Everything you need to know about NFTs, blockchain, and using Ether Studio Art.
Table of Contents
An NFT (non-fungible token) is a unique digital item stored on a blockchain. NFTs can represent almost anything, and serve as a digital record of ownership.
NFTs operate on blockchain technology. The blockchain is basically a large, digital, public record. The most popular blockchains are distributed across many nodes, which is why you’ll hear them described as “decentralized.” So instead of a central company-owned server, the blockchain is distributed across a peer-to-peer network. Not only does this ensure that the blockchain remains immutable, it also allows the node operators to earn money, instead of a single company.
Because the blockchain records and preserves history, it is uniquely positioned to transform provable authenticity and digital ownership. When someone creates, transfers, buys, sells, or otherwise does something with an NFT, that all gets recorded on the blockchain. This is what enables authentication. This record serves as a permanent statement of authenticity that can be viewed or accessed by anyone.
Today, when you buy a piece of art or a collector's item, it typically comes with a paper certificate of authenticity, which you must then keep track of forever. It is easily forgotten, lost or destroyed, creating a very fragile system for authenticity. Blockchain’s offer a simple and more secure solution to this long standing issue of proving authenticity.
Let’s say you want to buy a piece of artwork from Tyler Hobbs. With NFTs, you can see the entire history of that piece, all the past owners, every sale, all the way back to Hobbs’ original creation of the piece. Without NFTs, you wouldn’t know if you were buying the real piece or just a really good fake.
An NFT can represent anything, but let’s explore some of the ways NFTs are being used today, and potential implementations for the future.
An art NFT is a type of NFT that represents a piece of digital art, such as a drawing, painting, or piece of digital artwork. Each art NFT is unique and traceable to the original creator of the NFT, and that connection to the creator may be valuable as well. Art NFTs are a new form of digital art that can be collected and sold, similar to physical artwork.
A profile picture, or PFP, NFT is any NFT that's primary purpose is use as a social media profile picture, or avatar. These NFTs are digital items that are authenticated on a blockchain network, making them verifiably unique. Some PFP NFTs also grant access to designated online communities.
A music NFT is any NFT that represents ownership of music or an experience tied to music, like a live concert event or a virtual fan meet-and-greet. Music NFTs are created by minting a unique token on a blockchain, which can then be collected by music fans.
A gaming NFT is an NFT associated with any digital item from the realm of online gaming and the metaverse: in-game items, characters, skins, customizations, maps, modes, tickets, collectibles–any digital creation that one would use in a gaming environment. It is a unique, blockchain-based item representing a specific item or element within a game.
A photography NFT is a unique digital asset that represents a specific photograph or artwork. It is stored and recorded on a blockchain, a decentralized, immutable digital ledger technology. Photography NFTs are stored and transferred digitally, allowing them to be easily shared and displayed online.
Creating an NFT on Ether Studio Art is intuitive and easy. You just need to decide what the purpose and genre of your collection is, set up a crypto wallet, choose a blockchain, create a collection, and mint or drop your NFT(s).
Anyone can create an NFT. Your NFT can be as simple as the media itself, but it can also represent something more. For example, your NFT can simply be a piece of art, or it can be a piece of music represented by a GIF or a photograph.
In addition to the content for the NFT itself, you’ll need a crypto wallet to create and mint your NFT. “Minting” an NFT is the process of writing a digital item to the blockchain. This establishes its immutable record of authenticity and ownership.
Crypto wallets are a foundational tool of web3. Your wallet acts as a private key that allows you to interact with decentralized apps, buy NFTs, and navigate the web3 universe. Ether Studio Art is compatible with a wide variety of wallets.
Next, choose a blockchain on which to mint your NFT. Ether Studio Art is currently compatible with Ethereum, Polygon, Klaytn, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Avalanche blockchains, and each of these blockchains has different gas fees associated with transactions on their networks.
You can sign up and create a self-custodied wallet on the Ether Studio Art website using Privy. Then, you can create your collection. This is the fun part! Decide what your collection of NFTs is all about. Is it artwork, a collection of profile pictures, sports memorabilia, membership to a group, or something else entirely? Once you decide, create your collection by naming it something unique that represents your work and describing it.
Blockchain transactions, including deploying a smart contract and minting an NFT, require gas fees. Depending on the blockchain, creators will need enough cryptocurrency in their wallets to cover the gas fees for the transaction.
Ether Studio Art gives creators a smooth, simple, and user-friendly creation process that allows them to create collections that help them stand out. And speaking of standing out, we believe that Ether Studio Art is the best place creators can list NFTs for sale because it distributes them to the largest audience. That’s because we’re one of the world's first and largest digital marketplace for NFTs.
In order to buy an NFT, you'll need a crypto wallet and cryptocurrency (or, in some cases, just a credit or debit card). Using Ether Studio Art, you can buy items listed for sale instantly, bid in auctions, or make offers on any NFTs.
To buy NFTs, you’ll need to set up a crypto wallet. A crypto wallet is a program that stores your NFTs and cryptocurrency. There are custodial (“hosted”) wallets and non-custodial wallets. Custodial wallets are managed by a third party company, whereas a non-custodial wallet is not.
Here are some wallets compatible with OpenSea: Metamask (Ethereum, Polygon, Klaytn), Coinbase Wallet (Ethereum, Polygon, Klaytn), TrustWallet (Ethereum, Polygon, Klaytn), Bitget (Ethereum, Polygon, Klatyn).
