In a recent captivating appearance on Farokh’s Spaces show, Yuga Labs’ CEO @dalegre ignited a spark of optimism within the NFT community by shedding light on the company’s transformation. The conversation unveiled a shift that positions Yuga Labs as more than just a gaming entity; it’s now a catalyst for cultural evolution within the blockchain sphere.

Drawing parallels to the pioneering spirit of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s early days, Yuga Labs is tapping into a similar energy with a clear message: It’s time to transcend the boundaries of gaming and venture into the realm of community-driven culture.

Here's the whole show, def worth a listenhttps://t.co/4tAY6FNJXB

— wale.swoosh (@waleswoosh) August 23, 2023

The CEO emphasized that Yuga Labs isn’t merely a gaming company; it’s a community-centric entity with a profound mission—to construct an innovative cultural tapestry woven with the threads of technology and art on the blockchain canvas.

By embracing this broader role, Yuga Labs is not only supporting creators through its advocacy for royalties, but it’s also shaping an ecosystem where creators and collectors collaborate to redefine the very essence of ownership and experience in the NFT space.

Yuga Labs’ vision extends to the iconic Cryptopunks, where the company envisions not just an art-focused brand, but also potential partnerships with museums. A history book chronicling the journey of Cryptopunks is underway, symbolizing its growing significance.

As the NFT landscape evolves, Yuga Labs emerges as a driving force, redefining the concept of NFT holders. They envision holders as active participants in the creation of intrinsic value through experiences, challenging the notion of passive consumption.

This visionary transformation has galvanized the community, with many expressing their bullish sentiment and appreciation for Yuga Labs’ deep understanding of the evolving NFT ecosystem. The company’s commitment to cultural evolution through blockchain technology paints a promising picture of the NFT landscape’s future.

TLDR: Yuga Labs’ CEO @dalegre, in a recent appearance on Farokh’s Spaces show, revealed the company’s shift from a gaming focus to becoming a catalyst for cultural evolution within the NFT space. Yuga Labs is now centered around building a community-driven cultural tapestry on the blockchain canvas. This transformation is marked by support for creators, advocacy for royalties, and a vision that extends to iconic brands like Cryptopunks. The company challenges the role of NFT holders, emphasizing their active participation in creating value.

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The 50mm Collective is an NFT art collective dedicated to providing resources and opportunities to historically underrepresented artists with a focus on highlighting BIPOC LGBTQIA artists. As early pioneers in the space, they felt a direct responsibility to ensure diverse representation becomes the forefront of Web3. Their current exhibition “Visibility Gallery” which is a touring VR gallery with a plethora of artists that made its way around NYCNft and soon Oakland.

When I first became a contributor to NFTCulture, I reached out to the founders Raven + Chelsea immediately to do a feature, because not only is my art in the Visibility Gallery as an LGBTQ artist, but I strongly feel the work they are doing is so vital for cultivating an inclusive Web3 for all people. I am so honored and grateful they have agreed to this interview.

Can you give us a quick intro about yourselves?

My name is Raven Trammell aka Raven50mm. I am an Afro Latinx, trans masc photographer and the founder of the 50mm Collective. I’m also the events manager for Quantum and the community curator for PASS NFT. 

Hi my name is Chelsea Quintela the co-founder of the 50mm Collective. Im an NFT Aesthetics artist. Studied and trained in Fashion Design BFA as well as painting in different mediums. 

What was your inspiration to start 50mm Collective and what is its mission?

There were at the time, a lot of polarizing groups that did not fully resonate with how I identify and represent myself… trans & biracial. Getting Chelsea onboarded at the same time, we wanted to create a community for artists who also were feeling how we were. We believe making a living as an artist shouldn’t be some unattainable dream. We want to use the tools of web3 and IRL experiences to fuse together both communities. 

As the 50mm collective Twitter grew and artists with similar experiences started showing up for each other within the space, we decided to bring this energy irl having the first meta masquerade and the 50MM Collectives first virtual gallery featuring over 100 artists from all around the world. Seeing the exposure for these artists first hand and their work being collected from our curated gallery made us realize the vision is greater than we can imagine.

