Art by Magdalena Takac
What the heck is going on with NFTs? Are they a viable avenue for artists to sell their art? Are they just a purely speculative market? Or are they a bubble waiting to burst? This week, Jake Parker, Lee White, and Will Terry do a deep dive into the NFT craze and give their honest opinions on the digital trend.
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SHOW LINKS
INTRO
Let’s do a followup on our copyright episode! While it may seem like we were not supportive of copyright or that it might not be as effective in protecting your work, we wanted to clarify that it can definitely help in a lot of situations: when your work is posted on Amazon or Redbubble without your permission, for instance.
Suing is not always realistic, though, which is what Lee was focusing on. Will has had work stolen from overseas vendors and has had no opportunity for recourse. Print on Demand websites are often actionable though, and it is worth pursuing. Registered trademarks also really work well with Print on Demand sites, though you probably won’t get any money from them.
SMALL ARTIST WOES
Jake was asked on Instagram how to make sure that big comic artists and publishers don’t steal original comic ideas from small artists on Instagram. Is it worth posting your work if it could get stolen by a major corporation?
Two things: Don’t post something unless you’re committed to fully defending it if it’s yours. If it’s something you don’t mind people copying or stealing, post it, but if it’s something you really believe in, don’t post it until you have a product that you’re close to releasing with it, don’t give someone else a bunch of lead-in time to riff on your idea.
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT NFTs BUT WERE TOO AFRAID TO ASK
This is a fast moving topic! The episode was recorded in the middle of March 2021, around a month before the release.
NFTs have blown up in a huge way over the last month or so! We can’t comment on if this will become even bigger or just fizzle out, but these are just our thoughts on what it could be and whether it’s worth getting into.
NFT: Non-fungible Token. Fungibility refers to a unit of currency or trade being the same as all the others of its type — dollar bills are all worth the same and all operate the same. NFTs are not fungible, so they can’t be interchanged with other versions of itself, and are unique. NFTs exist on the blockchain, which is a public ledger which everyone can see. It’s like a flag in the sand that says that “this code belongs to this token” and so forth. Any digital file or piece of code can be made into an NFT, and it exists uniquely on the blockchain. It’s a way to sell digital files, and some are going for millions of dollars while others are completely unseen and making zero money.
There’s a lot of money that artists are making here, and a lot of collectors are very eager to buy them, speculating that they might increase in value over time. There are some problems, though. There is a huge environmental cost to the blockchain, and it uses a lot of power to keep it running.
It’s also a worry that it’s purely speculative and that it doesn’t really exist in the real world, and is purely digital. Is this something that artists should be looking to get into?
Will loves Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. He thinks the NFT market is like most other platforms, in that artists who are already successful will have success selling NFTs, while unknown artists might have the same amount of difficulty with reach. Either you have an audience or you don’t, and your ability to sell an NFT reflects that. The brands that have a huge following are making a lot of money. Will thinks NFTs are great, it’s just technology and isn’t inherently good or bad, although the environmental impact is an issue.
The cool thing about NFTs is that you can make a contract so that the artist makes money every time the NFT changes hands or is sold. If only something like this transferred to traditional media!
Will NFTs hold their value? We think that the vast majority probably won’t, but the major names might. There’s just so much art being uploaded and not all of it will hold its value. James Jean is different because he’s well known outside of NFTs. Lee thinks they are all valueless, other than the first ones because they are early editions. And artists who have established brands. Lee made his first NFT as well.
It’s good to experience whatever it is that we’re discussing! Lee made an NFT just to figure out the process.
Mintable is free, Lee just has to pay a percentage to the website if it sells. They also make money if Lee wants to list it in their stores, but it’s free if he sells it directly. It’s on the blockchain. But Lee could list that same .jpeg file with a different NFT number and sell it as well. It’s a social agreement that you won’t make more, similar to how you won’t print more editions of a print run after it is already printed and sold through.
The average illustrator won’t spend millions of dollars on a Damien Hirst or an installation piece, whereas people in the art world would. Maybe NFTs are similar to fine art in that they can be a potential store of value, or they can shield you from taxes and so forth.
Jake is troubled by the NFT market because the people who are making the money are the market makers, and the artists are just pawns in the system. Will thinks that NFTs are a bubble that is blowing up because of FOMO. It’s not artists who are buying them up. If there is a fandom that desperately wants the NFT then the price might be justified, but if it’s just a hit and run from a celebrity then it might not keep its value.
What’s to stop market manipulation on NFTs? A cartel of traders could just bid the price up amongst themselves and then unload it to an unwitting buyer, who only sees the price going up steadily.
Are NFTs going to be a thing five years from now? Maybe artists could release limited editions of their work via NFT, like a physical item with a digital counterpart. It could also be a way to copyright your work and is verifiable from hundreds of sources. If we transition to a sci-fi Ready Player One style future, maybe NFTs will be just like physical objects.
Will had to do an illustration about email for the Washington Post way back in the day, and he had to ask what it was. A few months later, he was using the technology every day. Kids today are buying digital assets in video games.
If you did a painting every day and sold it as an NFT, you could be really successful, potentially.
What can you actually do with an NFT? In real life, not in your digital space? Maybe you could put a screen on your wall that shows the NFTs that you own, like a digital picture frame, but specially made for NFTs only.
“I want my work to be valued not because it’s rare but because of its creativity or beauty”. Jake agrees with this statement made by a friend. If we’re going to spend time and money and literal energy on this, can it not be something that is more creative and beautiful?
LINKS
Jake Parker: mrjakeparker.com. Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44
Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArt
Lee White: leewhiteillustration.com. Instagram: @leewhiteillo
Daniel Tu: danieltu.co.
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