NFT transactions happen using cryptocurrency, although many NFTs on Ether Studio Art are available to buy with a credit or debit card.
Selling an NFT using Ether Studio Art is simple and user-friendly. Anyone who owns an NFT can list it for sale, whether that’s the creator of the NFT or the person who most recently collected it. Creators and collectors have two main ways to sell using Ether Studio Art: via fixed price sale and in an auction.
Buyers pay gas fees when purchasing a fixed-price item, sellers pay gas fees when accepting offers in an auction, and Ether Studio Art receives 2.5% of the sale price of your NFT.
Selling NFTs isn’t just for the people who create them. An NFT can also be sold by the collector who bought or received it from the original creator, or the collector who bought or received it from the previous collector, and so on. Whoever currently owns the NFT can sell it.
At Ether Studio Art, we offer a variety of ways to keep costs to a minimum while selling your NFTs. The new protocol for buying and selling NFTs significantly lowers gas fees. You can save an estimated 35% in gas fees. It also eliminates the one-time setup fee to use our marketplace.
“Minting” an NFT is the process of writing a digital item to the blockchain. This establishes its immutable record of authenticity and ownership. This process usually involves things like assigning metadata to the NFT, which can include information about the creator, a description of the content, and other relevant details.
What does it mean to mint an NFT? Minting an NFT refers to the process of writing a digital item to the blockchain. This establishes its immutable record of authenticity and ownership.
Recently, Ether Studio Art has made changes to the way creators mint NFTs using our tools. Historically, creators used lazy minting to create items that were not on-chain until they were sold or transferred. We believe that the future of NFTs is one where creators deploy and mint from their own independent contracts.
I minted my NFT! Now what? Congratulations! You’re officially an NFT creator! You don’t have to do anything after minting your NFT— you could just wait to see if someone discovers it through search or category exploration.
In simple terms, a crypto wallet helps you buy, sell, and store your cryptocurrency and (in many cases) your NFTs. Going a level deeper, a crypto wallet manages access to your private key, which is needed to control a blockchain wallet address. Your cryptocurrency and NFTs are not stored in/on a crypto wallet; they remain on the blockchain and can be accessed, controlled, and managed through use of a crypto wallet.
Think of your wallet as the key to your address on the blockchain — you use the key to open the safe where your items are stored on the blockchain and use the key to send/receive items to/from your address on the blockchain. Just like any key, security of your wallet and private key (or seed phrase) are critically important.
Different wallets support different blockchains, and not all wallets support NFTs. To buy, sell, and create NFTs using Ether Studio Art, you can either connect an existing NFT-compatible wallet, or create a self-custodied wallet with just your email address on Ether Studio Art, using Privy.
Cryptocurrency is digital currency that exists on a decentralized system called the blockchain. Cryptocurrency serves as an umbrella term for all digital currencies. These can be accessed through the use of a crypto wallet.
Blockchain technology is unique in that all transactions are permanently etched into the blockchain for anyone to view at any time—the blockchain record can only be added to, and the recorded history can’t be modified. Cryptocurrency relies on blockchain’s decentralized network of computers to validate and verify its ownership.
The breadth and usage of cryptocurrencies have grown significantly. Now crypto can be used to purchase everything from NFTs on marketplaces to physical goods or real-world services.
Cryptocurrency and NFTs both rely on blockchain technology. The key difference is that cryptocurrencies are “fungible” (mutually interchangeable) tokens, whereas NFTs are “non-fungible” (unique and not interchangeable) tokens. For example, one Bitcoin is exactly equal to another Bitcoin, but every NFT is unique by definition. To purchase an NFT, you’ll need both cryptocurrency and a crypto wallet.
In web3, the term “gas fee” refers to the payment needed to execute transactions on the blockchain. These payments compensate the node operators who keep the blockchain functioning. This validation helps ensure the blockchain has a permanent, immutable record.
Each blockchain compatible with Ether Studio Art has different gas fees. These fees differ depending on how each chain validates transactions.
Ether Studio Art doesn’t control gas fees, set gas fees, or receive any of the gas fees incurred by users on the platform. To help avoid high gas fees, try making your transactions during times when there are fewer people using the network.
A blockchain is a decentralized record that gets its name from how it stores its data. Once a set of transaction data reaches a certain size, it forms a "block.” This is where every transaction on a blockchain is validated and then permanently stored. The “chain” part of a blockchain is a series of consecutive blocks linked together, forming the immutable ledger.
A blockchain differs from a traditional database in two ways: how it operates and who is responsible for it. A blockchain operates independently of a company or financial institution’s oversight, while a traditional database is typically owned and operated by a single entity.
At Ether Studio Art, our mission is to empower artists and collectors by building the most reliable, artist-centric, and inspiring NFT platform. We strive to redefine the way people connect with art by providing unparalleled tools for creation, discovery, and ownership.
Ether Studio Art was founded in 2019 by visionary creators who recognized the untapped potential of NFTs to revolutionize the art world. Inspired by the growing intersection of art and blockchain, they envisioned a space where artists could take complete control of their work and collectors could own a piece of the digital renaissance. By combining blockchain technology with artistic expression, Ether Studio Art enables artists to create verifiable, scarce, and transferable digital masterpieces.
NFTs represent a groundbreaking shift in how art is created, owned, and experienced. For the first time in history, artists can mint unique digital works with provable ownership, earn royalties on secondary sales, and showcase their art globally.
Ether Studio Art is more than a marketplace—it’s a movement. Together, we can create a future where art transcends boundaries, ownership is redefined, and creativity knows no limits.