Cryptocurrency has been a buzzword for a couple of years now, with people buying and investing in digital assets to grow their wealth. The most recent development in the cryptocurrency scheme is NFTs, which blew up in the art industry in early 2021.
You have probably heard of NFTs before, but their relatively complex nature makes it rather difficult to understand exactly what they are and how they work. In this article, we break down everything you need to know about NFTs in art, including what they, what you get from them, and where and how to buy art NFTs.
What are NFTs?
Like its umbrella concept of cryptocurrency, NFTs or non-fungible tokens, are digital assets that can be bought and sold. They are present on a blockchain and are created for digital objects such as art, collectibles, sports, music, and other intangible or tangible assets.
They are non-fungible in the sense that they cannot be exchanged because each NFT has a unique digital signature and value. This is in stark contrast to fungible tokens like Bitcoin, which, when exchanged with another of its kind, still yields the same value because every Bitcoin is identical and non-unique.
Digital Art with NFTs
The advent of technology has led us to the digital age, where everything can be accessed online. The art industry was unexempted from the impact of digitalization, which gave rise to the digital art sector. The development of NFTs made it possible for digital artists to sell their masterpieces for millions of dollars by means of the exchange of NFT digital assets.
Digital art with NFTs first rose in popularity in early 2021 when Mike Winkelmann, a.k.a digital artist Beeple, sold an NFT of his work “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” for over $69 million. Prior to this big sale, he has also earned from NFTs, selling his works for $3.5 million and $6.6 million in December 2020 and February 2021 respectively.
Artists can benefit from NFTs, allowing them to digitalize their work and tokenize them to expand their earnings. Aside from extra sources of income, it gives digital artists a new platform to display their work for millions to see.
What You Get When You Buy Art NFTs
An NFT is assigned to a digital object that represents a tangible or intangible asset. In art, purchasing an NFT gives the buyer an art piece that is digitally signed by its artist. Because each NFT is unique in digital identity and value, the sale and digital ownership are recorded on the blockchain.
A buyer of an NFT has the liberty to decide what to do with it next. They can opt to sell the NFT for a higher value, for which the original creator gets resale royalties, or otherwise hold it in their NFT wallet for future use.
Where To Buy Art NFTs
Because of the sudden boom of NFTs, and the projection that the digital asset will continue to grow in the foreseeable future, plenty of online marketplaces have expanded their services to include NFT transactions. Here are a few platforms where you can buy NFTs:
- Async Art
- Foundation
- KnownOrigin
- MakersPlace
- Nifty Gateway
- OpenSea
- Rarible
- SuperRare
- Zora
The art NFTs available in these marketplaces range from music and images to digital paintings.
Aside from being sold on online marketplaces, NFTs are also auctioned out in art houses, such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
How To Buy Art NFTs
NFTs are purchased with cryptocurrency on marketplaces that usually use Ethereum blockchain technology. With that, you need a cryptocurrency wallet, such as Coinbase wallet or MetaMask, to participate in buying and selling NFTs.
Most NFT transactions take place in the leading marketplace, OpenSea. To buy NFTs on this platform, you first need to create an account and connect your cryptocurrency wallet. Upon logging in, you can visit your profile, where all the NFTs you’ve purchased, as well as your marketplace activity, will be featured and visible to other members of the OpenSea community.
When you are ready to browse NFTs to purchase, head to the marketplace to see the listings. Listings will have two options, either “Buy Now” or “Make Offer,” the latter of which allows you to pitch a purchase amount to the seller.
If you have made a purchase, the NFT will be transferred to your cryptocurrency wallet and will appear on your profile, under the collections tab. The purchase price of the NFT will also be deducted from your wallet balance, with a 2.5% service charge paid to OpenSea.
Should you decide to sell your collected NFTs down the line, you can upload the listing on the OpenSea marketplace. To do so, visit your profile and click on the NFT you want to sell. If you want to sell for a specific amount, select “Fixed Price.” Otherwise, you can also auction out your NFT by selecting “Timed Auction.”
NFTs: Paving The Way For Digital Art
NFTs have made it possible for digital artists to expand their reach and earn millions of dollars for their work. From Beeple’s $69 million NFT sale to digital artist FEWOCiOUS’ $2.1 million NFT auction, it looks like NFTs are making waves in the digital art industry and is expected to continue to do so in the foreseeable future.
Crypto Crying digital image by Robert Lyn Nelson VIEW RLN Digital art HERE.
Interested in other artistic styles and original prints? From surrealism to cubism and impressionism, Robert Lyn Nelson creates artwork in many different genres. Check out some of his famous work such as Across the Universe from Beatles Series, unique Hey Jude print, Whimsical Elephant from Nature/Animals collection, or this Alexander the Great oil painting.