By curating outstanding artwork into stunning virtual galleries, the 50mm Collective creates an elevated IRL experience for the art community. As early pioneers and leaders in the NFT space, we feel a direct responsibility to ensure diversity and inclusion are at the forefront of web3. Our vision is to fuse curation, culture, and community in a way that enriches the art world.

How/why did you get into crypto/nfts? Overall experience so far? 

Raven: I was on Clubhouse trying to learn more about investing in crypto and they started talking about NFTs and digital artwork. I started going to more rooms to learn and also did a lot of research on my own to start. I got active on Twitter where the bulk of theNFT convos were happening. I minted my first piece on Ghost Market (phantasma blockchain) and just evolved from there trying to find community to grow within web3.  

Chelsea: Raven introduced me to NFTs and encouraged me to put my art and creations out there. I minted my first collection on Opensea and getting my first sale made NFTs real to me. 

The overall experience has been a rollercoaster to say the least, but even with the ups and downs of the crypto market, fomo on all the amazing projects and events, and sometimes burnout; it has still been worth it.The artist connections & watching the web3 space grow overall is why we keep going.

Finding balance is key… which we are still learning. 

What is your funniest/favorite nft related story?

Raven: When we met NFTGirl and she said we were the cutest Web3 couple AND when both of our artwork was featured in Times Square on the Godzilla screen! Note: I would like to mention not only did they get to see their artwork in Times Square – Raven proposed to Chelsea at that time which to me is one of the most iconic moments of NYCNft. Love is love.

After seeing our artwork in Times Square – I asked @ChelseaQuintela if she wanted to spend the rest of this life together and she blessed me w a YES

My Queen, my heart, my light — I’m so excited to be on this journey w you. I love you to moon & back & then there again pic.twitter.com/z6hwJD2nUS

— Raven | He/Him (@raven50mm) June 23, 2022

Chelsea: Going to an NFT gallery show for Gabe Weis and he was wearing a hat with a Picasso drawing that Raven also has as a tattoo. The pure joy of that connection was definitely a top moment to experience.

3 projects you love in crypto art and why?

1. Mutual – they are building an NFT marketplace and web3 ecosystem centering and celebrating trans and queer creators and culture-makers. A portion of Mutual’s platform fees fund direct action mutual aid.

2. PASS – they’re an artist first initiative with utility packed in their PASS NFT. 

3. WOE Collective – Women of Excellence  is a woman of color led NFT collection building community, content and curation. Minting soon! 

Where do you see the future of crypto art going?

Turning into a lifestyle and touching all aspects of everyday life. From clothing to coffee brands. There are so many unlimited possibilities! 

Advice to newcomers to NFTs from what you have learned. 

Go at your own pace and start building your community first. Get into Twitter spaces and other live conversations to gain an awareness of the space. Be mindful of your web3 security and safety. YouTube is also an unmatched resource, subscribe to the 50MM Collective ;).  

Links to Explore 50mm Further

Visibility Gallery: https://oncyber.io/visibility

Twitter: https://twitter.com/50mmCollective

Raven’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/raven50mm

Chelsea’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/chelseaquintela

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I first connected with NFT Ignition last year, when she found my Damsels collection, and I saw her work with Fame Lady Squad. With both of us Minnesota raised and other life experience connections, I always have felt her to be a warm approachable human with a love for teaching and desire to help others. Her diverse background pre-Web3 further exemplifies this from her work in education to healthcare to working in carnivals (yes, she was a carnie). She understands the humanity behind the technology we are all building and brings empathy and compassion to the forefront while uplifting others.

Since 2020, she has cemented herself as a pillar in the NFT world with being a co-administrator of Fame Lady Squad, co-host of a podcast “From The Blockchain”, building educational materials, founding and curating Women.NFT and has worked on 29 projects and helped over 100 artists mint their first piece. When NFTCulture put out to write about collectors, she was on my short list of who I wanted to interview not only because she is one of my collectors as an artist, but also for how much space and support she gives to so many women from all walks of life in Crypto Art/NFTs. I am grateful for her agreeing to this interview.

