Artists in NFT Space Opportunity in an unlikely location

It is not easy to make money as a creative. For those poor souls (your author included) who happen to have chosen an art form for their career, making money can often feel like drawing blood from a stone. More than almost any other industry, the difference between the haves and have-nots in the creative fields is a gulf-sized chasm. You have your ultra-successful writers, your uber-rich painters, your filthy rich directors – and then you have millions of people all over the world fighting for the scraps left over after they’ve had their party.

For many artists, they have had to turn to non-traditional avenues to make ends meet. With the rise of the digital age came the gig economy. This brought forth platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork and other freelance sites where creatives could offer their services to those who might need them. Most often these are small to medium business owners who outsource creative, marketing and web design tasks for their business to these freelancers instead of paying them a salary. This has led to a bit of a golden age for creatives – and it looks like another opportunity 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 who strike it rich by buying a few monkey photos, holding them for a few months, and then flipping them for millions. While there is some truth to that, the reality of the emerging NFT industry is a bit more inclusive. In order 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 multifaceted and need many of the same creative elements that a typical business might.”

Mr Wizard is a 20-year veteran designer, cutting his teeth designing flyers, ads, books, catalogs, websites and apps – winning high-level design awards at Awwwards.com, CSS awards and 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 resources, to art, to music, to video..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, gaining valuable experience in the blockchain field while doing it – which is likely to pay dividends as wide-scale blockchain adoption approaches.

Mr Wizard, or Kal McKay, is certainly doing his part to inspire young artists to dip their toe into the metaverse. Mr Wizard has hosted 54 design and art competitions on Twitter, where participants can submit design work, animations, video ads and NFTs. He gives cash prizes to the winners and since he is an influencer, these artists get exposure. Mr Wizard has also launched an NFT magazine dedicated to discussing, criticizing and discovering new NFT art talent.

The NFT space is truly a blank canvas waiting for artists to come to create the future. Influencers like Mr Wizard ensure that even the little guy has a seat at the table.