I’m pretty sure that you must’ve heard about NFT art through the Tv, News, or maybe YouTube, and you be like ‘’hey maybe I should look it up on the internet and know what this stuff is about’’.
What is NFT
Well, NFT which stands for “Non-Fungible Token” is a unique form of digital asset that is created and sold online for a particular price, although the price of which a particular NFT asset or art was sold could rise or fall due to its value in the market, and this is based on the price of Ethereum at a period of time.
NFTs can be said to be like cryptocurrency but there is little difference between them, let’s put it this way.
The value of 1bitcoin remains the same when exchanged with another bitcoin. While with NFT it’s different, NFT art is likely to change over time when bought and resold to another holder who could place so much value on it thereby making sell double or triple than its initial price.
How to create NFT art
Selling on nft is quite simple, all you have to do is to have any supported item that could be sold digitally on the nft platform and you are good to go. Below are the steps needed to create your nft.
Choose what to sell
Before any sale could be made, you will have to choose the type of digital item you want to sell as an nft. The item you wish to sell as an nft should be able to be digitally supported, this could be in the form of videos, pictures, an audio file, virtual land, meme, tweets, and so on.
You should also make sure the item you have chosen to be sold as an NFT is originally owned by you and not by someone else. Creating an nft that isn’t owned by you could get you into serious legal trouble.
Blockchain to sell
Choosing the blockchain that you want your nft to operate on is crucial. Because the blockchain is the foundation of where all your nft transactions will be carried out. The most popular blockchain used is the Ethereum blockchain.
However other forms of blockchain do exist like – Tezos, Polkadot, Cosmos, Binance Smart Chain, and so on.
Digital wallet for your NFT
Your digital wallet is needed for the storage and transactions of your nft asset. This is where all your owned nft assets are stored digitally and is secured with passwords known as seed phrase that is made up of 12-24 word phrases that should only be known by you.
Your digital wallet should be able to support Ether which is the currency used for the Ethereum Blockchain. It will be required to make your first purchase. With your wallet setup, you can be able to access and make purchases from other nft platforms.
Choose marketplace
Now you’ve set up your digital wallet and the next on the list is to figure out which marketplace you want to buy or sell your nft.
Your digital wallet will be required to connect to the marketplace of your choice so that transactions could be made seamlessly.
There are several popularly known marketplace for nft sales –Niftygateway, Opensea, Foundation, Zora, Asyncart, etc.
Upload file
Choose the desired file that you want to upload as an nft art e.g music file, videos, digital art, GIF, or any other file that is digitally supported.
Set up the sale process
Now you have set up everything needed to make your nft marketable, what is left is to choose how the sale process should be.
Fixed price sale
This is a one-time sale whereby your nft is put up for sale for just the first person that wants to buy your nft for a fixed price.
Timed auction sale
Your nft is set up for an auction sale, buyers will be given a particular period to submit their final bid after the time is exceeded, the highest bidder takes the nft and the auction closes.
Unlimited auction sale
You set up your nft for an auction sale that has no fixed period before it closes, you are the one to decide when you want to end the auction sale.
Additionally, If you’re a graphic designer and you are really good at it, then this is your chance. You can open up favorite software (Blender, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, etc.) and start creating stuff.
And guess what, you don’t really need to create a much complex design, though badass designs count too. you can create designs as simple as the popular racing rainbow GIF cat that was sold for $600,000.
Did you know that the first tweet of twitter’s CEO ‘Jack Dorsey’ was sold as an NFT art for the price of $2.9 million at the time of sale which simply says “just setting up my twttr”
but will probably cost more right now if it is to be resold to a new buyer.
The value attributed to this content has made it cost more over time. The company or personality that has ownership over a piece of NFT art also influences how the price/value of that NFT art will be.
So if you are thinking of creating or buying one, you should think of the value of the NFT art or the influence your company or brand has.
A popular name like Apple company could own a piece of NFT art with great value just because of its brand name.
How to buy or sell NFT art
This is another great question. Let’s assume you are all set with your NFT art and ready to sell it out for a good price. Let’s say for the price of $10,000,000 (just kidding. but, it’s possible).
There are many sites out there that you could sign up with and start buying or selling your NFT art with just a few clicks.
Best NFT marketplace place to buy or sell your asset-
. OpenSea
. AsyncArt
. Zora
Just to mention a few of these sites, there are many others you can make sales with. from my research, these sites are the top-recommended ones.
Selling NFTs in the marketplace requires processes that must be followed for an NFT transaction to be successful, these processes come In the form of gas fees that are to be paid on the site which you are going to use for selling NFT art.
