High End Art on WAX
I hear a lot of rumblings about how @WAX_io artists are underselling themselves compared to the ETH scene. Prob. cuz WAX is closer to a gaming community with collectors than ETH can do. So selling 1 of 1's on a platform that is filled with a never ending parade of open edition mints is hard.
They get lost in the shuffle.
That doesn't mean they're not there.
@ShnazzyNFTs has done amazing paintings and shared them with us on Twitter and now she's starting to sell them on the @WAX_io blockchain.
https://twitter.com/ShnazzyNFTs/status/1591625470835322880
Who else is selling original art on WAX?
I know that I'm selling original artworks and even signed prints as vIRL #NFTs
And what's a vIRL ?
Virtual In Real Life is my best guess.
What this means is you can buy this #NFT and actually OWN the print or art as well.
You get to display it virtually in your WAX wallet until the day you want to actually own the physical item.
On that day, you follow the instructions in the metadata to ensure the art or print is mailed to you.
So why is this cool?
vIRL is cool because you can own a physical painting from an artist you like, and let the artist hang on to it for you. Useful in case you can’t actually display it anywhere because you’re moving soon but would still love to have that artwork in your new home. So the artist holds it until you move in.
That’s just one example, and not a great one, so here’s another:
Maybe you’re an art collector/investor irl and in Crypto - so you buy an original art vIRL from an NFT artist for $100 - boom, you own an original artwork. You don’t need it in your home so you don’t claim it yet and the artist stores it away safe. Then the artist becomes popular and their work is selling out, the floor is rising.
Just for fun you list that vIRL on the market for $1000 then wake up the next morning to find out that someone bought it and then flipped it for $2000. You made profit, the flipper made profit, the artist also made some extra profit because this is on the @WAX_io blockchain and they believe in artist royalties. So Wins all over.
The other cool thing though …
The artist still has the actual artwork in storage. Buyer #3 owns it and oh look, they just listed it for $5000. No buyers yet so no need for the artist to ship out the original art, yet.
I think once small business owners start seeing the benefit of vIRLs and how they could be adapted to suit their business structure, they will start to use them as well. Not only JUST for the sake of controlling their money for themselves, but to completely eliminate the middle man. But where to start? on WAX of course, and i’ll tell you why.
There’s a lot of reasons to use wax, carbon friendly footprint, conservation inniatives, ease of use, low cost, easy onboarding, already existing massive market of collectible traders that probably are also collectors of in real life stuff already.
Sooner or later someone is going to start selling vIRL collectible comic collections. Mint a R.O.O. aka a Right OF Ownership (mintaroo - catchy eh?) and hold the actual physical comic, and the NFT(ROO). You could have a whole business of selling the ROO to someone and if they actually want to own it, you ship it to them, otherwise you hold it until they want it.
It’s just a couple of examples, there are many more.
To avoid making a long story longer and repeating myself, vIRLs are a very cool thing.
Investing in REAL life artists and their real life artworks, virtually. Cashing out and holding that actual physical item when you finally decide you value it more than the NFT.
So back to the point, why aren’t more WAX NFT artists selling 1/1 vIRL of their works?
Who knows? Maybe they didn’t think they could. Maybe no one ever said they should.
Maybe too many people got used to the idea of selling LOTS for a little rather than nothing at all.
https://wax.atomichub.io/market/sale/98363453
Which just goes to prove the point that your work is probably worth buying, so charge what you honestly think it is worth right now. Start fair, don’t chase the money. When 10 sell at a price you were comfortable with, and you think it’s a good time to do it, Raise Your Rate. Bring it up by at least 20% or more.
This is especially true if you start seeing your work selling on secondary for a higher price. Even if no one is selling, because they believe in you and are holding their investment, raise your price after 10 sales. WHY??
By raising your price and still making sales you are bringing up your own value up, which then brings up the value of the investment your collectors made. I could be wrong about this, but it does seem a bit of common sense. Just because WAX is very gaming friendly, doesn’t mean it HAS to be games only.
It’s up to us to take it seriously and start giving ourselves the value we deserve.
Another benefit of using the WAX blockchain to sell expensive 1/1 vIRLs is that artists can also use the blockchain to reward their customers and collectors with collectible NFT gifts. With WAX it’s easy and inexpensive to reward your fans and friends with NFTs. Plus you can even sell NFTs of your sketches and prints and even start some collecting activities for those that like your work.
WAX lets the artists imagination run wild and allows us to offer up art NFTs across a wide range of price points. There are so many ideas that an artist on WAX could explore, I will need to write a post just to cover some of them.
Another reason for artists on WAX to start offering up high quality NFTs as expensive 1/1 vIRLs is the built in collectors market that has been here in the bull, and still sticking around in the bear. Also the WAXFAM is super supportive of their creators and collectors, and the ability for the customer to pay with credit card or WAX is also a plus
Let’s tack on one more reason. Many 1/1 artists are now selling their work for lower and lower amounts of ETH because the cost of gas brings the final bill way way up. Artist sells art for $10, buyer pays $25 for gas on top of the $10. Artist still only gets $10 and the buyer has no money to buy anything else. And if that buyer flips, many ETH platforms don’t give the artist a cut, so the artist still only gets $10.
On WAX, there is no gas fee and artists get their cut from secondary sales. So the buyer can buy more, and flip a few. The artist can sell more because the buyer has all that money not being spent on gas, and when the buyer flips one, the artist gets their cut. I know I already mentioned that but it’s worth mentioning twice.
The ARTIST … GETS … THEIR CUT.
I probably should have started with that ;)
Anyways, that’s my rant. I’d love it if you could comment and drop links of some WAX artists that are also selling 1/1 vIRLs
I will never get tired of your art