Meet one of the Team GOPAREL

I recently through a few questions at Derek from GOPAREL all about his NFT project if you don't know the name you are missing out they are everywhere and it feels like they are always awake.

Hey guys

Hey hey wassuuupppp

Hows things ?

Things are great. We're just finishing up a great year of fun and excitement and looking back thinking, wow, what a year!

What brought you into crypto?

We were brought into crypto essentially from YouTube. As the entrepreneurs that we are, YouTube knew we'd be interested I guess, they were right lol. They started showing us videos about bitcoin-related content. The rabbit hole started and the mind opened right on up to this whole new way of technology, finance, and more.

How did you come across Wax?

We came across wax from simply being interested in the cryptocurrency markets and blockchain technology. We had actually known about wax before even understanding the type of blockchain it was and its purpose. When we realized the tools and green-focused mindset we then knew it was where we'd start our NFT journey.

Why is Wax the prefect blockchain for your project?

There is no perfect blockchain for Goparel and we're not really a project by definition unless it's simply our aim to provide great products and services and that extend a lot farther than the NFTs we make. But to answer your question we prefer the Wax Blockchain at this time due to its green-mindset and amazing tools. It's so easy to create, mint, distribute and access NFTs across the Wax Blockchain. Not to mention the community behind it. So many friendships have been made including ours, Crackers! Carly and I both enjoy your Meet The Artists and are happy to be here!

Tell us all about your project?

We started out taking physical tie-dye shirts that were created in-house by Goparel and started transforming them into digital artwork on the Wax Blockchain. We then started to learn about more tools and created more schemas while branching out trying new things like creating trading cards and PFPs. Next thing you know we're using our already established business and mixing it with the blockchain making virtual in real-life NFTs! We plan to keep on going strong into 2023! More utility and more fun to come!

Do you think that having a irl and Virl helps you understand the community?

Yes definitely! Community is everything and having a spot on both sides helps determine and break down different ideas and thought processes helping us understand each community better. We have had experience with many communities through the years from running an online radio station to hosting website clients and creating different websites from and for people all over the world while talking and listening helps us learn what they like and want to see happen with things in general. Friendships help both parties! It also helps us execute in a positive way to help where we can when the community is asking for things we have. For example, doing virtual in real-life items alongside NFTs to match would never have been a thing for us if we weren't pre-established and already making clothing and accessories.

When did launch your NFT project?

We created our first NFT around Q1 2021 and were super excited and proud of it. It was a milestone for us. We had done it! I'd also like to touch back on the project thing. I had still been thinking about that and we are a project in the way we are creating these NFTs in hopes we can make someone's day by enjoying something we made or help someone build up an NFT collection without breaking their wax pockets. I didn't even think about our Goparel NFT token which provides some cool perks and utility so that surely could fall into the project category. Okay sorry lol back to it!

What was the first NFT you launched?

It's called what it is, The First Tie Dye Ever! Lol! Hey, it may be silly but we were the first, and why that matters idk but it is cool in our book! It's just a still image and nothing fancy about it, but to us it is priceless!

How the community react?

The community reacted great! We gave so many NFTs away through Twitter and hid a bunch on our website for free and lots more stuff. NFTs were really kicking off at that time and ours were unique to anyone else's also at that time. I mean c'mon, pretty unique!

How many more NFTs have you created since?

We have created just a little over 5 thousand NFTs as of the time of writing this. A nice selection to choose from! Our earlier ones consisted of many mints but as time moved on we have focused more on low mint counts and or 1 of 1s. We do appreciate the 1-of-1s in the NFT space. It's a cool feeling being the only person in the world to own something and have proof of that for the same world to see. So it's fun being able to offer that to others in this whole NFT experience.

Have you cross created where you created a real version and a NFT for it?

Yes, we have created them! We've given them away even! It's been a pretty cool experience to be able to offer physical items with NFTs and or blends or however the process and future processes may work. We're always looking for new tools and ways to mix things together. We can mint a shirt right from our pc and print it 15 feet away if we liked. It's an enjoyable process, to say the least! We also work with print pros across the globe when it comes to green shipping and top-notch quality products!

What is the process for creating your NFT?

First comes the idea. What does the NFT represent, how are we feeling, how should it be feeling, how should it make you feel, is it look better than previous work, are we leading in the direction our fan base would like, and so on tbh it can be a lot. We probably shouldn't share all the tips and tricks haha jk but that is a basic rundown but what you also I think are asking is about are tools. We make lots of different styles and hopefully more and more to come so we utilize many things when creating NFTS. Depending on the NFT we may use real items we've created (like our custom tie-dye), programs like adobe photoshop suite, blender, gimp, and other studio software that works with our drawing pads. We both have a drawing pad but of course, Carly has the bigger and better model lol. We draw in our telegram room so people can come to watch it sometimes! We love mixing things up!

