They’re all the rage these days - NFTs.
You hear them on the news, you hear friends talking about them and you’re wondering how you can get in on the craze. FOMO has never been higher for digital assets and NFTs represent an interesting new avenue for artists, art collectors, and people trying to make some money.
The real question isn’t what an NFT is, it should be how to create one yourself and how can you sell it?
Keep reading and we’ll help break down how to get in on NFT creation and selling and simplify the madness about digital art.
What is an NFT?
Although this article is about how to create and sell an NFT, it’s important for anyone without any context to learn what an NFT is in the first place.
NFT stands for “non-fungible token” which in essence means it’s a one-of-a-kind digital imprint of something.
This can be a piece of art like most NFTs usually are, but it can also be anything from a sound file to a highlight clip of a sports game, an in-game item, or any kind of digital collectible.
“Can’t you just screenshot a JPEG and that makes it an NFT?” is a common question that pops up about NFTs and the answer is no.
You might have a copy of it by doing that, but owning the actual NFT is confirmed or validated on the blockchain as you have possession of the authentic copy which makes an NFT so valuable.
How to Create an NFT
Now comes the tricky part. Creating an NFT isn’t some act of magic, but it can be hard to think of an idea of what to turn into an NFT.
The best thing to do is find something unique that you believe someone will pay for in the first place, in this case, it’s usually a piece of art.
Many people sell digital art, but digitizing a physical piece of art is also an option as well.
Unfortunately, not all of us are naturally gifted at creating artwork so this can be difficult.
A common style of artwork used in many popular and lucrative NFTs are the pixel-style characters seen in the PixelPunk line of NFTs.
As for actually creating an NFT, you’re going to want to start an account on an NFT marketplace, but we’ll get to that in a second. Before that, you want to pick the right blockchain to go with.
Each blockchain is different in that it supports different tokens, wallets, etc. but the most common and useful blockchain to use is the Ethereum blockchain because of its ERC-721 support which is used by MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, and Trust Wallet.
There are of course other blockchains like Binance Smart Coin, but Ethereum is used so widely that it’s almost always a good choice.
Once you’ve chosen your artwork and your blockchain, you can open your account on a marketplace and they’ll help you turn your item or art into a certified NFT.
Choosing a Marketplace
Speaking of marketplaces, this is going to be a very open-ended choice.
There are plenty of marketplaces out there where you have a lot of wiggle room to do your research and figure out which one meets your needs best.
If you want some help, we’ve already written an article comparing some of the major NFT marketplaces out there to determine which ones are best.
The most common options are OpenSea, Rarible, CryptoPunks, SuperRare, and Nifty Gateway, among many others.
Ones like OpenSea and Rarible are great choices because of their high volume of users and sales but can be harder to crack into with so much competition.
Likewise, other ones like CryptoPunks are focused on a specific niche, the pixel art, so it’s not for everyone if you’re trying to digitize physical art or non-pixel art.
There’s an NFT marketplace out there for everyone, and with so many around and more popping up, you just need to do your research to find one that meets your needs when it comes to ease of selling, fees, user volume, a blockchain platform, etc.
Creating Your Account
After you’ve chosen the marketplace you’d like to sell with, you’re going to choose the Create Account option that they offer.
If you’ve ever created an account on any site, you’re not in for any surprises here. You’ll provide information about yourself, choose a profile picture, etc.
You may be required to digitally sign so you can authenticate yourself better and provide stronger security which is a good thing.
You’ll also want to add a banner to your account so that prospective buyers can see more about you, so it’s a good idea to use some of your art. The more legitimate and filled out your profile, the better the picture (pun intended) other marketplace users can get of you.
Connecting Your Wallet
Before we get too ahead of ourselves here, you’re going to connect your wallet to your marketplace account.
For example, if you use MetaMask on your internet browser, you can easily connect it to an OpenSea account and have access to funds to pay any listing fees or receive transactions or pay for an NFT.
This applies to Coinbase or any of the major wallets as they are adding more support for NFTs and NFT marketplace transactions as well.
Selling Your NFT
Here comes the part many of you want to know about - how do you actually sell the NFT? Well, if you’re using a marketplace then they will handle the majority of the work but you still need to have some input.
In particular, you can determine how the NFT is listed, meaning you can set it for auction, set it to bids, or list it for a firm sale price.
Keep in mind that, although some NFTs sell for large amounts, it doesn’t automatically mean you can sell or auction yours for 3 ETH right off the bat, and it might not even sell at all.
Picking an appropriate and reasonable price allows people to check out your NFT and consider it much easier than if you listed it for a lot, but it’s always up to you to determine the value of your work.
Bottom Line
NFTs are all the rage and the hype and FOMO are likely here to stay for quite some time so the best thing you can do is educate yourself on how they work.
Making an NFT comes down to how creative you can get and figure out what you think might sell, so knowing how to actually go about creating and selling one can potentially be lucrative.
It’s easy to see why so many people are getting into NFTs when you know which blockchain to use, pick the right wallet, find your marketplace and create your account and list your NFT. From there, it’s just a matter of patience to see if someone wants to buy your work.
