Getting Started Making NFTs

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Hello everyone, welcome to the world of NFTs.

You may be new to blockchain and crypto, or you may have been in crypto for years at this point - but you in both cases - you probably are just now learning about NFTs.

This will be a guide that is ever-living/changing to help introduce NFTs, what gives them value and how you can get started in the NFT space.

What exactly is a Non-Fungible Token or NFT?

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique, individual token existing on a blockchain such as Ethereum. Unlike cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, each NFT token contains unique data meaning non-fungible tokens are not interchangeable with each other. This non-fungible nature of the tokens means their use cases differ greatly from their fungible counterparts.

A normal token can be exchanged for the same type of token equally without any difference.

A good example is a dollar - if you and I both have a dollar — we can swap dollars and it doesn’t matter, neither of us lose out they are equal. Whereas, with non-fungible tokens they are both >unique, meaning if we both have an NFT, mine could be a baseball card, and yours could be your Birth Certificate — obviously we cannot exchange these two >equally. Therefore making our tokens non-fungible.

Non-fungible tokens are used to create verifiable digital scarcity. NFTs are used in several specific applications that require unique digital items. This has initially proven popular for blockchain games and collectibles like CryptoKitties on the Ethereum blockchain. NFTs can also be used to represent in-game assets, which are in control of the user instead of the game developer. One exciting benefit of this arrangement means the non-fungible tokens or digital items, may actually outlive the game they were initially created for and find incorporate into separate future games. Yet another potential use is in digital art, by helping prove authenticity and ownership.

Artwork is another example of how powerful NFTs can be. By allowing artists to create artwork on the blockchain as NFTs, it means their content now becomes sellable globally, on decentralized marketplaces. Providing a means to collect, earn, and make a living off crypto.

NFTs are one of the best ways to actually earn crypto over time, without needing to invest in it directly. (unlike scams that say the same thing, NFTs are legit. Its like opening a store on ebay or etsy, your trading your time and work for money).

What gives an NFT its value?

There are a ton of reasons to buy NFTs.

1. Unique - Each NFT is unique, it's the only one of its kind. You cannot make another NFT that is the same token number on the same smart contract. Meaning there will only ever be one of that token. This is verified by the blockchain and can be seen by anyone.
2. Copyright - Your NFT might come with copyright if you are using Mintable.app. If the seller chooses to do so - it means that it's on the blockchain that the owner of that token would have complete commercial copyright to use that image and asset.
3. Rare - Since they are unique and cannot be copied, they are rare. Most of the time, there are very few NFTs from an artist or seller - very rarely do they have 1000s of NFTs. Therefore, you can safely assume you would be one of the few people in the world that owns an collectible item, that can be resold.
4. Collectible - These NFTs/items are collectible. You can hold onto them, and their value will only go up in price since there are few ways to dilute the collection. Buying them to resell them can earn you thousands of dollars. There are plenty of people who do it every day and earn a living from it.
5. Downloadable - If on most marketplaces, only the current owner of the NFT can download the file attached to it. Making it unlockable to the owner. If your NFT has something like, game assets, music, a PDF, or more locked inside it, you might want to buy the NFT just to download that song/PDF/etc.
6. Immutable - No one can change the metadata on the token, no one can remove your image, or the name of the token, etc. This means it will never change, it will never be removed, it cannot be taken down off the blockchain. This is what gives it so much value and collectibility
7. Forever - NFTs are forever. Because the data doesn't change, and because the blockchain is forever, you will always have that token if you buy it. You can always resell that token if you want. Its like buying a bar of gold - you own it, and you can do with it what you want.
8. Resellable - You can always resell your NFT. You SHOULD resell your NFT and trade it. You can make some serious cash trading NFTs. Some NFTs have gone for 20,000 USD + when the original buyer only bought it for a few thousand dollars. Making them over 15,000 USD in a short time in ONE trade!

How do I get started with Buying/Trading NFTs?

