists back in the driver’s seat of owning his art.
By comparison, artists who sign with agencies generally tend to receive a nominal fee from the total revenue. But, by posting their work on a decentralized platform, they not only get full ownership, but they can also engage fans to help and increase the popularity of their art.
There are many platforms where you can track cool NFT projects .
What is Minting?
In simple terms, “minting” something on the blockchain is the equivalent of creating a document proving your ownership of that something .
The only difference is that this document will be your crypto wallet address. And it will be available for all to see. This “smart contract” approach helps eliminate fraudulent activity and suspicious claims.
However, it can also create problems on its own. If you ever lose access to your crypto wallet, you will also lose the ability to verify ownership.
So now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, let’s explore the process of creating your own NFT.
Can you mint an NFT for free?
One of the first things people ask about minting an NFT is, “Can you mint an NFT for free?” . And the short answer is, yes. It is possible to mint an NFT for free and many platforms offer this service.
The long answer is a bit more complicated and important to understand. While it is possible to create and publish an NFT for free, at some point someone will have to pay gas fees (transaction fee) and if you don’t want to do it yourself, the person buying your NFT will have to.
Here is a definition of gas rates:
The term Gas refers to the amount of Ethereum required for anyone to interact with the ETH Blockchain. Gas fees are the associated costs for miners to verify transactions. This is useful because it provides greater security by weeding out spammers on the web.
While useful for security reasons, the gas fee aspect of Etherum is largely seen as a bad thing. There are plans to improve the Etherum network by introducing a consensus layer – but this is still a work in progress, and may take some time to kick in.
How to Create (Mint) an NFT
To simplify the whole process, we are going to use two platforms for this tutorial. First, MetaMask to create a crypto wallet on the Etherum blockchain. And secondly, OpenSea, the most popular NFT marketplace in the world.
With these two platforms alone, you can go from never having created an NFT to actually having it for sale!
First things first, how to create an Etherum wallet?
Creating an ETH wallet with MetaMask
MetaMask has close to 25 million users. The platform provides an effortless means to create your first Etherum crypto wallet . Most importantly, you will need MetaMask to interact with the OpenSea marketplace.
In fact, it is impossible to post an NFT on OpenSea unless you have your Etherum wallet ready. You can download MetaMask for Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge and iOS and Android devices.
Once downloaded, you’ll be guided through a step-by-step tutorial on how to create your first crypto wallet.
The onboarding process introduces you to some basic security principles. The most important of which is the Secret Recovery Phrase. This 12-word secret phrase is the only way to truly secure your wallet. As such, you should make sure that you have saved it somewhere safe along with your password.
MetaMask generates the phrase automatically and you should immediately save it to a safe place. Many people prefer to store it in a password manager , but doing so in a physical location can also be a good idea.
Also, you may want to consider one of the options outlined in our cryptosecurity measures .
Once you get past this, you’re done. Oh! MetaMask just created its own Etherum crypto wallet on the fly.
The address can also be verified using Etherscan. Keep in mind that you can use your new wallet to interact with virtually any blockchain-based service that supports Etherum.
So now that we have a wallet, it’s time to create and list our first NFT on the OpenSea marketplace.
How to publish an NFT on OpenSea
OpenSea is home to some of the largest crypto collections in the world.
In any given month, the platform processes over $3 billion worth of digital assets. And because of its popularity, you are much more likely to attract a sale for your new NFT. Plus, OpenSea makes it incredibly easy to submit your artwork for a public listing.
If you go to the OpenSea Create page, you will come across this screen:
Since we already have a MetaMask wallet, we can simply click on the MetaMask option. This will activate an automated service to connect your MetaMask wallet with the OpenSea infrastructure.
You have to agree to some basic terms but nothing beyond that.
And, as soon as you’re done, OpenSea will present the Create a New Item interface. Like this:
On this page, you can choose the actual digital asset you want to mint. OpenSea supports images, videos, audio files, and 3D models. And the maximum file size for each is 100MB.
You can also include details like the name of your NFT, an external page that explains what it is about, and a description. Alternatively, you can choose between Etherum and Polygon as the blockchain to post your new NFT on.
At this point, you can simply click Create and you’re done. You will be automatically redirected to your new NFT list :
I have to admit that it is not my work of art that I am most proud of. But, for the sake of an example, I think it does a pretty good job.
At this point you have two options:
- Leave it as it is. This means that your new NFT appears on the OpenSea marketplace and is available for organic buyers to view. Individual buyers can make offers on your listing and you can accept or reject them.
- Sell. Selling means that you have a price in mind and want to publicly sell the NFT instead of waiting for an offer. You can choose between a fixed price or go with an auction style listing.
You can also decide to just leave the artwork alone.
But, for many people, the main attraction of NFTs is the ability to sell or trade them with others. For some, it’s about prestige, while for others it’s about social proof.
Of course, there are also those who are in it for pure profit. So the question is: how do you sell your digital asset if you have never sold one before?
How to sell an NFT?
For many early adopters of cryptocurrency, owning an expensive piece of digital art is a status symbol. Bored Monkey Yacht Club minimum price is about 93 ETH as of this writing. This translates to roughly $230,000 500,000 USD, but it can go as high as $500,000 depending on the price of Etherum.
That’s a lot of money to pay for a digital asset. And it’s certainly garnered a lot of attention from people who want to be a part of the trend as well.
But not everyone is going to sell their newly minted art for thousands of dollars. And blindly jumping into this trend would be ill-advised.
As such, here are my top 3 tips to speed up the sales process.
Use your creative skills
Whether it’s a picture or a song you’re trying to sell on the blockchain, it’s important that your project springs from creativity. With so many people jumping on the bandwagon, it takes careful planning to stand out from the average listings.
If you don’t know where to start, I recommend exploring the projects that people have already published. Talk to people who have sold their artwork for 1 or 2 Etherum and ask them: how did they do it?
One thing that is notable about Web3 and NFT specifically, is the community aspect. People are open to talking about their successes and their failures. And it never hurts to ask.
join communities
Joining a like-minded community is the easiest way to promote your art and other digital assets. In particular, these are Twitter, Discord and Clubhouse. If you don’t keep up with the latest trends, you may be missing out on potential customers for your art!
Sites like NFT Calendar show upcoming drops. This can be your starting point to see who is posting the release and what their community links are. My personal favorite is Twitter.
You can follow one or two people in the space and in a week you will meet at least 100 other people who are passionate about this space.
intention is everything
If you don’t show genuine interest in the Web3 movement, it may feel like an absolute bore to try and sell your NFT . As such, it would probably help if you spend time learning about cryptography in general.
Are you passionate about the idea of a decentralized web ? Would you like to live in a future where artists can involve their fans in their creative process?
Although the movement is still new, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. And showing an intent to learn and understand can quickly attract like-minded people into your circle. These could also end up being the people who will gladly acquire one of your works of art!
closing sentence
As complicated as Blockchain can be to understand, creating an NFT seems to be a non-issue. In this article, we have learned that minting a simple digital photo on the blockchain takes less than a few minutes.
It’s also free, though as we learned, gas fees are one thing.
Other than that, I think we’ve covered the absolute basics of everything.
Last but not least, there is always more to learn, namely how to build a collection of NFTs similar to those of CryptoPunks and others.