These fees include:
-Minting fee
This is the amount that will be charged for putting up your NFT art on the site and giving it the authentication that the piece of NFT is originally owned by YOU the uploader and no one else.
-Listing fee
Amount charged for listing your NFT art on the website for collectors or buyers to see them and as a result purchase them.
-Commission fee
The commission fee is the amount charged for the sale of your NFT art on the website. For every sale of NFT art that is made, a particular charge which is a commission fee is taken by the website you are selling this NFT art on.
-Transaction fee
When an NFT art has been successfully sold, your money remains in the site you used in carrying out the sale.
If you intend to move the money to your crypto wallet, a transaction fee will be charged by the site to enable you to move the money to your wallet successfully.
and please note this, the amount of these charges depends on the value of Ethereum at that time of transaction. NFT sales prices are been powered by Ethereum. That’s one thing you should always have in mind.
How To Store And SECURE Your NFT Safely
NFT arts or assets being a thing of high value isn’t what anyone would want to lose due to carelessness or lack of security, its safety is paramount. After all these digital assets cost thousands or even millions of dollars, losing them isn’t what you would want to experience.
Safekeeping your NFT art should be a top priority after purchasing from the marketplace, luckily there are several ways you can secure your NFT and escape the chances of your precious asset being stolen by hackers.
Two Best Wallet For Storing And Trading NFT
There are two best ways for storing your NFT assets safely – you can choose between a Mobile and a Hardware wallet.
Mobile wallet-
A mobile wallet is an easy and secure way to manage your nft asset, they are applications or sometimes browser extensions that are installed on your pc, mobile devices, and laptops that let us have access to our nft assets online.
The mobile wallet gives you a seed phrase(seed phrase is a series of words generated by your cryptocurrency wallet, think of it like a secret question asked by crypto wallet)that is needed anytime you want to access your wallet and sometimes a 2-factor authentication might be needed.
When a seed phrase is misplaced or forgotten, there is no way to get it back or forgotten password mechanism that can recover it for you, so keep it safe and personal.
Hardware wallet (cold storage) –
Hardware wallets are the safest and most secure way to store your NFT asset and are almost unhackable because it stores your NFt asset off the internet into a physical hardware device. This way hackers or keyloggers won’t be able to manipulate URLs and try to gain access to your assets.
The hardware wallet also provides you with 12-24 words known as seed phrases that will be used to access your nft items. When your hardware device seed phrase is lost, you can always recover it with the help of the hardware manufacturer.
Because security is paramount, each hardware wallet comes with a personal ID and password.
Looking for hardware wallets that do the job perfectly? The two best hardware wallet devices in the market are Trezor and Ledger.
So without wasting much time, let’s check the best places to store your NFTs.
List of mobile wallets
Metamask
Metamask has always been the number one go-to place for NFT software wallets, with its high-level security protocol your nft safety is assured. For new users, an account will be created and a seed phrase will be given to you, seed phrase helps keep your nft safe from getting hacked but always remember to never store your seed phrase on your PC or laptop or anyplace online, always store it offline – it could be stored on a sheet of paper or someplace offline that is safe for you BUT not online.
While metamask is powered by Ethereum Blockchain, you are allowed to buy or sell NFTs on almost all nft marketplace inside the app.
The catchy thing about metamask is its ability to work on cross platforms, it supports both PC and mobile devices and has a browser extension that could be installed in your browser.
Because of this ability, the app has made it seamless for you to log in and have access to your NFT arts whenever and wherever you desire.
Let’s not forget about its user-friendly interface which is not too confusing. Even as a starter, you can easily find your way around the app because of its interface friendliness.
Trust
This is another great wallet to use if you are just starting up as a newbie in NFT business. Trust wallet allows you to store all of your nft and crypto-asset safely.
As a first-timer using the app, you will be required to enter a personal password to allow you access your asset anytime and also be used as a means of password recovery just Incase you misplace your password.
The app UI(user interface) comes in handy and is very easy to understand. With all your digital assets being set up categorically, your owned collectibles can be found on a specific section of the app.
With Trust wallet, you can be sure to make nft transactions across other nft platforms seamlessly. Buy and sell digital assets with no hassle.
Coinbase
Coinbase is a well-recognized crypto platform where traders go to buy and sell cryptocurrency. But, coinbase has made the availability of a different application that lets you manage your NFTs
You don’t necessarily need a coinbase account before you can access this nft wallet, all nft transactions can be made easily and safely.
Coinbase lets you store your private key safely and also has an easy-to-navigate interface.
