Meet Rad the man behind Walking Backwards

This interview was planned weeks ago but both of us has been busy so we finally got to sit and talk . I have to say he has supported my girlfriends NFTs ftom the start so I have a lot of time for this artist and his new project is brilliant .lets meet him .

Hey rad

hello I always forget to load telegram up when I open my computer

Ha ha yea it happens how's you ?

I'm doing well, how have you been?

Good just spent the day getting ready to go away for a few days .

vacation or something?

Just going away for a few days .

hopefully for exciting and fun reasons!

Yea few days away with the kids and misses .

nice .

You do anything exciting today ?

Nothing really, more excited for when the heat warning disappears .

Do any NFT work ?

Been working on a piece for my rad.games stuff, kinda looking at them and seeing if there's anything I wanna change before I move on to the other piece for it.

Of course what brought you into the NFT world ?

Well, honestly Godzilla. I mean, I've been up on the news somewhat, but when WAX dropped Godzilla I kinda went, why not. I was at that point already slowly dipping my toe into at least having a wallet for crypto, so, could've really been anything I recognized at that moment, but it was Godzilla.

Why did you decide to create NFTs ?

A little bit of sharing my art, a little bit expanding my skills. The community is also really cool, and I've met some pretty chill people.

And have you only released on WAX ?

Yeah, only on WAX. Aside from the Space Jam claim, I don't even own NFTs elsewhere.

What about the project of your NFTs what's story behind them ?

Well the project itself is mainly about the places I've visited and photos I've taken. I don't tend to take many photos, so the ones I have and use are the few I've kept. I only keep them because I really love them for how they look and make me feel, or it was very important time or thing to me. Except for the dog photo, he's just One Cool Dude and I couldn't resist sharing him. The rad.games project is kinda the same idea, except instead of the places I've been or visited, it's more or less about a hobby I have mixed with the many media influences I grew up loving or grew to love.

And how did the community react to your NFTs ?

Pretty well, led me to meet even more people which also helps me find more artists so I can start collecting their stuff too. It's all a really cool and chill place.

And your new series which you are dropping looks like old computer game maps which I have to say I love .

Thanks, it actually took a bit to get the scenes to look right on the survival game ones, at least a bit more then the shoot 'em up scenes I made.

I am guessing they take a lot of time to make .

Well, maybe even a bit more then the pieces suggest. I also take the art I make and kinda, make a small game prototype to make sure it kinda, flows and looks right. I dunno why I do it, maybe just for the fun itself, but what I do once I complete a lot of the art. At least the case with the two I've released so far.

Where is the ideas for them coming ?

I guess mostly just, the game genre itself. It's not going to represent every genre once I release more, but at least the genres/games that have some sort of influence on me or my creativity. Then I just kinda, bounce around the idea of what would I make if I were to make one of this, fictional (but not so fictional) games. Then I just open up something and start working in pixels. The palette of choice I'm trying to stick with is rosy-42, I just really like the palette.

Out of your NFTs what is your favorite you have created ?

Probably the foil card for 'Orange Bliss' from my first release, and the Rad Survival gold border scene I recently released.

Can we have a picture ?

Orange Bliss

Rad Survival scene

Why are they your favorite NFT ?

Well, the Orange Bliss is probably the favorite photo I've ever taken. I was out with family and just, I love the photo. The foil version of it I really love, and I probably spent the most time trying to get it to look as I would picture it would look like in person. The Rad Survival scene probably has the most influences on me in it, or at least the entire idea behind the game. I grew up as a big fan of horror movies and games, like basically since diapers. I remember seeing/playing Resident Evil when it came out, and I use to love and just, watch horror movies at my grandmother's house over the weekends, recorded VHS.

How long did Red Survival scene take to build ?

Not sure, hard to judge. The art itself took longer but I also was slowly working on it and not just, sitting down doing it. Once the art itself was done I was able to fairly quickly set up the positions of stuff and then go back and edit the art a bit more. But don't get me started on blender feeling like it's missing some stuff still and trying to find proper angles to make it look like a retro game, without just being flat.

What programs did you use to create ?