How did you get into crypto/nfts? 

A comment on Facebook under an article that was paywalled titled ‘the next greatest transfer of wealth’ because you had to pay for the article I simply scanned the comments to see if there was any good info in there. Every single comment was about crypto, mostly Bitcoin. I scrolled through hundreds of comments before I decided ” idk what Bitcoin is, but I need some.”

I first started minting NFTs in 2020 because I thought it was a cute way to flirt with a guy I had a crush on. Over time I sent him perhaps dozens of NFTs that were mostly selfies, but artistic selfies. It sent me down a whole rabbit hole of working with artists and commissioning my own pieces/onboarding them into the NFT space which then led to me creating projects or helping artist create their own projects. Not only did I end up right where I needed to be, in the middle of the NFT space, but even better I recently started dating the guy I sent all those NFTs to.

My main focus right now is on creating digestible educational materials for all learning types and figuring out a way to scale it. We don’t have one way to teach math, we have at least 8 ways to teach just multiplication, we need the same resources for the NFT space. Long term that goal includes summer camps for kids, they would be a choose your adventure type camp where you can choose to learn about anything from 3d digital art/blender, to contract auditing, to archery and swimming. I want to have a wide range of web3 content, but also digital art and mix that with all the typical summer camp activities. I would love to see schools incorporate these types of courses, but as a former teacher I know that is not going to happen anytime soon. 

How did you get involved in Fame Lady Squad and would you like to share a little about your journey with that project?

When FLS launched it was run by a team of all men who lied and claimed they were all women, once this was found out the community was devastated. Artchick actually reached out and convinced them to send the project to the community, and then the community chose me, boredbecky, and data to be the ones to take care of it from there. It was really a wild ride, taking over a project with 0 funding, that had a large active community behind it.   

As an avid collector, what advice would you give to projects/artists? What advice would you give to other collectors?

When you come into the space, do not worry about investing any money, you should first only invest your time. Spend a few months researching before making your first purchase or starting your project.  

Who are some of your biggest inspirations in the scene and why?

@twerkyclub, one of the first people I saw building a community around his NFT project, long before bored apes minted.  I watched his hard work change the entire NFT space around me

@kennethbosak was the person who gave me my first speaking position, and convinced me it was something I wanted to do.  He saw something in me before I had even seen it.  

3 artists you love in crypto art and why?

My favorite artist change all the time, as the space is always growing and new artist emerge, but I have recently been partial to @camibusNFT, I just love the recurrent theme of the long legs that come to a point, they are so graceful yet so isolated/disconnected from the world below them @izzyalright for her ability to depict emotions in a way that goes way beyond words @lambieartist for her bold colors and personality that really is just a whole vibe all around. 

Any tips for newcomers to the space? 

Safety should be the first thing you research as you get into the space, set yourself up correctly from the beginning to avoid heartache later on. Hardware wallets, dedicated computers, metal seed storage, multisigs, these are all things you should fully understand, or implement before putting large amounts of money into your wallets.

Where do you see the future of crypto art/nfts going?

At some point, I don’t believe we will even call them NFTs anymore. How often do we talk about the underlying technology we are using everyday? I think people will have multiple apps on their phones for different types of NFTs, maybe one for hotel rewards and room keys, one for your local coffee shop etc. Where they are using NFTs without even realizing they are NFTs.

Links to explore further:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NFTignition

Website: https://nftignition.com/

Podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/YN4wdIR2

The post Interview: NFTIgnition appeared first on NFT CULTURE.

Sutu is an XR Artist/Storyteller who is the creator of the 10k Tezos collection Neonz, co-founder of Eye Jack App, TED Speaker and soon to be releasing his latest incarnation of his project – Circuit Breaker. 

