The explosion in popularity and media coverage of NFTs has meant they are now worth exploring for a number of different people. Perhaps you’re an artist looking for new opportunities to share your art and generate an income? Or a person actively looking for new investment opportunities?

Regardless of your situation, we recommend reading this article about NFT art and if it feeds your interest in this subject, you can follow the guide below and start making your very own NFT art!

Let’s start with a recap on what an NFT is and why they are growing in popularity

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique token stored on a particular digital ledger, utilising blockchain technology much the same way as cryptocurrencies do.

An NFT represents proof of ownership for some kind of digital or real-world asset and can range from digital art, apps, real estate and more. Its most popular use is for representing digital art but the opportunities are endless.

What makes them so popular is a mixture of easy to create, a wealth of opportunities and the potential that comes from using blockchain technology. Our step-by-step guide below will show just how easy it is to get building NFT art, but you can get creative with the information held within the NFT. Maybe you wish to add in an agreement about future royalties or other terms to add long-term value to what you sell.

They also add to the wider cryptocurrency and domain trading investment pool, allowing people to buy and then re-sell NFTs for a profit.

A step-by-step guide to creating NFT art

We believe that creating NFT art is an opportunity everyone can take advantage of, with a relatively simple process to follow. It is important to be aware of the cost involved in creating an NFT and the various options available, so always do your checks before signing up for a service.

You should have decided on the kind of NFT you wish to create and now you can follow these easy steps. So let’s get started!

Step 1: Choose the right marketplace

Your first step should be to pick the best NFT marketplace for your individual requirements. Fundamentally, the vast majority will offer the same kind of process but they do fall into two categories:

• Curated: Stricter controls on who is allowed to create NFT art, with a focus on generating higher quality results.
  
  
• Self-service: The most common style of marketplace that allows anyone to create an NFT and this is by far the most popular option.

When it comes to selecting the most appropriate, the largest NFT marketplace right now is OpenSea. It is the most popular option because put simply, it has been designed in an intelligent way, offers significant support and thanks to being the world’s largest it has a lot of opportunities to make money.

There are other NFT marketplaces for those who wish to look for a more specialist option and just a few of these include Rarible, SuperRare and KnowOrigin.

Once you have done your research and decided on your NFT marketplace, make sure to create an account with them and start reading their user guides.

Step 2: Set up your wallet and add cryptocurrency

If you’re already operating within the crypto world, then it is likely you have an existing crypto wallet. If not, now is the time to get one set up. It is important to make sure that you choose one which works for the currency and blockchain you will be working with.

The vast majority of NFT marketplaces utilise the Ethereum blockchain and the most popular choice for many marketplaces is the Metamask wallet. We’ve created an article all about Metamask if you would like to know more.

When you create or mint an NFT as it is officially known, you will need to pay a gas fee. This is the transaction fee charged by a particular platform and the gas fee is normally in a specific currency linked to the blockchain. For example, many marketplaces require you to pay a gas fee in Ether.

The price to pay varies depending on the marketplace and can be anywhere from as little as $10, all the way up to $200-300. If you have existing funds in a wallet then you can utilise these or transfer them from another wallet if you need to set up a new one.

Step 3: Create your NFT on the marketplace

Now we get to the fun part of the process – creating your NFT art!

Each marketplace will have its own process for this but for a general overview of the steps involved you can follow this helpful article.

When creating an NFT, you will need to add some specific information for all NFTs such as a name and some kind of upload (an image file, audio or 3D file). After this, you get to be creative with the other properties you can assign.

For example, maybe you wish to create multiple editions of tokens so it becomes a series with an edition number. Or you may wish to add in some terms and conditions relating to ownership such as royalty payments or a detailed description about the artist.

Once finished, you will need to pay the required gas fees and the minting process will commence!

Step 4: Start trading your NFT

As soon as you have your newly minted NFT, you will want to start trading it on the marketplace. Depending on the NFT marketplace, you can list it for a fixed-price or use an auction style approach.

The choice you make will have consequences so make sure you think about how to list the NFT. Charging a fixed-price will have benefits such as protection from an auction resulting in a low price. However, you won’t be able to react to market demand as flexibly as using an auction which will take advantage of a surge in demand or pricing.

Our advice here is to not rush into this and do your research on how others approach trading in NFTs.

Step 5: Focus on promoting your NFTs

Just like selling artwork or assets on e-commerce stores or in a physical store, you want to generate interest in your NFT art.

If you have an existing business or following as an artist, then this will certainly give you a step up in the process. Take the time to promote your NFT art on social media platforms and your own website if you have one. This is particularly useful if you’ve decided to sell your NFT via an auction, as you can hopefully have multiple potential buyers bidding against each other and drive the price up.

Are there benefits to creating NFT as an artist?

Absolutely! There are some fantastic benefits for any artists out there who decide to create NFT art. We’ve summarised three of the main benefits below:

Minimal costs to get set up

Thanks to the nature of NFT marketplaces utilising peer-to-peer systems and blockchain technology, you avoid a lot of the costs found in traditional shops and art galleries.

In most cases, the gas fee involved in minting an NFT is relatively inexpensive but it does vary depending on the marketplace so always check before starting the process. It could be as cheap as $10-$20 worth of cryptocurrency, compared to some e-commerce stores taking a percentage of the sale value on traditional art.

You can choose to generate royalties over the long-term

When you create NFT art, you can add in terms to the description that allow you to claim royalties on your NFT art when it is sold again and again.

The percentage you add to the NFT can vary but the average is between 2.5% and 10% so it represents a very real opportunity to make significant money over the lifetime of your art. Remember, these NFTs won’t disappear so you are looking at a lifetime of royalty payments.

It uses blockchain technology

The foundation of NFTs, cryptocurrency, Dapp projects and more is blockchain technology and this is a fantastic benefit for artists wanting to get involved in the market.

An NFT by its very nature is a unique token and the blockchain technology involved in making this means that there is a clear papertrail of authenticity. This level of transparency in the market is simply not available in traditional markets.

Are there risks to creating and selling NFTs?

There will always be risks in any project or investment opportunity and NFT art is no different. Venturing into the world of NFT creation and trading without assessing these risks isn’t a smart move, so take a moment to think about the following and decide on whether it is still the right option for you:

• Uncertainty: Thanks to the NFT market and by extension the crypto world being relatively new, there is still a degree of uncertainty about the long-term potential of NFTs as an investment.
  
  
• Timeframe: It can sometimes take quite a while to sell an NFT and even then, it may be below the price that you wanted to charge. If you’re looking for fast, short-term investment opportunities then this is likely to be the wrong course to choose.
  
  
• Gas fees: Whilst we have said above that the cost to get involved is cheaper than traditional markets, it is important to note that some gas fees eat into the profit of your NFT art, depending on demand. There is no guarantee of making a big profit!
  
  
• Lose money: Just like any other form of investment and trading, whether in shares or website domains there is the potential to lose money as well as make it! Never gamble with money you can’t afford to risk.

Start your exciting NFT art journey today

We hope you’ve found this article on how to create NFT art both interesting and informative. NFTs present a fantastic opportunity for artists and investors to generate a new income or build on an existing portfolio of investments.

At Cloudname, we have developed a platform for people around the world to trade domains and build their knowledge about subjects ranging from NFTs, to crypto and more. Visit our site today for more information or to start trading!