Exoteric

Tag: nft

  • The Process

    The method I use to create NFTs

    ((Published to listed.to and my paragraph ))

    Interview Answers

    • questions from https://warpcast.com/lampphotography

    From Farcaster Conversations

    My process

    (published as replies on Farcaster)

    Questions were asked by Lauren at Lamp Photography

    https://far.quest/lampphotography

    (How did you create it?)

    I use a really complicated method for most of my art.

    It started with a photograph. I then tweaked it with GiMP, creating the color swatches and removing the background. Then I put it into an AI, in order to make it not look like a photo. After tweaking the AI multiple times, I got a nearly finished image. This I took and ran back through GiMP and Snapseed, getting rid of marks that were out of place, toying with the full color settings and filters. And this got me to the final image.

    I do this(roughly) same process for most of my nft art. I try to put in the extra effort so it’s not an AI image, just an image that I used AI during the creation process. This also keeps my work free of any copyright issues.

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    (How long does it take?)

    Well, it’s not as big a deal now. I’ve been refining the process for about 18mo.

    I don’t like the way AI is generally used for images. Anyone can type stuff in. Although there is an art to crafting prompts.

    I wanted my work to be free of any accusations of copyright infringement, and to keep the commercial rights free.

    I can’t say exactly how long this image took, but in general, images I create this way, I do over several days. Some parts of the process are quite fast. Others not so much. I’ll generally work in 3 separate phases.

    1. The photo or 3D render, and its first adjustments.
    2. Working with AI changes(this is the real time consumer)
    3. Final image processing.

    If I know exactly what I want as the end result, I can finish one in a few hours.

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    (You must be one of the first authors in the world to use such a process)

    Well, it’s also very personally tuned. There’s nothing stopping others from using the same applications, but I spent months playing with the order I did things in, trying dozens of image editing apps, and dozens of AIs.

    Something I think everyone should do is keep notes on their process. This can make things much more streamlined in future creations.

    I save every AI prompt I use in a notebook. I also keep notes on filters and tools that I use often.

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    (Do you recommend any apps?)

    There are tons of good ones!!

    But, Drafts is by far my favorite. It’s only available on iOS and Mac Though.

    I also use Obsidian a lot. It’s great for writing long form.

    Logseq is also an excellent app for notes.

    I recently started using Standard Notes, because you can publish a note as a blog entry directly in the app.

    And Omnivore is absolutely wonderful for taking notes on web articles as you read them.

    I try out every new writing app I can as soon as I can. Always looking for a better or unique method.

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  • The Short Story

    I minted my first NFT in 2021. On the WAX chain. A simple pic that I was using for profiles at the time. I spent the next 2 years doing mostly test mints. Learning how things worked on different chains and in different markets.

    Minted stuff that no one else ever saw. Or I sent directly to friends. I took this across many blockchains, learning the nuances of their NFT processes. I used the following blockchains: WAX, Polygon, BSC, Pixie, Base, Optimism, Degen, Zora, & more.

    What that gave me was a broad appreciation for NFTs as a medium and the skill to create them anywhere.

    LENS chamged that forever. It’s so much easier on the creator, the collector, and the trader. No other protocol has anything so easily used. And now, as Lens migrates from Polygon to a dual-chain system based on ZK rollups, it is poised to change the world’s view of NFTs, as well as revolutionize web3 social media.

    Lens is a Game Changer.

    Originally posted on lens 04/27/2024. Edited for blog use on 12/30/2024.

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  • Future Provings

    The most pressing feature of dapps that no group is doing is NFT curation. Like a lot of people, I have tons of NFTs. Music, video, lens posts, art, literature, etc. and it’s nearly impossible to find any single NFT without trouble.

    We need searchable galleries. We need to be able to organize them in a variety of ways. Some apps allow the user the ability to ‘spotlight’ or grouping into niches, but they don’t go very deep.

    This is also a really important step to widespread adoption of crypto and NFTs. Owning hundreds or thousands of NFTs without a smart organization tool is incredibly draining, and eventually leads NFTs to be treated like piles in a hoarder’s house. How can mainstream users ever understand the capabilities of NFTs while their oldest NFTs sink to the bottom?

    If anyone knows an app that is already doing this, please reply and let me know. As of now, orna.art is the best in this endeavor, but they are limited to Lens, and therefore don’t provide the necessity of doing this across chains and protocols.

    • Jack Lhasa

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