This interview came about from Humble on twitter tagging on this artists page and I am glad he did what this artist is trying to do is really cool and have to say I think its a great project but I will let the artist explain .
Hey how you ?
I’m doing great! How about yourself?
I am good just home from work. Do anything exciting today ?
No. Just got off work a bit ago myself. We’re getting some rain, which is about as exciting as it gets around here. Also, in the middle of making dinner, which I guess could be considered exciting.
Where you living oh what's for dinner ?
I live in the US. Minneapolis, Minnesota, to be precise. Making my knock off Chipotle burrito recipe. It’s a family favorite Although, I will have to say that our city has seen its fair share of interesting and unfortunate events as of late. As far as the rain goes, I’m just happy its happening. We’re in a drought, as is about half of our country.
Oh sounds lovely !!!!
The food! Yes, I think so…kind of biased though. Ha ha.
Oh what is your day job ?
I work at a web design and marketing agency. I head up the sales team. We work with nonprofit organizations.
Oh cool so your work goes towards good causes and I am guessing its a big help in your NFT ?
Yes, it does go to good causes. This is by far the best company I’ve ever worked for. I haven’t really leveraged what I do outside of NFTs for my project. Although, I have ideas on how some of my NFT work could go to helping nonprofits. I just started learning about NFTs back in February and started in on the ground work for my project back then. I’m relatively new to the scene, so I’m still trying to get my sea legs about me.
Of course how did you discover NFTs ?
It’s kind of a long-ish story.
Well that's why we are here lol
LOL. I had never owned any cryptocurrency up until this year. My buddy has been into it for a while and Dogecoin had caught my eye on Reddit. This was before it really started taking off. So, I asked my friend about it and he told me how to open an account, etc. But then I saw Dogecoin going bonkers and decided to not pursue it. Instead I saw some people talking about NFTs on Reddit, so I looked into that. I did a lot of research and got VERY excited about the prospect of doing some sort of project. I was trying to figure out what I could do and if there would be a market for it. I found a comic project on OpenSea called ETH-MEN. I liked the idea of doing an NFT comic, but realized that I wouldn’t be able to execute the way that they were doing it. I believe they’d created their own smart contract to open and read the books on their site. I don’t have the knowledge necessary to program/develop something like that and I really didn’t feel like asking one of my colleagues to do it for me. So, I opted to do what I knew, which was making a comic and delivering it as a PDF. And, so here we are!
Awh that makes sense so I am guessing you like comics and please don't support doge coin it has no use in crypto world !!!
LOL. I didn’t support Dogecoin. The more I looked into it the more it seemed like a complete joke, so I bought some ETH instead. And yes, I LOVE comics. I did indie comix for a while in the late 00s and early 10s. Then, my wife and I had kids and I had to put projects on the back burner. However, I’ve been into comics for nearly as long as I can remember.
That's good I hope you got ETH on the cheap and the bigger question DC or Marvel lol
I got ETH before it popped, which was nice. My ETH investment is flat right now. There is a lot of utility around it that I feel that holding it and buying when it’s stable or dipping is a good plan for now. As far as Marvel or DC. That’s a tough one. I have a lot of friends that do comics as a full-time gig and work for both companies. So, I love all of the stuff they put out. However, if we go back to what I grew up on and what I keep up to speed on now, I’d have to say Marvel. If we wanted to dig a little deeper though. There is a lot of independent stuff that flies under the radar.
I was never comic book guy Simpsons reference lol I was a gamer growing up and I think independent stuff should be looking at NFTs to help sells !
YES! I 100% agree. I’ve had discussions with folks about this and there is some hesitancy. One of the biggest hurdles I feel is knowledge. Not a lot of people know about cryptocurrency, where to get it, what it is, etc. Then, couple that with NFTs and mind figuratively start exploding. It just hasn’t reached mass adoption yet. I was just speaking to a couple of friends about this and they brought up that they didn’t want to do NFTs, because of gas fees. Of course, there is education that is needed around different marketplaces. However, anyone from the outside looking in sees ETH. Then they read a little bit and don’t pursue it. I think most of the time it is about investing your time and money into something that you don’t know what the return will be. I’m fortunate enough to have put a little bit in and am just trying to see what the return is. Ultimately though, it’s about creating the art. Reaching different audiences. Being able to leverage new technologies. And NFTs have given me the opportunity to do that. Well, that and my kids are older and sometimes don’t want to hang out with dad.
