NFT Resources for Traditional Artists & Creatives (a peek at what I send for my workshop!)
A new year note and January workshop dates included
Good morning everyone - and happy new year!
When I started this newsletter last March, I aspirationally intended it to be weekly (HAH! ya right!). Seeing as I am one prone to resolutions, intentions, and the like - my intention for 2022 is to send one every Wednesday. This is the first! 🥳
nfts (notes, feelings, thoughts) with amac is a newsletter on on creativity in the modern age — from physical studio practices to NFTs, web3 to the ways we find ourselves and generate inspiration. On any given week the topic will be consciousness, creativity, crypto, or consumer - and occasionally, of course, original art and writing. I hope you’ll join me!
In 2021, about half my revenue came from NFTs (the other half from freelancing and canvas paintings). My Desert Minis NFT collection, in particular, has been an exciting poetry x painting project that has started to pick up steam. While there are certainly shadow parts to the crypto space, overall, I believe NFTs are creating significant opportunity for creatives as well as bringing a new generation of collectors into art. You can read more on my views on Fine Art x NFTs here.
I remain as dedicated as ever to my physical painting practice; my focus this year will be growing creatively there as well as focusing more heavily on writing, while keeping a watchful eye on how the digital space can expand, and not contract, both efforts.
I will also continue to intentionally build resources for financial empowerment for creatives. At the end of last year I started running workshops to help onboard traditional artists into NFTs. What started as one-off effort, turned into ~200 creatives coming through across 10 sessions. I just released 6 new dates for January - you can sign-up below!
If you’ve already attended and want to book 1:1 time with me, my Calendly is also updated for January.
I send a version of the below pre-work to my workshop participants and thought it might be interesting to many of you. It covers the basic definition of NFTs, how to set-up your crypto wallet, and more. If you are a creative or know a creative who is interested in the NFT space, please send them my way.
Wishing you happiness, health, and an abundant 2022 - stay safe out there and see you next week!
❤️ Amac
P.S. I’m booking oil painting commissions for the new year, drop in here if you have something in mind. I’d love to work with you!
Pre-work for NFT for Traditional Artists/Creatives Onboarding
Hello creatives!
Over the past year, a ton of you have reached out with questions about NFTs and how to get started. In November, I launched the NFTs for Traditional Artists/Creatives workshop to help get you onboarded. While there are a lot to examine and explore about NFTs, I ultimately think that NFTs have created a huge amount of opportunity for fine artists and that they are worth, at the very least, exploring for an hour or two. We’ll go into why in the workshops - if you’d like to register, all the available ones are here: lu.ma/amac. I have both a NFT workshop and a social media/Twitter workshop.
If you’re already registered (or are just curious) then you’re in the right place! Below is the pre-work for the workshop. This is intended to everyone up to the same basic level of understanding, so that we can use the 1.5h to dive into the more exciting stuff.
It's ok if you don't 100% understand what you come across what you read below. The intention is to get you (1) set-up on the accounts you need and (2) to start to expose you to terms & NFT culture/context you can at least recognize them in the workshop. Think of it as moving you from the "I don't know what I don't know" phase to the "I don't understand, but I recognize the term” phase.
1 - Watch: 'WTF is a NFT?' (10m video)
This is a layperson's (my) explanation of the space - it helps you understand the concept behind the blockchain in NFTs in words you actually understand.
2 - Download & Set-up Rainbow, Metamask or another cryptowallet (15m task)
This is very important: In order to even *log-in* to any NFT platform, buy, mint (create) or sell a NFT you will need a crypto wallet. As in, there is no such thing as signing-up with an e-mail address — you need a wallet. You can think of this as a digital wallet similar to Venmo or Paypal, but holding crypto.
NFT Platforms accept many wallets, including Coinbase Wallet (which is different from your Coinbase app). My preferred wallet is Rainbow, as I think it is the most user-friendly, but Metamask is the most popular/standard one, so many people start there.
TO INSTALL: Go to the Metamask website and install it on both your desktop and phone. The desktop plug-in is essential, because for the most part you will be creating NFTs from your computer.
