How to Create and Mint NFT Art
The question on how to create NFT art is not such a popular question at the moment, but it is on some artist’s minds. However it will catch on as it provides a new and great opportunity to make money from your digital art. You can also set up the token so that you get a commission on resales which is an additional plus.
Editors for creating NFT art
Creating NFT art is exactly the same as producing any other digital artwork. You could take pictures as a photographer and use digital editors like Photoshop or Illustrator to enhance it. Or you could hop straight into the editing tools and create an artwork from scratch. You can create videos or music using any editor. The world is your oyster – be as creative as you like.
Creating NFT art is not much different than what you would normally do as a digital artist. There are only some slight differences with the way you would approach things which will be covered in this article.
Marketplaces
Before you go creating new artwork it is best to figure out which marketplace you will be using. Firstly because platforms are different and require different types of artwork files you need to upload. Secondly because different marketplaces have different styles of artworks. Thirdly some marketplaces are more professional than others, so you may want to be selective on which marketplace you would like to be on. You should have a quick browse to see which platform is the most suitable for the kind of work you produce.
The NFT stats here can help you understand the size of various marketplaces.
Not all marketplaces are made the same
There a good amount of marketplaces where you could list your art. Some allow you to create an online profile and mint artwork within minutes while others are curated and take time until they vet artists.
Something to keep in mind is that the ones that take time to review artists are the ones that have better quality artwork overall. Consequently, you can also expect these platforms to have higher prestige and fetch higher prices for the artworks. However, they are selective on who they allow to join their platform. Nifty Gateway and SuperRare are a couple of selective ones.
Of course you could always place your art on multiple platforms. Not all marketplaces will not allow you to do this though. This is because they like to ensure the artwork is scarce and there is only one version being sold.
File formats
File formats you will be able to upload will depend on the platform you are using. Some allow more file formats, others less. The most popular file formats are always going to be JPG, PNG and MP3.
| Marketplace | File formats |
| BakerSwap | JPG, GIF, VIDEO, AUDIO |
| Foundation | JPG, PNG, or MP4 |
| GhostMarket | JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG, MP4, WEBP |
| Known Origin | JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG, WebP (along with animated variants), MP4, WEBM, GLB |
| NFT showroom | JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4 |
| Nifty Gateway | |
| OpenSea | JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG, MP4, WEBM, MP3, WAV, OGG, GLB, GLTF |
| Rarible | JPG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, MP4, MP3 |
| SuperRare |
File size
One thing you must know about NFTs is that they use something called smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. Since digital artworks can be large files they are not stored on the blockchain.
The blockchain only stores the most basic information like the name, a description of the artwork and the url where the image is stored. It is important to know that this information is subject to link rot. Link rot is when a hyperlink to stop working overtime either because of a change in url or becoming permanently unavailable.
There are work arounds to storing files differently to ensure a standard of professionality so that your buyer will always have access to your artworks once purchased. You could opt to use a server to store files or Google Drive. However this is not recommended as it does not provide long lasting access to artwork and is not so secure.
IPFS for storage
It is better to use IPFS methods which stands for InterPlaterary File System. This is only a fancy way of saying it is a peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data.
Pinata is a IPFS service you could use. It does come at a cost if you use more than 1GB storage, with an individual account being charged $0.15 per giga bit per month and $20 per month for professional accounts.
One thing you will need to keep in mind with Pinata is to make sure you update the url whenever you make any changes to the artwork. This is because it works differently to how classic urls work. In this case the url is based on the content of the artwork itself and will change accordingly to the changes you make. Some marketplaces have their own IPFS and will take care of this process for you, making it easier. A couple of marketplaces that use IPFS are KnownOrigin and SuperRare.
Marketplace file sizes:
| Marketplace | File formats |
| BakerSwap | Images and GIFs less than 10MB, Video less than 30MB |
| Foundation | 50MB max file size, still images 3000px is ideal, video 1080p or 4K is best |
| GhostMarket | 25MB |
| Known Origin | 25MB for cover images, 75MB for main asset |
| NFT showroom | 30MB for images, 100MB for MP4’s |
| Nifty Gateway | |
| OpenSea | 100MB |
| Rarible | 30MB |
| SuperRare | 50MB |
Setting up accounts
Setting up an account will either be done by signing up as you would usually on any other online platform. Or else you will need to register your wallet first and your account will identify you by your wallet.
Gas
The first time you create an account you will be interacting with the blockchain to create it for you and it will cost a gas fees. The gas fee will need to be paid in a crypto such as Ethereum. It is determined by the amount of requests and transactions from the blockchain at the time. If the demand is high then the fee is higher.
Commission fees
Some platforms charge commission fees when you sell your artwork.
Minting
This term just means that you are or have registered an artwork to go up on sale on the site. Clients will be paying the gas fee when they purchase the work to execute the transfer of the artwork over their account.
Royalties
If you would like to make money from royalties you are able to set this up when you mint your work. In future when the buyer sells your work to someone else you can receive a royalty fee. 10% seems to be the standard. Above 10% is a little high, but it does depend on the artwork you are selling.
How to make NFT art conclusion
As an artists you do not need to change the way you create your digital art. All you have to do is look at which marketplace will suit you best, sing up and look at the more technical aspects to submit artwork. The benefits for artists has prompted some observers to suggest that NFTs are the future of digital art.
For professional artists it is best to go with the marketplaces that review artists and have better quality works on display. They will also take care of storing your artwork files for you in a professional way. This will give you more confidence that your buyer will have access to your artwork come what may. This may not be the case for the other NFT marketplaces available.
