Crypto NFT – A New World of Fine Art 

Crypto NFT – A New World of Fine Art 

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Updated on: February 18th, 2021 2021-02-18 16:42:49
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[gtranslate] Cryptocurrencies and blockchain have disrupted nearly all areas of human interaction and expression. From entertainment to financial services, it has made its way to glory and fame. An
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Cryptocurrencies and blockchain have disrupted nearly all areas of human interaction and expression. From entertainment to financial services, it has made its way to glory and fame. An interesting domain it managed to fit right into is the arts industry.

What are Crypto NFT?

Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are ERC-721 tokens hosted on the ethereum blockchain. Non-fungible tokens or nifty are unique; they cannot be exchanged for another nifty even if it belongs to the same group (a penny can be exchanged for another penny because all pennies hold the same value but a course certificate you earned cannot be exchanged with someone else’s because its unique to you!). Their applications are widespread and allow for a unique representation of physical assets and their ownership on the blockchain. Some examples of NFTs include collectible items, game items, event tickets or simply proof of ownership of some physical asset.

What are Fine Crypto  Arts

Inspired by blockchain and crypto movement, hosted on the blockchain itself or a tokenized representation of a physical art piece,  fine crypto art has taken numerous forms all of which are phenomenal.

It has inspired artists around the world to develop eye-catching paintings that depict the crux and meaning of the crypto/blockchain movement. On the other hand, it has redirected artists to create art and host its ownership on the blockchain in a tokenized form, allowing users to pay for it through cryptocurrencies and exchange it easily.

Such a form of art has further appeared in two forms. First uses NFTs as token of ownership for a physical art sketch, painting or sculpture whereas, the other form tokenizes the digital art itself that serves as collectibles. A great example of this is Cryptokitties, a gamified collectible ERC-721 token that lets you purchase “kitties” that you can play with, breed, and trade! It just takes virtual pets to another level and we love it!

An example of  fine crypto art is Art by Nelly. You can purchase futuristic utopian art pieces that aptly depict the crypto movement. You can browse the “art gallery”, select your preferred art piece, purchase and that’s it. You own a digital art NFT!

Fine crypto art gallery by Nelly Baksht

Where can I buy them?

Cryptokitties and Art by Nelly are just two examples in the haystack of the abundance of crypto fine arts currently thriving out there. Hundreds of artists are using crypto tokenized digital art to sell their magnificent work to millions of users. It’s low cost and gets your talent great visibility.

Now imagine how good would it be to have a marketplace where you can browse and purchase all available NFTs? Millions of art and collectibles all in one place! That’s exactly what OpenSea is. A crypto marketplace where you can browse hundreds of NFTs and purchase directly from there through your wallet.

OpenSea divides the collectibles into six types which you can filter out using the panel on the top left corner. These types include:

  • On Sale Items: Items that are available for sale immediately.
  • Has Offer Items: Items that are not potentially for sale at the moment but open to offers.
  • Pre-Sale Items: Items that are minted on spot as part of pre-release game collectibles, etc.
  • Has Bounty Items: Items that help you earn from referring them to your friends and family.
  • Auction-able Items: Items that are open to bid and are rewarded to the highest bidder.
  • Bundled Items: Items bundled together in a single purchase.

How can I buy them?

Now that you’re roused to get a collectible for yourself, the first question you might ask is how can you buy them? That’s simple enough. Since NFTs are hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, you need to own Ether (if you’re not sure where to get ether from, check out our guide!). Once you have the Ether, you would need a wallet that supports the ERC-721 collectibles.

There are two recommended wallets that support ERC-721 tokens:

  1. MetaMask: All Purpose Ethereum Wallet
  2. Dapper: Ethereum Wallet optimized for Collectibles

MetaMask comes as a Chrome or Firefox extension and lets you pay for your collectibles right from your browser. Once you sign up and create your wallet, add ETH to your wallet and you are good to go.

Dapper, on the other hand, comes as an extension as well as Android application. You will need to download the application or use the browser extension to create an account, verify your email and phone number and you are ready to go.

Once you have the ETH in your account, go to OpenSea website and in your Account option, click on Account Settings.

You will be prompted that your wallet is not accessible, here you need to give OpenSea access to be able to send transaction request to your wallet.

Choose your respective wallet and click on Unlock your Wallet. You will b prompted to confirm access.

The next step requires to you sign and confirm that it’s your account. Once you are done, you are ready to purchase!

Now go back to the OpenSea marketplace and go to browse, select any collectible you wish to buy. Let’s buy a collectible card for God Unchained game.

Here, you can either place an offer to purchase the item or buy for designated price. When you click on the option, you will be required to verify the purchase from your Metamask or Dapper account.

Once you do, that’s it! You are now are the proud owner of a collectible!

Your transaction is visible on Etherscan. You can use the card in the game, trade with other players or even sell it for more ETH! To view the token on Metamask, in the settings tab, click on Add token. In the custom tab, add the required details (anything for token symbol), and you should be able to see your token in your wallet.

On Dapper app, since it is designed for collectibles, has a more specific display for collectibles where you can view your item right from the transaction.

Crypto NFT for Artists

If you are an artist and are wondering if you can take seize the opportunity to display your art to a wider range of audience, you can use the OpenSea platform to do so as well. There are two ways to do that. One, is to create your own token [you can check out this guide to learn more about NFT!] and have it available on your wallet, Dapper for instance. In this case, you can go to your Account, My Items and click on the item you want to sell. Alternatively, you can use the Storefront, from the Develop tab at the top left corner. Here, you can create your own store, mint your tokens and NFTs yourself. You can read more about the store configuration from the documentation right here.

Once your NFT are ready, you are ready to sell them. You can select your pricing method from the following options:

  1. Set Price: sell at a fixed price
  2. Highest Bid: sell to the highest bidder before the bid expires
  3. Bundle: sell as a bundled collection

Once you set the requirements as per your preferences, select Post Your Listing, then you will be required to confirm a gas-free transaction and then you are done! You are now officially listed on the OpenSea!

What’s Next?

Now that you have been introduced to the great world of NFTs and crypto fine arts, I suggest you go on ahead and explore the marketplace. Find an amazing piece of art, and share in the comments below why you like it! If you are an artist, try making a storefront or putting up your masterpiece on auction! Share the link with the community.

Andrew Zapotochny
Andrew is the CEO of Blockgeeks and is the founder of AZ Blockchain, a boutique blockchain marketing company and consultancy. With 10 years of international experience in blockchain technologies, Andrew is known for launching tech ventures, leading marketing strategy development across dynamic fronts, and driving teams in executing digital campaigns, and creating successful new products. His entrepreneurial goal is to make blockchain accessible to all and create a mainstream hub for everyone to learn about blockchain technology. Andrew is super proud to have worked with global giants like KFC, Budweiser, Unilever, TD Bank, and government institutions. You can connect with Andrew on Linkedin.

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