I have seen a great deal of people who are bullish on crypto express interest in creating and launching an NFT project, I think often with unrealistic expectations, that is, they hear about all these kids making millions selling jpegs, so they think they can just throw up some listings and boom they sell? Well not exactly, but look I don’t blame them, I thought the same thing, until I tried it and learned what it was about, lets get into it.

WHAT IS AN NFT?

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger. Types of NFT data units include digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because each token is uniquely identifiable, NFTs differ from blockchain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

In my eyes you have a few different groups or types of NFT projects.

“One-Offs” of pieces of various art that can be grouped by collections with certain themes or what have you.

“Character Collections” which is a single character with various traits that are minted at random.

“Music Projects” like song/album drops in form of NFT, which are amazingly beneficial for musicians and their fans alike.

“Novelty/Pop Culture” which are items from pop culture turned NFT, like a Tarantino script or some funny OG meme.

All of these tokens are capable of having some sort of utility or case use after purchase. Like access to real life events and benefits.

TOOLS USED TO MAKE NFTs

There are 3rd party apps and websites that will create smart contracts for you to help configure all the customizable elements if your going a character collection route. One is Appy. Google search for more options and more about the process.

There are paid and free options in image editing software you can use to digitize your drawing. Adobe, Affinity, Gimp, Paint, InPixio, and Fotor, to name a few. Google search for more if need be.

WHERE WILL YOUR PROJECT BE HOSTED?

So after deciding what type of project your going to launch, you need to think about where its going to live. Although your project can be hosted on which ever platform you choose, its important to note that some “types” dominate certain platforms, this can be seen after a few minutes scrolling the different platforms.

For instance, if your going the “One-off” direction trying to sell art pieces over character collections, I would highly recommend getting it on Foundation, that platform seems to be much more art driven and focused as apposed to other platforms where you see “Character Collections” dominate the space. These are things to keep in mind, again you will find a little bit of everything on each platform.

Opensea is nice for beginners because it implements lazy minting, so once you have your account set up and pay those fees, you can begin uploading your collection without having to pay minting fees, and then once someone buys the NFT, then the minting fees are paid, I believe there is an option whether you pay it or the buyer does.

LIKE ANYTHING ELSE ITS A GRIND

Unless you already have a huge following, to launch a successful NFT project, there’s going to be quite a bit of community building required to get things going.

All of social media is recommended, spread the word far and wide, but there are a few essential platforms in the NFT/Crypto Space. Start building out your digital infrastructure with a dedicated Twitter, Tik Tok, and Discord.

See if you cant find anyone interested in being involved with the project some way shape or form, try to build a team that shares your vision. The more people involved the better.

Its a long journey, but possible. Good Luck.

We are probably missing a few things and glazing over the rest, but this is a good point of understanding to begin your NFT journey, I like to keep it general, there is plenty of content doing deep dives on anything you could possibly want to know, just search for it.