How to Create Your Own NFT

Yes – we’re excited too! Here, we break down how to create your own NFT – so you can be part of the revolution.

Only when you thought cryptos couldn’t get more exciting than the Bitcoin bull run at its top speed, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) came dashing in and took the world by a storm. NFT art, in particular, is making it big worldwide. All thanks to famous artists trying out this new mix of art and the latest technology.

In October, a Miami-based art collector bought a 10-second video artwork as an NFT for over 86,000 dollars. And then, in the last week of February, he sold that digital art NFT for a whopping 6.6 million dollars.

If that weren’t enough, a group of people took things to the next level when they burnt down a 100,000-dollar art piece by the famous street artist Banksy to create a non-fungible token of it. They then sold the NFT of that art piece for a whopping 390,000 dollars on the popular NFT marketplace OpenSea.

All that sounds crazy? Let’s help you make sense of it. And who knows, by the end of this article, maybe even you’d want to create your own NFT. Don’t worry, it’s easier than you may assume.

Again, What’s an NFT?

The term “fungible” is used to describe anything that is not unique in itself. A banknote, the stocks of a company, a candy in a Halloween candy gift box, and so on. You can exchange one for another without any change in value.

Non-fungible items, on the other hand, are the exact opposite. They’re unique or rare and cannot be replaced with other similar items. Say, an antique pocket watch gifted to you by your grandfather. It’s completely unique and represents information or emotion that cannot be fully replaced with anything else. It’s non-fungible.

The same goes for art pieces such as Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci or Starry Nights by Vincent van Gogh. There can be copied versions of every art piece, but the original is only one. And it’s non-fungible.

Take any of these items and represent them using unique crypto tokens on a blockchain and you’ll have non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. These NFTs are stored on a blockchain and they act as proof-of-ownership of any real or virtual asset. Furthermore, being based on the blockchain makes NFTs secure and immutable, preventing anyone from changing their data.

This ability of NFTs to represent the uniqueness of items in a provably secure manner is poised to benefit a wide range of industries. NFTs can be used in gaming to represent unique in-game items, buy and sell unique artwork, own copyrights to music albums, represent property rights, and do much more.

What’s with The NFT Art Hype?

Going digital is sometimes exciting, sometimes funny, and sometimes a mixture of both. And breeding digital cats sure sounds both funny and exciting. The fact is, that’s where the hype around NFTs started.

Back in 2017, a Canadian firm launched the Ethereum-based NFT game CryptoKitties which allowed you to breed rare and cute digital cats. On the blockchain. Because of our sheer fondness for cats, the game shot to fame and the NFT space had its first major breakthrough.

While the innovation continued, the excitement around NFTs subdued before it could reach the world outside the crypto community.

2020 changed that for the better when the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 called for everything to go digital. The lockdown forced people to adapt to a more digitized way of living.

Offices implemented work-from-home orders, schools and students adapted to e-learning, movies started releasing on Netflix and Amazon Prime, shopping became less tiresome with online shopping being the only option, and artists looked to digital art as a way to portray their creativity. That’s where NFTs came in and showed a cool way for these artists to create and sell digital art on the internet.

And here we are, in the midst of a completely new era of buying and selling artwork.

Why Spend on Intangible NFT Art?

With all the digitization around, there’s no way we’re not already spending on intangible stuff. The intangibility of items doesn’t stop gamers from buying new skin and in-game items of their favorite games. It doesn’t stop music lovers or movie buffs from buying a subscription to Spotify or Netflix.

So, there’s no reason why intangibility should stop art collectors from buying authentic artwork of digital artists such as Beeple and Lushsux turned to NFTs. Art collectors are bound to pour their money where they find the work of the best artists. Even Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, put up his first tweet for sale as an NFT. Dorsey’s tweet that reads “just setting up my twttr” has summoned bids of two million dollars and above.

But you may ask, why really pay heed to NFTs when the art they represent could be easily copied and pegged to a new NFT, or that the artworks as NFTs are extremely overpriced. And above all, why would anyone pay for intangible artwork?

Sure they can be copied and pegged to a new NFT… the same way copies of Louis Vuitton bags are everywhere. But that doesn’t reduce the value of the original product. Besides, by virtue of blockchain tech, no two NFTs will ever represent the same information, and you can always identify the original one from the copied version by checking the timestamp of the two NFTs.

Should You Create NFT Artwork?

You surely have your doubts whether or not NFTs are really worth a shot. But think about the traditional art world for a moment. You see art galleries, and people paying hundreds of thousands or millions for artwork… and then you’re struck by reality. Only a countable few are able to make a living out of it given the right circumstances. Even then, they have to share their revenue with multiple parties involved in the sale.

The world of NFTs is very different. In it, you, the artist, control all strings of your artwork. NFT marketplaces are global marketplaces and they expose your artwork to the entire world. You don’t need to contact a gallery or an agency to sell your work. You don’t have to share your revenue with middlemen. In fact, NFT marketplaces keep you in the loop of your artwork’s sale all the time. Every time your artwork’s NFT is traded, you can get a fair commission from it. Also, you can, at any time, also prove the authenticity of your work and that at any given time only one person will be the true owner of your artwork.

All in all, the whole NFT artwork ecosystem creates a more democratic landscape for everyone to buy and sell artwork.

If this sounds like something you’d want to try, it’s worth learning how to create NFT art – you could be the next Beeple!

How to Create NFTs?

Contrary to what you may assume, creating your NFTs takes little to no technical knowledge. There are many NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, Rarible, or Mintable where you can create NFTs for your artwork in a matter of minutes.

To start creating your NFT, you will first need to connect your crypto wallet to an NFT marketplace of your choice. The wallet address will be your login info, so you will never need to share any other details. Once done, you can go to the “Create” section on the marketplace, upload your artwork, and finalize the process by clicking the right buttons.

That’s it. Before your mom calls you downstairs again for dinner or your baby starts crying or your better half misses you, you will have your NFT artwork ready to sell.

Store Your NFTs Securely

The proof-of-ownership of your artwork stored in an NFT is inherently secure and immutable. But the token itself is only as safe against theft as a private lockbox with a million dollars placed on a table in the waiting hall of a train station. That’s why you need to ensure the safety of the token that safeguards your artwork’s authenticity.

So, how do you store your NFTs safely? Hardware wallets.

Hardware wallets such as the Ledger Nano X, Ledger Nano S Plus, and Ledger Stax, are flash drive-like devices that allow you to store your fungible and non-fungible crypto tokens with full security. Apart from supporting NFTs on Ethereum, Ledger wallets now also support Cardano native tokens. 

With a Ledger hardware wallet, you get complete control over your NFTs as only you — the person who knows the private key and recovery phrase — can access them. It stores your NFTs away from the internet, preventing any ill-actor from laying eyes on your growing collection.

Knowledge is power