The Sutuverse is a Web3 playground exploring the possibilities of NFT powered interactive experiences including AR, webGL and later in the year some VR.  On July 6, Sutu premiered to the world his new Neonz game ‘Circuit Breaker’ at the Proof of People exhibition at Fabric in London. The team had a computer terminal set up at the exhibition where visitors were able to play the game as a number of Neonz avatars and battled their way through a neon maze of obstacles to get the fastest time.  Additionally, at the exhibition Sutu showcased  ‘Neonz Facez’ – an interactive AR installation where visitors stand before a large 75 inch screen that is mounted with an iPhone. They were able to activate any one of his 10000 Neonz cyberpunk AR face filters. 

As the next evolution of The Sutuverse – Circuit Breaker is a browser-based speed run game. Sutu is aiming to launch the game publicly in the next few weeks. Launch date TBA, keep an eye on Sutuverse.com for updates. This is a Tezos based project, so users will be able to sync their Tezos wallets and then purchase a Neonz coin to play the game. For folks who own a Neonz already your Neonz will materialize as a full body 3d avatar. In game, they will have the option to customize and pimp out their Neonz with a bunch of new accessories. If you don’t own a Neonz, you can play as a nude base model, but will miss out on a few perks.  

This is a huge achievement technologically Sutu is proud of because in his words not only is this first release finished but “we figured out how to get all 10000 Neonz avatars loading in the game and also on peoples faces using AR – still can’t believe how smoothly that works.” In the long term this is a world building project, and since Sutu comes from a story-telling background, he is excited to further release his long wishlist of new features and lore as the Sutuverse evolves and grows. 

Links to explore more of The Sutuverse

Sutuverse Website – https://www.sutuverse.com/

Sutu Eats Flies Artist Website – https://www.sutueatsflies.com/

Neonz Website – https://www.neonz.xyz/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/sutu_eats_flies

The author of this article is a collector of Neonz at the time of publication.

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Born out of the Harlem Renaissance in 1920s New York City, zine creation is synonymous with a variety of subcultures, art movements and literature through the decades. For the unfamiliar, a zine in the broadest sense is a self published work of writing, art, photography, comics or mixture of all the previous and usually are made by creators mainstream publications tend to reject or vice versa. With it’s roots in freedom of expression and play, individual autonomy, local community support and underground communication, zines are finding a new vital place in the community on the Tezos blockchain by highlighting artists and writers globally from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. 

Generally, these Web3 zines are simply minted .pdfs. Each issue is available for viewing to anyone who wishes to digitally thumb through promoting accessibility in information, while collectors are able to purchase the limited amount of editions available to support the creators of the zines. Some zines – like The Tickle –  even have subscription tokens in which avid collectors get new editions automatically airdropped to their wallet with extra surprises too like special edition art from artists featured in the zine. As the culture and community grows, more innovation presents itself in distribution models, format and perks in collecting. 

While this is not a comprehensive list of the currently available zines on Tezos, here are highlights of a few of the publications that are exceptional in curating artists and writers each with their own niche subjects.

THE TICKLE

At the forefront of the Tezos zine movement is The Tickle – @inwarhol – who recently celebrated its 1 year birthday with 52 editions now published featuring 100s of Tezos based artists and writers from around the globe. Released every Friday and Twitter spaces congruently hosted to speak with the featured artists, The Tickle is a love letter to the myriad of artists that have been working within the Tezos ecosystem. Personally, I love to wander through the kaleidoscope of works and artists that are featured in these pages to discover new artists.

The Tickle was founded by @GuysWily, co-created for 3 months with @MaiaMellier and various co-editors including @THorsmeier @JonicolaRush. The team currently is @GuysWily and @monochromatikal with the co-editor of Tickle Lit being @heyghostshoes

CRYPTOFAGO

Cryptofago is a newer publication that stands out for highlighting specifically Brazilian artists. Created by @acatfishartist with help from @_vcntt_ it is published in English and Portuguese to reach both international and Brazilian markets. With thought provoking content to provide cultural context and history for non-Brazilians or audiences who are unfamiliar with the background, this zine facilitates a deeper understanding of artists from the major art market in the Global South. The name Cryptofago is a tribute to the Anthropophagic Manifesto by Oswald de Andrade, a document that was the reference of the Brazilian modernism of the 1920s. 

