Starting Your NFT Collection

NFT art has taken the world by surprise as a piece created by Beeple sold for over $69 million dollars titled “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS”!!

Mind blowing when you think about it – so what is an NFT and how do you start collecting crypto art?

I dipped my toes into the NFT digital art space and created La Coins which is a fun little side project. You can purchase your La Coins right HERE on Rarible! I have a Bitcoin and Dogecoin La Cans Listed!!

NFT is referred to as “non-fungible token” that exists on a blockchain that proves and validates ownership of an item in digital form. NFTs are anything digital (drawings, music, yes even tweets), but a lot of the current explosion is in selling digital art. Many of us here are collectors – we are used to physically owning real items we can see and touch. Well NFT’s are a new way to collect and many items have the potential to be extremely valuable in the future.

This post will list the various digital art marketplaces powered by the blockchain. I have been using each site and will list my Pros/Cons of each, then will post links to my NFT collection thus far! In no order, here are my favorite digital art NFT marketplaces!

Nifty Gateway

Nifty Gateway has exploded in popularity and seems to have the largest volume of buy/sell transactions. Nifty Gateway teams up with Top artists and brands to create collections of limited edition, high quality Nifties, exclusively available on our platform. We’ve teamed up with people like world renowned artist Michael Kagan. Each collection will be opened at a specific time (a drop), and will only be available for a limited time.

PROS:

• Daily drops with amazing new content and artists added all the time
• You can pay with a credit card and not Ethereum – allows many more potential customers
• Very easy to collect/display/sell Nifties
• People can make global offers on all items that owners can accept with 1 click of a button

CONS:

• Site gets overloaded with customers and crashes/does not allow purchases to be made
• Lack of search functions
• Not able to auto-decline offers – I have received numerous $1 offers which should be auto-rejected

MakersPlace

MakersPlace is my go to spot to check out the latest digital art from many popular artists. MakersPlace is a marketplace to discover and collect truly unique digital creations by the world’s most creative minds. We empower digital creators with the tools to protect and sell their digital creations to their fans and collectors. Artists, photographers, writers, and more use MakersPlace to create and sell their work online through the use of blockchain technology

PROS:

• Lots of art options from 1/1 rare creations to multiple artworks being sold by artists.
• You can pay with a credit card along with Ethereum – allows many more potential customers
• Making offers is very simple – add a credit card or ETH, make an offer and wait for acceptance
• Easy to like and comment on art which brings more visibility to the piece

CONS:

• Global offers can’t be placed on art. Need to make offers specific to the piece
• Not able to counter offer

Rarible

Rarible – Most popular NFT blockchain. It is an open blockchain market where ANYONE can upload their digital art. Many celebrities are actively in this space and it keeps getting bigger. Lindsey Lohan and Mark Cuban are two of the biggest stars in the NFT space.

PROS:

• Large marketplace where you can find ANYTHING NFT related – from Art, domains, games, metaverses, music, DeFi and even NSFW content
• $RARI token distribution
• Trusted with “verified” creators
• Open Source – Easy to create and list your NFT (one or multiple)
• Unlockable content! As a content creator, you can add unlockable content to your collectibles, that only becomes visible after a transfer of ownership (i.e. selling or gifting your NFT). Artists use this feature to include high res files, making ofs. videos, secret messages etc.

CONS:

• Such a large marketplace means there is A LOT of content that is useless/garbage – Do research prior to buying!
• Only supports tokens of Ethereum blockchain network
• Bad peeps can manipulate the marketplace for RARI tokens

OpenSea

OpenSea is a marketplace for digital goods, including collectibles, gaming items, digital art, and other digital assets that are backed by a blockchain like Ethereum. On OpenSea, you can buy, sell, and trade any of these items with anyone in the world. OpenSea is currently the largest general marketplace for user-owned digital goods, with the broadest set of categories (200 and growing), the most items (over 4 million), and the best prices for new categories of items.
OpenSea is also a decentralized marketplace. Trading on on OpenSea happens through a smart contract, meaning that no central authority ever holds custody of your items. Instead, users store items in their wallet of choice – whether that’s a mobile wallet like Coinbase Walletor Opera Touch or an in-browser chrome extension like MetaMask. To better understand the inner workings of the OpenSea marketplace, you can check out the open source code for the OpenSea smart contracts here.

PROS:

• 200+ categories and over 4 million items for sale!
• First (and largest) peer-to-peer marketplace for cryptogoods, which include collectibles, gaming items, and other assets backed by a blockchain

CONS:

• Such a large marketplace means there is A LOT of content that is useless/garbage – Do research prior to buying!
• Not able to counter offer

In Conclusion – The time is NOW to start your NFT collection – This is a very interesting space and is the future of collecting! Make sure to follow me on Twitter and shoot me an email with any questions you may have!