I have a licence for aseprite, which I do the pixel art in. Then blender for the piece itself. When making the prototypes I just use the licence I have for Gamemaker Studio 2, but I hear Godot is pretty cool too. I'm a big fan of free and one time licence buys (gifted or self bought). Not a fan of subscriptions on an individual level. I also use glimpse when needed, and sometimes use it for the creation of the gif.

Have you done many Collabs ?

Officially no. I have helped 3Dify a piece for someone else though.

Would you like to do a Collab ?

I think a collab would be cool, especially on something like my rad.games release, I have some ideas brewing in ways I could incorporate another artist into those pieces.

Is there any artists that stand out that would be a dream Collab ?

@NftPizza, @catfreshent and @Cartoon_Family1

Well I can ask @cartoon_family1 now for you if you want?

that'd be cool .

She said yes .

man, that's awesome

Do you collect NFTs ?

yes I do, not like a completionist but I do collect.

Can I ask why did you call yourself walking backwards ?

I titled the project like that, like, walking backwards through memories, my life. That type of idea.

oh cool .

have you looked at different markets for your NFTs ?

No I haven't. If I ever did in the future it'd probably be a completely different project idea.

Have you have you got many projects lined up for wax ?

I'm still working on my 2nd Release of photos, have an idea there but still putting things together. Then have ideas where to go with the rad.games, which I'm also currently working on. Don't think I'd add anything too new or crazy. The only extra thing aside from those two are the low WAX guitar pick NFTs I have on my neftyblocks.

Ah have you done and blends yet ?

Yeah, I have a couple blends for my first release, and a few blends for the rad.games series. I also have a new blend for the Rad Survival drop coming this week .

That was the next question do you drop this week ?

Lol, yeah, this week I'm gonna put up a blend for a Rad Survival Dev Cartridge .

Can we have a sneak picture ?

That's cool .

thank you .

Have you tired to introduce any of your friends or family to NFTs ?

Not really. I mean, my girlfriend probably knows more than she would like to lol. But some of my friends are just, doing their own things these days.

How does your family feel about your NFT work ?

Girlfriend loves them, wants alot of them done up physically, especially my foil photos. I haven't had much time to show my family much. Covid and all. Aside from frustratingly helping family move recently, last thing I did was go fishing with my sister once restrictions first lifted slightly.

Did you catch much ?

Caught my walleye limit, but I prefer to eat perch, which I haven't had in awhile.

Nice . I am guessing NFT creation isn't a full time job what is ?

If I had to tell you, I'd have to kill you. Nah, just boring mundane front line service shit.

That's ok so tell us something random about yourself ?

When YouTube was still fairly young I made two Anime Music Videos (one was technically a Video Game Music Video) that were actually quite popular, and one was using music from a band I never even listened too.

Can we have a link to them ?

I don't have them, probably for the best. Not sure if they even exist on the platform anymore. Also no I will not give the sources used in those, feels kinda cringe.

That's a shame . What you like to do when you aren't saying the world on the front line and aren't creating NFTs ?

lol, I'm not saving the world in service industry. I like to fish, didn't do it for a handful of years because of a busy life at the time. Recently also playing Grounded and Final Fantasy XIV.

Oh your a RPG gamer ?

No specific game genre. Large library, large catalogue of completions over 3 decades. Just more recently playing those.

What lesson have you learnt form working in NFT world ?

Things take a long time to get looking the way you want.

How do you interact with the community ?

Twitter

https://twitter.com/RadOntarian?s=20

Can we have a link to your NFTs ?

You can find some of my stuff on neftyblocks https://neftyblocks.com/c/walkbackward/ as well as my current rad.games drop on atomic hub https://wax.atomichub.io/drops/72794+72796+72792

Any chance of a drop or competition for the readers ?

Absolutely! https://wax.atomichub.io/drops/78463?key=5KYHGheHzw6oAjy9y6XxHhevm1KHpU8jbPcMbP4w9B3zjW6HPdv

Thank so much before we finish up is there anything you would like to add or say to the readers ?

Live somewhere with central air conditioning, it's really hot hot.

Ha ha ha love it sorry its taken so long for us to actually chat its been a pleasure.

Been awesome.

Thanks to rad we he has left a drop that goes live at 12pm gmt today .