SLOTH ZINE

Created by @burkabayramart and @weird_realm, Sloth Zine is a comic artist focused zine that encourages us to slow down and take a break.  Featuring 30-50 artists an edition with each drawing a one page black and white comic, the creators highlight all the wonderful illustrative artists on Tezos internationally. While comics tend to be thought of as a quick format digestion, each page of this zine feels a meditation over a Sunday morning comic. 

HELIX ZINE

Helix Zine – founded by  @arditty & @damlasahinbas_ – is a photography zine designed to be a source of inspiration for each other and to discover new ways of creative thinking. What is unique about this zine is it is a chain structure – where the the first photo of the zine inspires the next photo which inspires the next without each artist knowing who the previous artist. This creates an overarching visual narrative that is a collective stream of consciousness. 

MINA ART MAG 

Mina Art Mag is digital arts magazine by Brazliian women focused to help build up women artists and voices to equalize representation of women in the arts globally. Created by @silviahmariah and @Art_GiovannaF, the name Mina means “a girl, a woman” in Portuguese to indicate in a straight forward manner the content of this zine. This publication is exceptional in exploring not only woman artists but the issues surrounding women navigating the art world.

RIGHT CLICK SAVE

Right Click Save while not an onchain zine, more than deserves a mention for their work in preserving the narrative and legacy of early crypto art movement and digital outsider artists on Tezos and beyond. Run by @alexestorick under the umbrella of @clubnft – an Artnome project – but editorially independent, this publication is worth a dive for those seeking critical discourse about art on the blockchain.

The author of this article is a collector and avid reader of these zines at time of publication.

The post Arts Feature: The Emergence of Zines on Tezos appeared first on NFT CULTURE.

Welcome to the world of Pixel Alpacas where cute, fluffy alpacas bounce and live on the Ethereum blockchain.

Pixel Alpacas are collectible pixel art NFTs carefully drawn by Noru. Each Pixel Alpaca is one of a kind, unique with properties such as colour, animation and accessories.

There are 3 ‘types’ of Pixel Alpacas: Basic, Special and Super special. These refer to the design of the Pixel Alpaca for e.g. a basic alpaca is a solid colour whilst a super special alpaca is one where extra time and detail was put into the theme of the alpaca, background and animation.

Only 100 Pixel Alpacas will be drawn (60 Basic/30 Special/10 Super Special).

What is the projects launch date? 

The project has already launched. I don’t follow a strict schedule but I drop in batches of 3-4, unless it’s a ‘Super Special’ alpaca that drops alone.

How did you come up with the idea for this project? 

I grew up with pixel art, tamagotchis and Neopets so I knew I had to do an adorable creature I love (ofc alpacas). When I was young I used to sell pixel art of adoptable pets on Gaia Online where customers would use a direct link of the art in their forum signature. I’d then update the image to change the pet e.g. the egg would hatch after 3 days to baby stage, another x days for teen and then finally adult. I even allowed customers to buy (using game currency) accessory items for their pets or even breed them! I really enjoyed creating these adoptable pets and so I wanted to do something similar for my first NFT collection.

Pixel Alpacas started out of my love for pixel art and alpacas. I just wanted to create cute alpacas and give them a home.

What Makes this project unique?

Pixel Alpacas is not a generative project which means I carefully draw each alpaca to be unique.

How Big is the team and what are their roles?
The team is just me! I draw, animate and market it myself. 

What is the price?
The price depends on the ‘type’ – basics are 0.08 ETH, specials are 0.1 ETH and the super specials are 0.12 ETH.

Why is that price fair?
The price depends on the ‘type’ because this refers to the alpaca’s design and rarity. E.g there will only be 10 Super Special alpacas that have custom animation and extra details put into the theme.