Well I have seen a massive return in my crypto currency's I started with nothing and have earned everything but as you said education is key .
Yup. You have to be willing to risk a little to gain a lot.
You have to spend money to make money .
That’s right!
So lets get back on track tell us about the project what do hope to give to the Wax community ?
Yeah. So, I just released the first issue of my NFT comic project, Bret Blackberg. This was a story that I had originally conceived during a 24 Hour Comic Book Day in 2008. 24 Hour Comic Book Day is where you have to complete an entire 24 page story within a 24 hour period without any idea of what you’re going to do going in. So, I created Bret and the gang in the comic and I really enjoyed it. So, I ended up doing 8 more physical 24 hour comics with Bret and his crew in them — which technically meant that I was cheating, because I already knew the characters going into the project. The current Bret Blackberg story is only 20 pages. There was a lot of fluff that didn’t need to be there. So, I shored up the story, redesigned some characters, added color, and created my own font (because hand lettering is time consuming). I finished the story at the beginning of June and released it a couple of weeks ago. The first issue comes with three variant covers, with a run of only 50 per cover. Then you can blend those covers with BretCoin, which is a token I giveaway in my Discord server, to get rare covers.
I launched the book on NeftyBlocks as a pre-mint first and am going to send it to AtomicHub on Friday., My ultimate goal is to finish the story that I started. Each book is to take place in one of the fifty states in the USA. The first one starts out in Montana, no real reason that I picked that state, and the crew will travel to the rest of the states throughout the journey. However, this also means that in order to finish it and at the rate I’m going, it may be awhile until we see the final issue come out. And this comic is not like a lot of the others out there, which could be good or bad, depending on the person. I’m not angling for the cyberpunk genre. This is a comedy/adventure book and although some sci-fi elements may creep in from time-to-time, the focus is going to be on Bret, the gang, and their adventures.
Did you want my elevator pitch for the actual story? That might be helpful. Bret Blackberg is a drunken, reluctant adventurer that is dragged along to a variety of different quests to save princesses, fight shadows, defeat mad kings, de-escalate wars, rescue potatoes, destabilize cults, and ultimately try to find the best beer he possibly can find, although any liquor will do, really… Think Conan the Barbarian meets The Big Lebowski meets Adventure Time
Is he the Peter Griffen of the comic world lol .
LOL. I wouldn’t say that, per se. He is kind of naïve and lovable. He really wants to be left alone, but the more he sees of the world, the more he realizes that what he had, living in a trailer in the middle of nowhere with nobody, isn’t what he really wants. The comedy he presents is less Peter Griffin and more, well…I’m thinking about it and I can’t really put my thumb on who he would remind me of outside of Conan the Barbarian and The Dude from The Big Lebowski. He’s not conniving, he’s heroic, but he doesn’t really know he’s heroic.
Well he is the hero / anti hero !
He’s definitely a hero, but could have some anti-hero tendencies. He’s certainly not Superman and definitely not The Punisher. Probably somewhere in the middle. I guess, he might be closer to an anti-hero, come to think of it. He is closer to Clint Eastwood’s character from those spaghetti western films.
And can we have a picture of the star man ?
Sure? A picture of Bret? Let me get a picture of Bret for you.
He is great
Why thank you!
Can we have a look at your first NFT you dropped ?
The first one I dropped was the BretCoin, which were free in my Discord.
Can we have a pic ?
Yup!
Ha ha love it when did that drop ?
I think it was a the last week of June.
How was it received by the community ?
I’ve given away about 20 now. My plan was to give away 50 before the next comic issue in September.
Ah and will the coin get you something for holding it
Yes! The last week of July and the following two weeks in August, people will be able to use this coin and blend it with the current comics to get rare covers. The first rare cover will be limited to 20 copies. The next limited to 5. And the last is basically a ticket for a custom comic cover.
