Bootstrapping my Anonymous Artist Profile on X
I posted on X a little while back that I was starting an anonymous artist account. We (Campfire) have worked to support artists on Avalanche for a couple of years now, and as an artist myself, I thought it would be interesting to start a fresh account from the ground up to get the full experience.
I’m not specifically trying to keep it a big secret or something, but I’m not going to use my main account (0xMoonbags) to push or promote any content. I want it to be as close to an authentic learning experience as possible.
My first two goals are simple:
- Work on my art-making skills, digital art in particular, until I am consistently making things that I like before minting much
- Build a network of friends and get some exposure to the existing crypto art scene for this new account
Things I am categorically not doing yet:
- Stressing about follower count
- Trying to make sales
- Spamming the timeline with my creations
Leveling up my art-making skills
I studied art in university for a few years before ultimately switching to physics.
(I know I know. This is not a normal transition.)
After school, I got a job in tech and put down the paint brush for a long time. I did use my design sensibilities a lot in various UX projects, but in general I stopped thinking of myself as an artist.
That was until I had a late night conversation with Nathan Bond aka “Sweet Baby Jebus” at ScoJo’s studio after a gallery event at NFT NYC.
He challenged me to start drawing something everyday and send it to him–didn’t matter if it sucked.
Just draw something.
I was sending things like this for months.
Eventually, that morphed into this type of thing. I don’t know where this came from or why exactly it emerged, but drawing them was somewhat therapeutic and really helped me relax before going to sleep.
Essentially I started by drawing some curved lines to create defined areas on the page, and then I started filling in with whatever thing came to mind.
After a while, I decided to try my hand at digitizing these. That looked a bit like this.
Kind of the same idea. Wasn't thrilled with it, but it was ok. I've never done any kind of serious digital art on an iPad, so this was totally new.
I started sharing a few of these on X. I didn’t get much in terms of response, which makes sense–I barely had any followers.
Part of my early process was going and finding a bunch of artists to follow whose work I enjoyed. This got me in a mode of looking at other people’s work for an hour a day and thinking, “Oh, maybe I should try that idea.”
I used that as a kind of feedback loop, and I also spent a lot of time experimenting with the digital tools at my disposal.
Eventually, I ended up with stuff like this:
And this:
These pieces have actually garnered a little bit of a positive response. I'm still using some of the same ideas, but I'm leaning much more heavily into the digital tools available. They feel more "digital native" to me.
It’s still very early and I have only a couple hundred followers, but it’s nice to start getting a good reaction.
I like what I am making now.
Networking with Artists & Collectors
The first thing you realize when you follow a bunch of artists is that nobody really knows what to say about their work.
Everyone is creating these amazing works, and they tweet them out and just say “gm”. Sometimes they put a link to the piece on Foundation or Objkt with a price.
And all of the replies are just... “gm”.
There’s nothing wrong with “gm”, but I saw this as an opportunity.
As much as I can, I’ve started to engage with artworks that I like with some kind of positive note about them (very much like Gary Vee’s $1.80 strategy).
I might chime in and tell them how nice the composition is or how great the colorway works for the piece–something short but genuine.
I’m doing the same thing with collectors.
Collectors often share a piece from their collection and shout out the artist. That’s a great opportunity to chime in and complement the work and the artist as well.
If you were to look through my followers, many of them are artists with huge followings, and a few of them are top crypto art collectors.
Lately, the thing I’ve been doing in addition to this is offering to mint a free piece for either an artist or collector that I become more interactive with. I like this early work that I’m creating, but my aim is to create meaningful connections right now, not monetize.
So far, a couple of great artists have a piece from me and one amazing collector.
Conclusion
So far I feel good about the progress I am making with my art. Some people will love it and others won’t, and that’s fine.
But I can literally see the months of learning and tweaking going into this now.
I’m also learning how to build genuine connections with other people in the space in a smart, strategic way.
Once I strengthen both of these foundations a bit more, I will shift gears into growth mode and try to widen my audience considerably.
