Work In Progress

Tracing provenance on the blockchain is great....but it doesn't tell you all you need to know about who actually created the artwork. Sure, you can ask the people in Discord or on Twitter... but there's nothing like seeing and knowing the artists and their creative process.

I like to get able to answer two questions.

Who is the artist?
What is their art process?

In this article, you will see behind the scenes of art  in-progress, created by some absolutely stunningly creative artists that continue to blow my mind about what they can conjure up from their mind.  

MintFace Artist Feature - HaiHaiToon

I love Thai artists from my time visiting there and so I love seeing the art that's been created there..something that has been somewhat impossible to see since the travel restrictions due to the pandemic.

Thai artists had their tourist markets severely limited by the lack of travel, so artists adopting NFT's to share their talent makes sense.

There is so much happiness wrapped up in the GuntaBoy collection.

"The 3rd collection name "GUNTABOY." This collection develops from the first NFT (I sold on OpenSea) GUNTABOY collection is inspired from a boy who finds for himself. Let's follow this boy, what will he be in the end?"

The collection launched on August 11th at 11:11pm Thailand time and now has four owners. Supporting independent artists like this is what the NFT community is all about.

My favourite is PunkBoy because it looks just like the MintFace logo!

Creativity runs in the family too. Here's HaiHaiToon sharing his son's artwork!

MintFace Sale Feature - JeyRam

We are on an adventure to document the Ancient Spirits, will you join us on this journey?

The Ancient Spirits project explores the realms of the human experience through the eyes of the spirits we all know the names of from our star signs we love to ignore... or can't wait to help guide us forwards.

JeyRam's sword is a $1 dollar ballpoint pen! The colours are then added digitally before the works are minted.

"I spent most of my childhood exploring forests and letting my imagination flow. Every day was a new adventure full of magic, and there were no limits to what the adventure could bring. After moving to the suburbs, this adventurous spirit started to fade. I always felt that there was something missing in my life but I could never put my finger on what it was. This all changed for me once I started drawing." Jeyram.

There are 12 spirits created by Jeyram with only two available. The Spirit of Aquarius and The Spirit of Aries.

If I had my choice, I would select The Spirit of Capricorn because it's related to my star sign. Here's the art description:

The Spirit of Capricorn stays grounded to the earth and values discipline above all else. She is the energy that is present when you transform your life through daily action and she is the wind at your back when you want to give up.

Chapter: Zodiac Spirits
Set: Earth Spirits

JeyRam shares his process on YouTube too. Watch the Satisying Line Art. More artists would benefit from the sharing of their process like JeyRam has done so generously.

MintFace Art Sale - Grelysian

Gossamer Rozen is an African-American/Filipino, nonbinary, transgender fine artist and tattooer. Creating work professionally since 2008, Gossamer's work explores permanence on the blockchain (NFTs) and in the real world (tattoos and physical art).

Grelysian's 1/1 hand drawn art was previously featured on MintFace but that was before these in-progress shots were shared by her in the Grelysian Discord.

Before I show her work in progress for you to enjoy, a quick recap on this amazing project.

MRAMMOU is a collection of traditionally hand-drawn NFTs in the form of animals, objects, and humans that live on the blockchain. These small drawings are her interpretations of Akan Gold weights.

When viewing each individual piece, keep in mind their 'weight' because a combined weight of over 35.2g makes you eligible for a gold dust air drop. If you've got a combinated weight of over 70.4g, you're eligible for the Chief's Weight air drop.

Mrammou 035 weighs 4.4g whereas the Snake weighs 8.8g.

What are Akan Gold weights? These small objects were essential tools for trade in West Africa until the end of the 19th century.

For the Akan peoples, gold not only brought fabulous prosperity through trade but was also considered the earthly counterpart to the sun and the material embodiment of kra, or life force. To better control and regulate the trade in gold, Akan merchants and rulers developed brass weights called abrammuo (sing. mrammuo) that set standard units of measure." Met Museum.

You can read more about Akan Gold Weights on the Met Museum's collection that have inspired Grelysian's work.

The finished Grelysian digital artworks on the OpenSea marketplace in all their glory.

If you're going to invest in someones art, you often hear the acryonym DYOR, which means 'do your own research'. Looking for in-progress drawings reveal the provenance story of the art.

It's soo cool to meet the artist and here what they care about.

"My name is Gossamer, & I'm a fine artist and tattoer. My body of work, which you see here as NFTs, is an aggregation of 15+ years ofo storytelling, style development, and curiosity. Thank you for looking."

The investments made in Gossamer's art by early collectors like Robek World since my last article are helping her spend more time on NFT's. Yay! That's what we're all making happen here people.

Ok...you've made it this far in the article, so I'll sneak in a little MintFace 🤑 cherry 🍒. At the end of August you'll be able to pick up an animation from Grelysian on the Known Origin marketplace that includes the physical drawings that the animation is based upon.

If you like her Mermaid piece, this may be one to keep an eye out for end of August.

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Artists - you can send any notes of appreciation to ryanj.eth in whatever form you feel reflects your art.

If this article has made you curious about getting started with digital art, we also run the Digital Artist Economy workshop helping artists create their first digital art through a three week programme. Share it with an artist you'd like to see on an NFT marketplace.