What is the Mint Size? 

Only 100 Pixel Alpacas will be drawn (60 Basic/30 Special/10 Super Special).

Are there any mechanics we should know about? 

At the moment I hold exclusive giveaways to alpaca owners to enter a raffle and win a custom avatar NFT. I do have a few ideas for after all 100 alpacas are drawn. It’s a secret for now but it’ll be to reward alpaca holders!

Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoruPixels
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/norupixels/
Website: https://www.norushi.com/ 

Pixel Alpacas: https://opensea.io/collection/pixel-alpacas 

Pixel Alpacas website: https://www.norushi.com/pixelalpacas

The post NoruPixels Pixel Alpacas: The NFT Project we LOVE appeared first on NFT CULTURE.

NFT projects continue to dominate the NFT space, with many new releases occuring each week, sometimes multiple on the same day. NFT projects might consist of social media avatars, digital collectibles or even hand drawn pieces of art work. With so many different concepts to evaluate, it is easy to become overwhelmed and quit. To aid our readers, we have developed a simple set of principles that can be used as a guide for whether a project has a shot to survive.

Before we continue, its worth noting that this guide is focused on answering the question: “Will this project be around for the long haul?” We are not seeking to provide a guide to the very profitable art of flipping NFT projects, there are plenty of other resources if wish to go in that direction.

One other point of consideration, we are deliberately not including the overall artistic direction / aesthetic as an item in this list. The reason is because art is highly subjective, and it while it goes without saying, art should absolutely be the number one reason to consider purchasing an item from a NFT project.

High Value Project Attributes

• Does the project do something new, unique, or groundbreaking. How does it push NFT projects forward as a whole? Is the project simply a copy cat of another project, or a mash-up of ideas?
• How does the project provide tangible utility?
  • Future air-dropped NFTs
  • Ability to attend in-person events
  • Special access to private social settings
  • Availability of licensed merchandise
• How does the project integrate with the metaverse?
  • AR / VR models
  • Interactive NFT player
  • Integrations with virtual worlds
• Does the project respect the NFT Project Bill of Rights?

For originality, consider the gravity of the new element that is being introduced. Bored Ape Yacht Club introduced the idea of a private social space (the bathroom), but the space itself is pretty lackluster as an activity. Bonsais provided AR and VR files on day 1, along with the rendered video of the NFT, allowing people to immediately play with the NFT. This was attention grabbing, but faded pretty quickly. VeeFriends provides access to VeeCon, which will remain relevant for several years, an eternity in the NFT space. Bored Apes is forced to continue its innovation via a roadmap, but VeeFriends can comfortably rest on the base utility provided by VeeCon.

For each of the utility items, also consider whether the benefit is granted to original owners, all current owners, or just a random subset of owners, such as those registered for a discord channel. An air-dropped NFT, such as Meebits provided to all CryptoPunk owners, can be a huge driver of value. The promise of giving out a few hundred NFTs based on chance or silly approaches, such as buying pieces priced below floor have little relevance.

Low Value Project Attributes

• Ability to participate in community events
  • Treasure Hunts
  • Puzzles
  • Social Media Promotions
• Ability to enter into giveaways
• Royalties, in the form of some small percentage of an indefinite calculation
• Other low probability of success games of chance

In general, we place almost no long term value in any of these concepts. In fact, because these are generally low technical effort, low cost to implement sorts of arrangements, a NFT project that depends too heavily on any of these for its community building is likely not to be around in the future. We often see these approaches used in NFT projects that come off as ponzi schemes. Royalties was a tough one, as its something we would like to see successfully implemented. The problem, is that the Royalty calculations have to be created before the NFT project creators know whether the project will be successful. This lack of future knowledge causes the calculations to be engineered in such a way as to leave too much wiggle room to yield actual value.

So there you have our metrics for NFT project valuation. We’ve done quite a bit of peer review on it, but there are always angles we have not considered. If you have any comments, please reach out and let us know. Good luck with your research!

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