Step 1: Buy Ethereum

You need ETH (Or a coin with smart contract NFT implementation) and an Ethereum wallet to get started. The most common is Metamask.io - then you add some ETH into that wallet. This is required by all sites in order to interact with an Ethereum application. To buy ETH (Or other coins with smart contracts) for gas fees I use Coinbase and Binance.

Step 2: Find a marketplace.

The top NFT marketplaces are currently:

Opensea

Mintable.app

SuperRare

Rarible

there are more NFT marketplaces but these are the leading open marketplaces, others may not be open to all NFTs and only select items

Some of these let you create your own NFTs (if your a creator) and some of them are closed like SuperRare, where only approved artists can create items.

Below we will discuss creating NFTs.

How do I get started minting NFTs?

Once you've decided what store your NFT will be minted on - the next step is actually Minting!

There are a ton of possibilities when minting on mintable, so here is a more in depth breakdown of everything that is happening Creating an item

Once you click sell - you will be taken to a page to create your listing for your NFT and the mint it on the blockchain. Its very similar to listing an item for sale on ebay, etsy, or amazon.

You can create your title, the subtitle, add a description (make it good and tell a story behind your NFT!)

Uploading your content

Mintable has huge file limits, 3gb for the private unlockable file, and 200mb for the preview images.

This is great as it means you can upload huge 4k mp4s, high res photos, zip files, or more.

Unlockable private file

This file is a private file that ONLY the current owner of the NFT can access, so if your selling a video NFT, you may upload a low res, short clip as the preview image that anyone can see - but once a buyer purchases your NFT, they can download the full, 4k resolution video.

Preview images

You then can upload the image for the NFT itself, and the preview images for the listing. The first image you upload is the NFT image that shows in wallets, and the other images are shown on the listing page. Think of it like Amazon, the first image is the image people see when browsing amazon, and the other images are the extra images shown when they click on the item page.

Set your price for the item, select a few other options like transferring copyright or making it non-resellable, and then list it for sale!

After your transactions are submitted that's it, you just created an item on the blockchain that you own, you control, and you can sell. Congrats!

Gas Fees

Gas fees are payments made by users to compensate for the computing energy required to process and validate transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. "Gas limit" refers to the maximum amount of gas (or energy) that you're willing to spend on a particular transaction. To buy ETH for gas fees I use Coinbase and Binance. Gas fees fluctuate from hour to hour. You can check to see when they are cheapest at Ether Scan.

As of when this post is written a NFT (on the ETH blockchain) can cost between $60 and $300 to mint. Minting gas fees are much cheaper on "Proof of Stake" (PoS) cryptos such as ADA, BnB, and DOT. You can buy many of these alternative NFT coins on KuCoin. As of now, NFTs on these platforms are not as popular, but that may change in the future.

Advertising

The biggest challenge that most people have is advertising their NFT. The vast majority of NFTs never get sold. From what I have seen artists who use Twitter, Reddit, and Discord, have had success getting exposure to their NFTs. Even with these platforms, it is still very hard to get exposure.

NFT Games

Gala Games

Gala is a new type of gaming platform, partially owned and operated by its players. Earn Gala tokens by playing and use them to decide the future of the game! Many assets in the game are real NFTs and can be converted to 5+ ETH!

Sandboxgame

The Sandbox is a virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences on the Ethereum blockchain using the platform's utility token SAND. Players can create digital assets in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), upload them to the marketplace, and integrate into games with Game Maker. Some land has gone for 20+ ETH!

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More info

Over time, we will update this to add more info, fix typos, and add new sections. For now, here are some links to where you can learn more about NFTs

Mintable Guides

NFT blog

What are NFTs

NFT info from opensea

Have questions? Need help? Want some guides added? Leave a comment and discuss!

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TLDR: 1. Add ETH to MetaMask 2. Pick a Marketplace 3. Upload your art to the marketplace 4. Spend a lot of money on gas fees 5. Advertise and sell your NFT!

~~edit: Thanks for all the bat tips!