Meet the artist Orlando Castro
Right so I only found this artist because of noise.cash he was always giving away free NFTs . His NFTs are all hand painted they are lovely and they deserved to be noticed so happily chatted to him about his project .
Hey hey
Hey Crackers!!! How are you?
I am good and you ?
Great! I’m working on something special for Valentine’s Day😉.
Oh nice so taking that will be for Monday lol .
Yes! I’m preparing two or three special NFT from Sketch Art Collection 😉
Il be honest I came across your work on noise.cash but it I have to say they are really cool . How did it start ?
It was very recently. I only found out what NFT is around April of last year. I saw a video by another Brazilian on YouTube about a game called Alien Worlds and the possibility of earning some TLM tokens. At the time I was just starting to buy some Bitcoins and didn't pay much attention to altcoins. So I started investing in some altcoins. But I was delighted with the NFTs that some artists were producing on the AtomicHub on WAX blockchain. I thought, "Hey! I can do this too!!"😂😂😂 .
What made you decide to create ?
I always liked to paint and kept a blog with my sketches. So it was just a matter of joining the ends.
Of course how did you decide WAX blockchain was for you ?
I liked the WAX blockchain mainly because of the low cost for the creators and because there were already a lot of people producing cool stuff there. Currently I've been exploring other chains, but I don't have the same result in terms of people interested in paying something for my sketches. Even though WAX blockchain is more gaming oriented, there is still a good space for NFT Art.
Of course can I ask what blockchain?
I've been trying Solana (FTX.us), Matic (OpenSea), Tezos (Hic et Nunc and Kalamint) . I recently heard about OmniFix which I thought was also interesting.
Is wax your home do ?
Yes. My entire collection is there. There are already more than 380 templates. There have been more than 25K NFT minted.
Oh wow . What is the idea behind your project ?
I just wanted to make the best art I can and make it accessible to anyone. That's why I was making daily free drops until December last year. I maintain a group on Telegram (https://t.me/BRSketchArt) where I still do free drops for members.
When did you launch your first NFT ?
This was my first NFT minted in 06/06/2021 😁
How did the community react ?
Very slowly, in fact. This NFT's #1 mint sold for just 1 WAX! 😂😂 . So I met the people from the Free NFT Drops group on Telegram and started posting my free drops there at the same time I was posting on the Sketch Art group. The group moderators (Baal and Julien) are amazing people and have always been available to teach me and answer questions about NFT. This publicity made my sketches better known and soon my group had reached a thousand members. By the way, Julien and Baal are also moderators for Sketch Art Group on Telegram. Without them I wouldn't have been able to solve several problems (including robot invasions).
Baal is a legend he has created some class NFT . How do you create your NFT?
I don't have many steps involved. All my sketches are handmade. I usually use ink and watercolor or colored pencils on paper. Then I scan and make some corrections and frame it with Gimp (I'm still learning how to use Photoshop). The collection doesn't have a specific theme, so I can paint on anything that interests me. I think that's a cool thing because collectors never know what's next. I really like urban sketches. So many of the NFTs represent places I've visited.
Do you have a favorite ?
I live on an island, so I like to draw some scenes from here.
Oh wow the look amazing can I ask where is it ?
I live in Florianópolis, in the southern region of Brazil.
Is drawing part of your day job ?
No. I work as an auditor for the Brazilian government. The sketches are done in free time and on weekends and holidays. My wife and youngest son also love to paint and some of their work is also in the Sketch Art collection.😁
Oh cool that is some difference . Oh so its a family project ?
Yes! It's a family project. We had a lot of fun drawing and painting together. It's something we usually do to relax and exchange ideas. My wife Alessandra likes to paint with acrylic paint and has some really cool pieces in our collection. She has a more elaborate style in her paintings.
Have done any collabs ?
I only made two collaborations. The first was with the friend Baal. I think the result was really cool. The second was with Kuina Puzzle .
Who would your dream collab be ?
Oh man!!! There are so many people that I would be honored to collaborate! I love the collections 1avatarfolk, foodmonsters, laurendenel1, createdwlove...
I know two of those artists I can reach out for you ?
It would be amazing to work with them. They are, in my opinion, very talented artists. Baal has a amazing collection too. I read your interview with him. Very cool! I have also met other very talented artists on the social network Torum
I am on torum just forget to use it lol .
I replaced Facebook with Torum. It's a much more interesting community.😁
Twitter my home .
Here in Brazil Twitter is rarely used. I have an account there that I've been trying to keep in use. I have featured some of the new NFTs there.
What has been the best part of project?
The best part of the project has been meeting so many amazing people from such different places at the same time. I love chatting with people in the Telegram group, Discord groups, Torum etc. I have learned a lot about NFT and crypto investments.
What has been the hardest part ?
It's not really a "harderst part", but it bothers me a little to see some of the NFT I give away for free being sold for pennies on the secondary market. It seems to me that this devalues my work. I reduced the frequency of free drops a little because I realized that most of it ended up in the wallets of robots or people who took it for free to sell for very low values on the secondary market. But on the other hand, after I give an NFT it doesn't belong to me anymore, so I try not to think about it too much.😜😜😜
I love to draw and I've never done it for money. Today I can say that the project is self-sustaining. I no longer need to put my money into it. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
The project was never intended to make me rich. Most Sketch Art NFTs cost between 0.5 and 3 WAX, which is actually pretty cheap.
I feel happy when I see that someone has managed to make some money with one of my NFTs. That is great! 🎉🎉🎉
I see this project as something that brings me great personal satisfaction (for my family as well) and that has received enough from the community to stay active.
Its great to hear that project gives you satisfaction . What you like to unwind?
Besides painting I enjoy traveling with my family. There are many beautiful places in Brazil that we haven't seen yet (it's a huge country), so every trip is a new adventure. Of course, on the way back there are always new sketches in the bag.😂😂
Tell us something random about you ?
Well... I was born in the northeast of Brazil which is a poor region in a city called Fortaleza. That's why I'm a fan of the Fortaleza soccer team. Besides drawing I like to play the ukulele, but I wouldn't have the courage to play in public!!!😜😜
Where can we keep up with your project?
In addition to the Telegram group, I always post news on Torum and Twitter.
https://t.me/BRSketchArt
https://www.torum.com/u/orlandocastro
https://twitter.com/Orlando11017315
Where can we buy your NFTs ?
Our collection on NeftyBlocks can be seen at:
https://neftyblocks.com/c/brsketchart1
https://wax.atomichub.io/explorer/collection/brsketchart1
Any chance of a competition for the readers ?
Of course here is a free drop for the readers
(Please dont share this link I rather readers get rewarded)
Thank you so much for your time is there anything you would like to add or say to the readers ?
I would like to thank you for the invaluable support we have received from so many people who enjoy our collection. We are looking to improve the quality of our NFTs and evaluating ways to make them attractive as an investment. Thank you for your support my friend. Count on me.🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Thank you for your time and Its a pleasure to promote and chat to artist I think NFTs are something everyone can enjoy and your NFTs are so bright and colour they are very uplifting .
Sold out 😅