So is the comic one NFT or over many ?
The custom cover is 1:1.
I mean each story how many NFTs is it told over ?
Yeah, the story is done over multiple NFTs. I finished storyboarding the next issue and I started penciling last night. I got up to nine issues when they were physical mini-comics. And I started preliminary plans for seven after that. So, I have issue one out now. Issue two out in September (which I’m currently working on). Issue three is due out in November. That’s roadmap I have so far. I am also kicking the tires on a trading card series at the end of the year. Although, I’d like to give it some sort of utility.
Will there be reoccurring characters in the comics ?
Yes! Nearly all of the characters of the first comic will be in the next five or six. The main character, Bret Blackberg, will be the constant. There will be a new character in nearly every comic as well.
And is there room there for special appearances like Collabs ?
Hmmmm….hadn’t thought of that. Maybe?! I think the main story has to remain pure to the Blackberg Universe . However, there could always be one-offs or a mini-series
So you would be open to Collabs ?
Sure!
Is there any artists you would like to work with ?
I’m still so new to the space that I don’t think I can answer that, tbh.
Do you collect NFTs or just creating ?
I’ve got a few. Not much though. Just started collecting things a few weeks ago. Everything I have is on WAX .
Of course wax is the place to be and that's ok you have only started collecting have to start somewhere . Check some of the artists I have interviewed what kind of NFTs you like ?
Yeah, I’ll most definitely see if there is anything that vibes with me.
Who you have in your collection at the mo ?
Yeah, I have Humble Drawing’s, Bald Jesus Collective (I’ve done a couple of pieces for that group), Crypto Chibis, Bitverse Comics and Art of Byron . Byron does some amazing zombies
Love Byrons work he was one of the first NFT artists I did and humble was the one who sent me to check you out .
Yeah, I knew Humble tagged me on Twitter, which I’m eternally grateful for. Byron and I had a great discussion about comics, we grew up liking a lot of the same stuff. Humble is a good friend and great to reach out to other artists and those two are great to reach out to.
How do you create your NFTs ?
I do all of my work on this iPad I’m working on right now.
What programs you using ?
ClipStudio Pro, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
How long is it taking to do one comic strip ?
Hmmm…well I’ve changed my process up a bit since the first comic. I was doing each page from pencils to letters. I was able to do about three full pages a week for issue one. That’s pencils, inks, colors, and letters. Now I’m penciling all of the pages first, then inks, etc. I found that I was getting inconsistencies doing it the other way. So, we will try something new this time. I can pencil about 8 pages a week. Ink about 8 a week. Color four a week Lettering I can do in a few days.
I meant turning them into NFTs ?
You mean taking the pre-existing asset and turning into an NFT? Because throwing into WAX doesn’t take much time at all.
Yea exactly
Making the comic and covers is the toughest part. I can crank out a comic, that I then turn into the NFT in about 6-8 weeks.
And is a comic 1 NFT or multiply NFTs ?
It can be both for instance . My first drop I had three covers. Made 50 NFTs of each. The only difference were the covers. I have some blends coming up where one of the covers will be a 1:1. The comic itself stays pretty much the same.
So how does the comic work as an NFT ?
I’ve also been giving away line art comic pages. Those are 1:1, which I think I’ve told you about already. There isn’t much to that, because it all starts with the larger comic itself. The comic is basically an add on to the NFT. It’s similar to purchasing a comic at a comic shop. You have one comic, but there may be like thousands out there that have the same one. What increases the value is the scarcity of the cover, generally. Also, key issues play a big part in the valuation of physical comics, which I’ve been thinking about how that could come into play with an NFT comics market.
Yea you where saying about scarcity of covers as the project continues ?
Yes. That’s going to be key. The biggest value that I believe I’ll be adding are the 1:1 commissioned covers. Which will give the person that gets the NFT the ability to commission me to do a custom cover for them. However, there will have to be limits, like I don’t want to encroach on anyone’s IP. Plus, nothing NSFW.
