Whether you’re into the world of NFTs or you’re a total skeptic, one thing is undeniable: there has been a seismic shift in the creator economy.
This new wave of artists and creators selling their work as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has taken the world by storm. With stories of artists selling digital art for millions of dollars, it’s no wonder there’s so much buzz.
As a company, our mission is to help creators do more, earn more, and be more creative. And that’s why we’re so excited about the world of NFTs for creators.
It unlocks a new world of possibilities, and opens up the door for starving artists to become thriving artists.
But it’s not just artists that are benefiting from this new technological paradigm. Businesses are realizing there is a great deal of value in using NFTs.
For us, we were really drawn to the idea of having a digital “all access” card. And unlike a traditional purchase, this would be an asset that can grow in value, and be used as an investment over time.
How Did it All Start?
When we created the Founding Member level, we wanted it to have a ridiculous amount of value tagged onto it. And not only that, we wanted to continually give value back to these fine folks who purchased.
These people would be putting their faith in us—some of them very early on in our journey. So we not only wanted to thank them for their support, but also reward them continually as much as we could.
We crafted an official “Founding Member” coin, which was both a token of appreciation, but also a type of physical VIP pass. Imagine showing up to a meetup and the only way you get in is to flash your member ID card. Except in this case, the member ID card was a custom gold coin.
Pretty stinkin’ cool if you ask me.
As we plowed forward with this journey, building our initial product launch, the world of NFTs began to absolutely explode.
To be honest, I didn’t really understand it at first. But once I heard Brian Fanzo explain how NFTs can be used as access tokens for products, services, and events, my eyes were opened. I got it. And I knew this was going to be a huge value add to our Founding Members.
So I got to work sourcing an artist, and dreaming up the concept for the artwork.
The Founding Member NFT Series
The concept came to me as I thought about the many creators we know, love, and serve. This idea of “creating” is very psychologically tied to the hands. This is especially true of painters, sculptors, writers, or even digital artists.
And even creatives who don’t necessarily use their hands to physically create art—singers, dancers, speakers, and other types of performers for example—can still relate to this visceral relationship to the hands being an instrument of creativity.
So this idea of “creator hands” was the direction we chose.
We didn’t just want them to be normal hands, however. We wanted there to be an almost “mystical” quality to them. Something superhuman…
We came up with ten different materials to use as “skins” for the hands. Then I worked up ten different poses to place the hands in. We would then combine them to create the entire set of one-hundred hands—ten poses multiplied by ten materials equals one-hundred.
Each hand would also be interacting with a digital recreation of the Founding Member coin we created.
The results are mesmerizing.
Materials
We wanted to include materials which represented many aspects of creativity. The final choices strike a great balance between being realistic and fictional. There is also a touch of whimsical woven throughout in select places.
Materials:
- Lava
- Stone
- Granite
- Cardboard
- Glacial
- Ore
- Plasma
- Swirl
- Sand
- Tech
While we could detail out what each material represents, we thought it would be more fitting for our community to decide for themselves what each material means to them.
The real beauty of any creative community is the diversity of ideas and perspectives. And that’s what we hope these materials represent more than anything.
Poses
Like our materials, I wanted to craft a mix of hand poses with both abstract and intentional style. Some of the poses may have deep rooted meaning while others may just be fun to look at.
Poses:
- Examine
- Point
- Spin
- Rock On
- Levitate
- High Hand
- Grasp
- Roll
- Peace
- Thumbs Up
You may find a pop culture reference or two among these ten poses. Can you find any?
Format
Most NFT projects out there (the most popular ones I’ve seen, at least) are images. Static images to be precise. For our series, I wanted to do something a little different.
Our hands were created using 3D-modeling software then rendered into 150 transparent PNG images, each completing 1/150 of a full 360 degree rotation.
I then created a colored background for each material that would compliment the colors within the material itself.
The primary NFT image for each piece is therefore a composite of all 150 PNGs rendered as an animated GIF. So in essence, you’re not just getting one image… you’re getting 150.
Which brings me to the next piece…
Unlockable Content
When creating an NFT on Open Sea, one of the things they allow you to do is create “Unlockable Content” for the item. This is a hidden text area that only the current NFT owner can reveal.
Each NFT in the Founding Member series has an Unlockable Content area that includes a link to all full resolution PNGs as well as the original GIF file.
You know… just in case you want to play with some different angles and create your own variations of it if you want.
And who knows… maybe we’ll be adding more files to these private folders in the future with even more goodies and surprises. 😏
Order and Chaos
While the combinations were created by hand, methodically, the order in which they were assigned a number was random. Well… mostly.
Not knowing exactly what artwork you’re going to get is one of my favorite things about the world of NFTs. Like opening up a pack of basketball cards and not knowing what you’re going to get! I wanted our series to have that same exciting magic.
But, admittedly, I may have selectively placed a few combinations for specific reasons. I’ll let the community speculate on which ones, and why. 😉
Everything done on purpose has a purpose.
About the Mint
After exploring several options, I decided that the best route for us was to use Open Sea and mint through the Polygon network. You can view the entire collection as it is minted here on Open Sea.
There are a lot of great platforms helping people buy, sell, and trade NFTs. I decided we’d go with Open Sea because the system is so well designed and had the option to use the Polygon network to mint with.
Since these Founding Member NFTs are meant to be air dropped (rather than purchased directly), it made sense to use Polygon since there are no gas fees. While Ethereum is definitely the more popular network, the gas fees would have been astronomical for us, hindering our ability to create in our early stages.
For Founding Members, all that is needed is a MATIC (Polygon) wallet address. Once the Founding Member purchase is confirmed, our team will reach our privately to get your wallet address and drop your NFT at no cost to you.
We will never ask you to make any sort of crypto deposit before receiving your NFT. If someone is asking you to do so on our behalf, please report them to our team immediately.
Will We Do Another NFT Series?
Once all 100 Founding Member spots have been taken, and all our original series items have been minted, we will definitely begin planning our next one!
This whole process was really fun. And I think it would be a tragedy to simply leave it at one series.
However, there will be no more “Founding Member” spots added. Any additional series will be unique and not take away from the exclusivity of the Founding Members perks. That’s not to say they won’t be absolutely packed with utility and value, though.
How to Get a Founding Member NFT
If you haven’t yet joined the ranks of Founding Members, you can head over to our Founding Member Perks page to view all the benefits. Then, simply sing-up for an account and select the “Founding Member” option during registration.
Once your signup is complete and payment has been confirmed, you’ll get a “Welcome” email with next steps.
Easy peasy!
And if you have any questions, feel free to send us a message and let us know how we can help.
In the meantime, allow me to try out a new catchphrase as I awkwardly try to wrap up this blog post…
To creativity, and beyond!
[Yea, might not use that one again. What do you think? 😂]