When you sign up, you receive a wallet address (for free). You can think of this like a phone number or e-mail address. It is a string of numbers unique to you that ties to/represents your financial (crypto) account. With this number and app, you can buy cryptocurrency (i.e., Ethereum, the main one used for NFTs) by connecting your debit card. The set-up for Rainbow is similar, and you will see the option to buy Ethereum right on the home screen.
Your seed phrase: this is the string of words given to you at set-up, and is the only way to recover your wallet if you forget your password. Write this down and store it somewhere safe and never share it with anyone! Whoever has your seed phrase can access your wallet and steal your money. 😱
Because this space is decentralized, you are generally on your own if you get scammed. There is no ‘Chase Service’ to call to reverse a charge and no one you can complain to. I’ll go over scams in the workshop, but for now, never share your password and never click on an NFT-related link from someone you don’t know - especially if you get DM’d by ‘Metamask’ or ‘Opensea’ support (two of the most common scams).
Extra bonus, if you are financially able, is to buy some Ethereum (eth) with your debit card. It costs money (Eth) to mint/create a NFT and takes a few days for this to process, so if you know you want to at least try, it is worth buying the crypto now! Conservatively it will cost you ~$100 to mint your first NFT - a scary fact we will also go over in the workshop.
Note: the workshop is Ethereum-focused because that is the most popular blockchain for NFTs. We will go into other chains briefly, but they will not be the focus. We will also go over hardware wallets and other wallets briefly. TL;DR if you are staying in the space, a hardware wallet is best practice. Here is a great breakdown of how to think about your wallets. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t stress! Just ignore this note.
3 - Read 'The Case for Fine Art NFTs' (15m article)
This is an overview of Fine Art in the NFT space. You will likely not understand all the terms, but that's ok. The article should at least orient you to how some traditional artists are approaching their work and expose you to some common terms (including PFP projects, 1/1s, etc.). Reading this will help you ask more informed questions during the workshop!
4 - Sign-up for Twitter and Discord
Sorry to break it to you Instagram lovers, but the majority of the NFT space is run on Twitter and Discord. Discord, if you are not familiar, is similar to Slack. It is an online community platform that allows you to create topic-based chatrooms. Many NFT communities, from projects to DAOs, are run on Discord.
Prior to the workshop, I highly recommend you sign-up for Twitter, softly recommend you sign-up for Discord. On Twitter, start by following @okfineNFTs and me, @_alexmaceda_, if you dare. 🙃 @okfineNFTs is an account I started out of this workshop that compiles resources for artists. Everyone I follow on that account is either a (1) workshop participant, (2) fine artist in the NFT space, or (3) a NFT account I think is worth following. It is a great place to start! I run a separate Twitter workshop for those of you looking to dive in.
For Discord, here are a few recent NFT project discords that are interesting. Warning! This will probably feel completely overwhelming, but that is ok! We will go over Discord briefly in the workshop as well.
alex maceda studio (fine art NFTs): this is my personal discord, which includes both the emerging fine artist community coming together around these workshops as well as my collector base.
CryptoCoven Project: this is a recent popular PFP (profile picture) project that is themed around witches. Gives you a good sense of an active Discord with a strong project theme.
Vector Field by Joey Roth: this is a small, very intentional community Discord for a new NFT project. This gives you some inspiration for starting more from a 1:1 collector basis.
Open3: this is an online community for independent artists. This gives you a sense of how to use Discord outside of NFTs.
4- Bonus Listen - recent Tim Ferriss Web3 Podcast (2.5h listen)
This is a one of the best podcasts I’ve heard on Web3/Crypto. It’s quite long, but if you have the time it’s worth hearing about all the different applications and what makes it interesting for creatives.
If you find yourself down here, newly intrigued, and not yet signed up for a workshop, I’d love to have you. Available workshops are at the link below - there is a NFT onboarding workshop and a Twitter deep dive workshop. If they are all full, drop your e-mail and you’ll be notified of new ones.
I am here to support you to the best of my ability so don't hesitate to reach out if you run into problems above. The best way to reach me is to DM me on one of my social accounts or to e-mail me at hi at alexmaceda.studio
See you soon,
A