Minting random NFTs?!

I've never been much of a creative person but I have always admired how the simplest designs strike out the most, time and time again. Looking at some of the NFT collections, I couldn't help but ask myself, "Why don't I give it a go?" True to the challenge, I gave it a crack!

What is an NFT?

With the excerpt from Ethereum.org below:

NFTs are tokens that we can use to represent ownership of unique items. They let us tokenise things like art, collectibles, even real estate. They can only have one official owner at a time and they're secured by the Ethereum blockchain – no one can modify the record of ownership or copy/paste a new NFT into existence.

NFT stands for non-fungible token. Non-fungible is an economic term that you could use to describe things like your furniture, a song file, or your computer. These things are not interchangeable for other items because they have unique properties.

In essence, for a dummy like me, an NFT is a unique piece of the digital world that is owned by any one particular individual.

Why did I decide to create a collection?

The better question here is, "Why not?" It was something new that pushed me beyond my usual boundaries centred around the less creative aspects of life, and really got me thinking over what could represent my thoughts. While I was initially apprehensive, feeling that 1) my artwork was crap and 2) it would never be noticed. Not going to lie, I still feel that way but you know what? WHO CARES? Why not just go ahead and give it a go, and that is a mentality I hope I can pass on to you readers as you face new challenges, opportunities and experiences in life :)

As much as I'd love to say I thought long and hard over what to NFT-ize, the idea itself came out of sheer boredom. Looking around the room, and observing the gap between those with masks on and those without, gave me the initial inspiration to draw up a series relating these two groups. Merging that with my love for all things cute, Bearable Masks was born - a crossbreed between cute pixilated bears and masks!

The best part is that there is a wealth of free information online on how to create your NFTs, platforms to mint them on, and even tips on what kinds of NFTs are currently popular. It's not surprising that even a complete newbie like myself can run through the whole process smoothly, with minimal costs to myself!

What does it feel like to own a collection?

Honestly, I thought I'd feel something a little more than just... normal? It feels so surreal to own a piece of art registered on the blockchain yet at the same time I can't help but feel like it isn't much. It's probably because I haven't unlocked the whole NFT hype to its maximum potential but still, it doesn't feel too different from owning/minting your art.

Regardless, it was an interesting experience to know that this work is 'officially' something that I own!

What does this represents to me/us, the self-proclaimed uncreative individual(s)?

Going through the whole experience from ideating what to create, actually creating several iterations of the NFT, taking the leap to actually minting them on a platform, and looking at the fruits of your labour, there has been a key idea that rang clear through my mind.

Just Do It!

Sometimes in life, a sudden urge might pop up within you. Be it to spontaneously dance to a TikTok video, to cook, to bake, to go for a run, what this experience has taught me is to grab that feeling by the horns and JUST DO IT! Don't be afraid of what others may think, or if you feel you don't have what it takes, take the leap and you'd be surprised at where you ended up.

If it wasn't for the sudden desire (born out of sheer boredom) to create this quirky little series of NFTs, this article and collection may not even exist today. The entirety of the experience, while initially daunting, was a rewarding journey into what we can do now with the vastness of the Internet as well as some internal pushing.

To my fellow people, if an urge to do something (so long as its not harmful to you or those around you!) comes about, take the leap of faith and pursue it!

Afraid of what people may think? Don't care about them!

Not knowledgeable enough? You have the entirety of human knowledge at your fingertips!

Afraid of failure? Not trying is, ironically, going to mean you fail 100% of the time so give yourself that chance to win and succeed!

I sincerely hope this reaches out to some of you and I wish you all the best in your endeavours! :D

Ps. Check out the collection (more to be minted!) here: https://opensea.io/collection/bearable-masks