The two main instruments for creating NFTs are your talent and crypto
How to create NFT? Source: shutterstock.com
Non-fungible tokens are a new way to own art. As the growing number of NFT marketplaces facilitate trading, hundreds of creators are selling their works in a transparent and convenient way. From experimenting teenagers to well-established digital artists, everyone wants a piece of NFT-pie. If you want to join the multibillion market too, you might want to learn how to create NFTs first.
Creating content
Obviously, you’ll need some creativity to make beautiful NFT-artwork or gaming skills to gain the most desired in-game items you can later sell as a token. First of all, you need to decide what content you wish to convert into an NFT. If you’re an artist, consider storing your digital art objects as PNG or GIF files at once, or else you might need to waste more time on conversion. Writers or musicians will need to use the appropriate file types as well (PDF, MP3, etc). To draw a digital picture or create game skins, you’ll probably need a pen tablet and some type of illustration/editing software like Clip Studio Paint, Paint Tool SAI, VtfEdit, GIMP, or Photoshop. Choose the one that best suits your needs.
Choose the platform
For starters, you should determine which marketplace you will use for NFT sales. The trick is, different trading platforms may work on different blockchains, so your next steps depend on the chosen outlet. Some popular choices include Opensea, Rarible, Bakeryswap, SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, and Mintable. Since Ethereum has the largest NFT ecosystem, most marketplaces function on that blockchain. However, Binance Smart Chain is gaining popularity with DeFi and DApps. Thus, a number of NFT marketplaces support BSC as well. Moreover, some platforms like OpenSea support NFT trading across multiple blockchains. You can use both its Ethereum and Polygon marketplaces to create and sell NFTs without any gas fees.
Buy some crypto
Whatever the blockchain you choose, some kind of cryptocurrency will be definitely required to create an NFT there. Let’s say, you chose the Opensea marketplace which runs on Ethereum. In that case, you’ll need some ETH to get going. You may bridge that ETH to Polygon if needed. If you prefer BakerySwap, which functions on BSC, prepare to buy some BEP20 BNB first.
You’ll need a wallet like MetaMask to store the needed crypto. MetaMask is a browser extension and mobile app crypto wallet supporting different blockchains, including Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, and Binance Chain. It’s the oldest and most popular hot wallet that is also easy-to-use. Other wallet versions include MathWallet, Trust Wallet, Binance Chain Wallet, SafePal, WalletConnect and more. Make sure, the chosen blockchain is compatible with your preferred crypto storage.
Connect your wallet
To be able to trade, you need to connect the trusted wallet to the NFT marketplace platform. The exact steps might be different for various services but the overall procedure will be similar. Look for the menu titled like My Wallet or Connect Wallet. Choose the wallet title from the available options or add your variant (if applicable).
Here are some examples of what that looks like on different marketplaces.
Some marketplaces may require you to complete user registration with additional personal details.
Create NFT
After all the preliminary setups, you may finally create your NFT. We will illustrate the process with the Opensea example.
Click on the blue boat logo to access your account. Go to “My Profile” menu and choose “My Collections”.
Next, you’ll get an option to “Create a collection”. Add your collection logo, description, banner, social media links, and set your royalties on primary or secondary sales. To do the latter, adjust the percentage fee field in your collection editor. You can set a fee of up to 10%. Then specify the payout address where you wish to receive the royalty fees. Choose which currencies (including social tokens) you want to allow in your store.
You can also select which blockchain to create NFTs on by default. Click on the dropdown menu and select either “Ethereum” or “Polygon”.
Now that your collection has been created, you can add an NFT by pressing the blue “Add item” button in the top-right corner.
Your NFT may be an image, video, audio, or 3D model. Upload the supported file type and give it a name. The maximum file size is 40MB.
Proceed with the next pop-up windows to customise your NFT.
On most marketplaces, you have the option to include special characteristics and properties to specify the scarcity and uniqueness of your NFT.
Creators can also add unlockable content that will be visible exclusively to the purchaser. This can be anything from passwords required to access certain additional services to file changes, discount codes and contact information. This content helps to add value to your NFT.
For instance, an artist can release an exclusive NFT pre-sale of the new album a week before its official launch. Their true fans who buy the NFT with unlockable content will get a link to the new tracks and be able to listen to them ahead of time. Influencers can also attach bonuses like backstage photos, merch discounts, and anything their fans will enjoy to their exclusive NFTs. Or else, artwork variations may be hidden in this unlockable section. For instance, one of the most expensive NFTs up-to-date – Beeple’s “Crossroads” – was created in two variants depending on the results of the upcoming presidential election. The person buying the piece did not know what the final artwork would be.
OpenSea also facilitates NFT sales that involve a legal transfer of physical goods or rights, so you may add a description file and provide additional details of the real-world object on sale via asset’s unlockable content section.
When you create an NFT, you encode your address and its total supply in the token’s ID. That way, no one except you can mint more of them, and buyers can count on a hard cap on supply that’s enforced by code. Thus, you can make some collection items either 100% unique or “semi-fungible”. By increasing the “Supply” of your NFT, you can increase the number of copies that can be minted. This means your item can be owned by multiple wallets.
When all the details are filled in, you can press the “Create” button at the bottom.
You may have to digitally sign some messages in your Ethereum wallet to prove you own the wallet address in the process of creation.
Put it on sale
The ultimate aim of NFT creators is to sell their digital art to eager buyers. To sell your NFTs on a chosen marketplace, you need to choose an item from the freshly created collection, click on it and find the “sell” button. Create a listing similar to a common marketplace page. There you can define the price and conditions of the sale including whether to run an auction or sell at a fixed price, which cryptocurrencies to accept, which royalties apply, etc. Listing NFTs on a marketplace may require a gas fee.
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