How to know NFT value
Some factors influence the value of your nft. And these factors are the reasons why your nft asset would cost more or vice versa.
Utility
Buying an NFT just for the sake of owning one isn’t enough to increase its value over time, you should be considerate on whether the nft can be useful in real-world scenarios, in-game activity, online purchase, and so on.
The usability of a non-fungible token in a digital or a real-life scenario is paramount in determining the potentiality of its present or future value
These days there are online gaming platforms that give players rewards with tokens or sometimes require players to purchase in-game power-ups with nft. So, utility is one crucial attribute to look out for when owning an NFT.
Scarcity
NFTs that are very common to get don’t have as much value as the rare ones. Because the more an nft is difficult to find and purchase in the marketplace, the higher its value.
A popular collector like Beeple might own an NFT that is just 1 out of 1 of its kind and cost thousands or maybe millions of dollars because of its rarity in the marketplace.
So, owning an nft art that can’t be found very easily is one way of telling if an NFT has value or not.
Market history
Simply because it’s a pretty piece of NFT doesn’t mean it’s gonna cost more to sell, an nft will be invaluable if it had long sale history.
An NFT will have high value if it has been handed down from public figures, celebrities, big brands, etc.
A jpeg file that has a long sale history and has been handed down from popular figures and celebrities would cost more to buy even when compared with another jpeg file with the exact image on it.
Benefits of NFT to graphic designers
For a long time, digital and traditional artists alike have always depended on clients’ work to be able to get jobs and make money.
Waiting for client’s feedback, annoying reviews and so much headache that comes with it.
NFT has come to put an end to all of that. This is like a dream come through to graphic designers and persons of art, both old and new art. With this NFT art, the trend comes with benefits that put smiles on our faces.
-Art ownership
NFT art database has a system that gives authentication to every piece of artwork. this will make it possible for artists and graphic designers to be able to retain the rightful ownership of their art without losing it to someone else.
No matter how many copies of that art have been distributed on the internet, the NFT system only gives the right of ownership to just one person only with a unique code of NFT art iD.
So, no matter how many rainbow gif cat you find on the internet the original NFT art owner still holds the masterpiece.
We aren’t going to worry anymore about someone elsewhere or across the other side of the world to continue generating revenue with your sweat.
-Global recognition
Imagine being so popular as an NFT artist or a graphic designer who specializes in NFT art creation, your global recognition will definitely pay you off hugely with such recognition.
We can see how Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) who sold a single NFT art for $69.000.000 has made a name for himself as the world’s best NFT artist.
With great recognition comes great value to your artwork. Mike Winkelmann’s artworks are globally recognized and are sold with great value more than his peers in the NFT marketplace.
-Royalty
Yes, you heard me right, there is always a commission fee given to the original NFT art creator anytime his already sold art piece is resold to a new owner.
He gets a percentage for his hard work every time the artwork is been sold to a new NFT collector.
Unlike when an artist sells out his artwork work and gets nothing in return after his work changes ownership in the future. In the NFT world, it is different.
You will always get a commission for your art sale which comes in form of royalty.
-Self-reliance
You need no one to call you up when you don’t want to be disturbed, a client calling you up in the morning for revision or trying to point a something wrong in his logo.
We all know how annoying it is.
Have you ever been on the bed and you get a call from your client or the company you’re working for and they tell you to make one final review on their design job after you’ve already made one final review? (I bang my head on the wall oftentimes, whenever I get that kind of call).
With this NFT opportunity, you happen to be your own boss, with no annoying call, logo design reviews.
Pros & Cons of NFT
NFT as a form of crypto happens to be favorable to me as a graphic designer, With its mouth-watering values, it is an opportunity that everyone would want to take advantage of and also make a good living with just a single sale of an NFT asset.
But, have we asked ourselves if NFT has its own bad side?
-Pros
- One can make huge revenue with just NFTs.
- You can get global recognition for yourself selling NFT arts.
- Self-reliance.
- You need no special authorization to create an NFT art. anyone is allowed to create NFT.
Cons
- It is said that the generation of NFT arts consumes a very huge amount of electricity.
- According to the Digiconomist website, a single Ethereum transaction consumes more than 70.32 kWh, enough to power 1 U.S. household for 2.5 days. This is equivalent to a carbon footprint of around 34 Kg of carbon dioxide (CO2). … The increase in NFT users has exacerbated the problem.
- -Many believed that platform on which NFT sit-Ethereum blockchain is outdated and unable to embrace the volume of people making use of the medium.
- since NFT is new, there have been investment controversies by giant companies that it might crash and not be safe to invest in.