It is not easy to make money as a creative. For those poor souls (your author included) who happen to have chosen an artform for their career, making money can often feel like drawing blood from a stone. More than almost any other industry, the disparity between the haves and have-nots in the creative fields is a grand canyon-sized chasm. You’ve got your ultra-successful authors, your uber-wealthy painters, your filthy-rich directors–and then you’ve got millions of people across the globe fighting for the scraps that are leftover after they’ve had their feast.
For many artists, they’ve had to turn to non-traditional avenues to make ends meet. With the rise of the digital age came the gig economy. This brought forward platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, and other freelancing sites where creatives could offer their services to those who might need them. Most often, these are small to medium-sized business owners outsourcing the creative, marketing, and web design tasks for their business to these freelancers rather than paying them a salary. This has led to a bit of a golden age for creatives–and it would appear as though yet another avenue for artists to make a living is emerging.
The NFT world is one of mystery, greed, and innovation. We’ve all heard stories of investors and creators striking it rich by buying some monkey pictures, holding them for a few months, then flipping them for millions. While there is some truth to that, the reality of the emerging NFT industry is a little bit more inclusive. To understand where the opportunities for artists lie in the NFT space, an explanation of what an NFT project is is necessary. For that, we’ll turn to NFT influencer Mr Wizard:
“NFT projects are multi-faceted and need many of the same creative elements as a typical business might.”
Mr Wizard is a 20-year veteran designer, who cuts his teeth on designing flyers, ads, books, catalogs, websites, and apps–and has won high-level design awards at Awwwards.com, CSS awards, & more. Now, however, Mr Wizard is an NFT influencer. In fact, he has over 100 thousand followers on Twitter.
“Everything from web design, to marketing assets, to art, to music, to videography..you name it! The NFT world is ripe with opportunities for artists and creatives.”
Many young artists are finding their footing in the NFT space, and gaining valuable experience in the field of blockchain while they’re at it–something that is likely to pay dividends as wide-scale blockchain adoption draws nearer.
Mr Wizard, or Kal McKay, certainly does his part to inspire young artists to dip their toe into the metaverse. Mr Wizard has put on 54 Design and Art contests on Twitter, where participants can submit design work, animation, video ads & NFTs. He gives cash prizes to the winners, and since he’s an influencer, these artists gain exposure. Mr Wizard has also launched an NFT Magazine dedicated to discussing, critiquing, and discovering new NFT art talent.
The NFT space is truly a blank canvas waiting for artists to come to create its future. Influencers like Mr Wizard are ensuring even the little guy has a spot at the table.