What has been your favorite to create? Why?

For me it was creating the Running The Simulation Card Set, you know, the ones I forgot to optimize and load pretty badly lol. We all learn. For Carly it would be the Journey Down Memory Brain, she really enjoyed that one!

Have you done many collabs?

We have done 6 official collabs from our goparelsnfts collections schema collab. We have also done some odds and ends with others before we started our official schema. They were all a blast! We plan on more to come as it's a new schema and the space is growing!

Do you have favorite artist?

I do have a favorite artist. It's no contest, her name is Carly and she makes amazing stuff via Goparel. She is also a wonderful person and has a unique eye for creating artwork. I love watching her do her magic!

What has been the best part of doing the project?

The best part to date has been the connections with friends. Meeting other wax creators and collectors. It has been a fun journey mixing from crypto Twitter to finding NFT Twitter and skipping right through to WAXNFT Twitter which is a wild ride! But yes we love the friendships!

What has been the hardest part?

To be 100% honest on this, the hardest part is determining bad actors. When you do a lot, you have a lot reaching out and we're always welcoming but that can sometimes bite ya in the behind. Always DYOR on who you're dealing with when mixing around the internet and especially with crypto-related stuff.

What's the long term plan for it?

The great thing about Goparel is we didn't start in NFTs to quit our jobs and NFTs do not pay our bills or anything so we literally can't go out of business from NFTs and have plans on being here as long as we're welcomed and continue to create relationships and fans of our work, and even if we lose all that we still enjoy looking and creating NFTs just for something to look back at in another 50 years!

Will you guys ever expand to other blockchain?

Sure, we've always been a fan of multi-chain. Wax is our true home and surely will stay that way but yes you'll surely see us expand. Probably sooner than later. But again I can't stress enough that Wax is our main NFT gateway and home.

What's it like to work with your wife?

Working with my wife is like a dream come true. I would suggest everyone try it if they can. It was never planned and more forced but turned out to be a great thing. Find the right partner and everything flows in place!

What you guys like to do to relax?

We try to watch an hour of a good show before bed and during dinner. We also hang out in some Twitter spaces and take breaks that way. For the most part, we try and stay busy, and that in itself can be rewarding and relaxing at the same time.

What your family think of your project?

They have no idea nor understand it.

Have you introduced many people into Wax?

We have tried to introduce local residents and TBH have had no luck. None have been interested in NFTs but some have come around to cryptocurrency so NFTs will follow one would think. However online I'm sure we've helped get people on Wax that we don't even know from all our promotions and reach. We've sent thousands of flyers out through physical sales that links to free NFTs so it's possible we've onboarded that way also. We have encouraged but have no number on the amount of people we've brought to the wax blockchain.

Where can we keep up with your project?

The best way to keep up with us is probably our telegram and website. If you're into the Goparel NFT Token you can always check that page for information and drops. We like posting articles on our website so we usually always post updates when we do new things. Twitter is of course a great way to keep up with us.

Where can we buy your NFTs?

We have NFTs for sale on eBay, Our Website (physical & NFT), & all the secondary markets via the Wax Blockchain. We have a drops page on NFTHive where you can find our token and free NFTs from that token. We suggest heading there first. We plan on blends with our token for physical merch via NFTHive when they offer blends.

When your next drop?

Our next drop will most likely be either the collab with you that we haven't asked/talked about but have already created the NFT for lmao or it will be for the upcoming NFTopia event, the first one ever!

Any chance of a competition for the readers?

Yes, we will mint and transfer over the 1-of-1 digital art collectible NFT so you can do a giveaway with it to 1 lucky winner or we can do the giveaway, whichever you'd like done and or prefer my good friend!

Anything you would like to add before we finish?

It has been a pleasure to have become friends and invited to do your meet the artists interview! We appreciate you including us and enjoy your articles. You have done a lot of great interviews for this space and we can't wait to read more to come for 2023! I guess the only thing left to do is a shill. So we have about 100 things to shill. 1. check out our website. 2. check out our telegram. 3. okay okay I'm kidding. But yes we can help people with things like being a Top-Rated eBay Seller, WordPress Help, Web Hosting Help/Provider, Web/Server Management Help/Provider, Green Print on Demand Provider, Tie Dye Help/Creator, Global Merch Provider & much more! Don't hesitate to reach out. It is just a husband and wife duo but I promise you we have an army of pros ready to help us with our bigger tasks whether it be website stuff or shipping you a t-shirt. We got you! Thanks for reading and thank you Crackers for having us on! It's been great!

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