Of course so you could to 1 of 1 covers as requests I am sure you know how to avoid IP ?
Oh yeah, avoiding IP is easy. Now, if someone wanted me to draw one of their characters, I’m cool with that.
Well that would be more like a Collab ?
Yeah, I guess it would. Lol
What you working on at the mo ?
Working on eating dinner. Lol. As far as NFTs though, I’m working on issue two.
I meant NFT lol can we have a sneak peak ?
I can show you some thumbnails.
I’m not near my iPad, otherwise I’d show you a big of one of the pages I have done.
How does your family feel about your NFTs ?
At first my wife was a little iffy. I mean, she’s been a huge supporter of my comics. So, it took a while to explain NFTs. And quite honestly, I was probably doing a poor job of it at first. My kids love it when I draw. They love drawing with me. My comics are probably PG-13, so my youngest hasn’t read it, but my oldest has. She also is a great editor as she seems to point out inconsistencies in the comic.
Tell us something random about yourself ?
I am a football fan (soccer in the US).
Who do you support ?
My country first. As far as clubs, Minnesota United in MLS (my home club), Club Leon in the Mexican Federation, West Ham in the EPL and Atletico in La Liga.
West ham you forever blowing bubbles lol
Yup! If the US isn’t in the World Cup, which I still can’t believe happens, I always root for England . Basically, I like teams that rarely win cups.
The under dogs
Yeah. You never know who will be the next Leicester
What do you for fun when your not working or creating NFTs or comics ?
Playing with my kids. They’re my world. Hanging out with my wife also. When I can, playing board games with friends.
What advice do you have for new artist ?
I’m relatively new, but I’ve been creating for this first project for a few months. My first word of advice is don’t give up. It’s going to be hard as hell to get started. You’re going to have to market yourself, put yourself out there, and you will likely not see the sales you want your first time around. That doesn’t mean you stop though. Innovate. Check out the marketplace. See what people are doing and ask yourself how can you do better? If you don’t have the skills to do it, find someone to partner with or learn the skills you need to accomplish what you set out to do. Also, network a lot. Get to know people. This is a very accepting community.
Where can we buy your NFTs ?
Yeah, I did my first drop on NeftyBlocks, but that’s going to move over to AtomicHub soon. The project name is blackbergcmx.
https://neftyblocks.com/c/blackbergcmx
Why you moving to Atomichub ?
My plan is to have the comics on NeftyBlocks for a couple weeks to give everyone an opportunity to get a low mint number. I pre-mint on NeftyBlocks, which randomizes the mints. I'm moving the comics over to AtomicHub to give folks the opportunity to buy the lower mints, if they choose. Also, this is another marketplace to distribute the books.
https://wax.atomichub.io/market?collection_name=blackbergcmx&order=asc&sort=price&template_id=196868
Of course . Any chance of a competition or giveaway for the readers ?
Yeah! I would love to giveaway one of my signed line art piece. They are the pencils and inks only, but they’re really cool. It’s something you’d buy at comic conventions from an artist. I’ve given away three on my Discord members, but I’d be thrilled to give one away to your readers.
Check his twitter here
https://twitter.com/bretblackberg?s=09
Discord here
https://discord.com/invite/ehMvaCS56a
Oh brilliant thank you . Before we finish up is there anything you want to add or say to the readers ?
Yes! I really appreciate the community that I’ve found so far in the NFT space. I know I haven’t met even a fraction of the talented artists and collections, but I’d love to get to know more! So, be sure to check out my Twitter and Discord. One other thing. I don’t see enough people putting out comics in this space. I’d love to see more. Offhand I can only think of about three or four projects besides mine. Having spent a lot of time in and around comics, I’d love to see more creators use this space specifically for sequential art. If anyone wants to learn about comics, how to make them, etc., please reach out to me! I’m more than willing to share my knowledge. So, I guess that’s all I have to say!
I have to say a big thank you to this artist as this was done over a few nights so if you want to win one of his signed line art peice check the link below .
https://twitter.com/Crackers832/status/1415823098256007178?s=19
Looks like some old retro cartoons. I love the style on how the characters are made!