Dave, assuming our readers haven't been living under a rock and have some idea about the surge of the infamous NFT in almost every culture-led industry in the world right now, tell us what you make of it?
It's a completely new concept and space and I think we're all trying to understand the possibilities and how we can best use them. There is a lot of silliness out there in terms of financial worth and a lot of confusion about what this new technology will mean for all of us. The bottom line really, is that no-one has any real idea of what is ahead for NFTs, the Metaverse and crypto. I've chosen to simply focus on the idea that I can sell digital art which has genuine rarity and celebrate the fact that there are collectors out there who are willing to invest in artists and visual art.
NFT marketplaces – what has your experience been with the different digital marketplaces for crypto collectibles and non-fungible tokens?
I have two current collections, my first is simply titled 'Urban Decay' (the project name I go by in the NFT space). Foundation and I set that up very early on, before I had any real understanding of the communities or the platforms themselves. It's a great platform for 1/1 artists and is set up on an invitation-only model. I launched my second collection named 'The Rogue Elements by Urban Decay' on Opensea in February. They are both quite similar, I'd say that Foundation is a little more exclusive – the gas fees are a bit higher and therefore my prices are a little higher over there. Opensea seems to be a little more affordable in terms of gas fees and is the predominant platform in terms of the general public. Opensea has had its issues with some bugs and reliability but I really think that is going to be the experience across all of the platforms at this early stage. Both Foundation and Opensea use Ethereum and there are many others that use alternate crypto currencies, but I haven't dipped my toe in any of those just yet.
Why is 10,000 the sweet spot for most of these computer-generated NFT collections and why have you chosen to go with individual pieces over minting a whole collection at once?
Good question! I think the first really big projects like Crypto Punks and Bored Ape all launched using the 10,000 piece model so it seems that set the benchmark for a lot that followed. I don't know how long that will be sustainable though as people and teams are now exploring different project models as we try and discover what works well and what doesn't. I have chosen to be a 1/1 artist, meaning that each piece I create is 100% unique and doesn't rely on the use of traits. Basically I am just an artist selling art. I didn't really make a conscious decision to do it this way, it's simply who I am. The big 10,000 projects usually have a team of devs, vcs etc. all contributing to the projects, whereas I am just one artist making work and selling it in a completely new and exciting marketplace.
