I came across FxHash sometime around May, 2022, from then on, my life was not the same.
What is FxHash?
FxHash.xyz/ is a website that is becoming the number 1 hub for generative arts in the form of NFTs.
It is currently attracting generative artists from other blockchains with well-developed NFT markets like Ethereum and Solana. FxHash is currently under the Tezos blockchain network. Actually a lot of traditional artists are shifting to gen art because doing a 500-edition collection or even 10,000 editions is just very easy. Probably, generative art in the form of NFTs have truly evolved to be a truly useful tool for artists.
What is Generative Art?
Generative art can be defined as any artwork that is created using codes. Yes, codes, as in javascript codes. There are other software now being developed, but most gen art released on FxHash were done using javascript.
The most popular software being used is P5.js.
FxHash is actually not strict in implementing a pure-coded artwork, because as mentioned that traditional artists are transitioning, and so these oil painters, watercolor painters and other medium painters are still doing their regular stuff, and then just add codes to keep in theme to their collection.
The codes they add are just to add variations to their original artwork. For example, they are doing a landscape artwork of Mt. Fuji, so they draw the majestic mountain as majestic as they can, and when added codes onto it, the generated art will result in different pictures with the mountain on it. The variations could be in the form of clouds, snowcap tops, varying sun position, varying moon position and phases, birds flying, and whatever variations they want to appear.
Once the code has been set to publish, the artist itself won't know the appearance of the output artwork, because it is then the computer who will set what color combinations will appear and what variations will come out.
On the image below, it shows some have houses, some have animals, all of them have different color backgrounds, and the position of the moon varies with each piece.
Why Mint on FxHash?
These are my reasons for minting on FxHash actually, so if you hear me out, you can judge for yourself if you should mint or not.
1. Premier Artists
So far, FxHash has been able to draw in French artist Michael Zancan, an oil painter turned gen artists. His 255-piece collection called Garden, Monoliths is currently the alpha collection on FxHash. Right now, the lowest you can buy among the 255 pieces is 26k XTZ or $38,191. The highest a Garden Monolith fetched on FxHash platform was 75,000 XTZ or $110,167.
The best thing about this is that the mint price of Garden, Monoliths was.... You won't believe it.
It was only 18 XTZ or $26 thereabouts.
Other notable artists that are legendary in the field of not just gen art, but art in general are like Marcelo Soria Rodriguez, Brendan Dawes, Jinyao Lin, Ira Greenberg, among others. Before I buy any NFT I would always research first about the artist whose work I was gonna buy. I didn't want to jump blindly. So as I dug deeper, I would find that some are directors of and curators of art museums, art centers in their cities. Some are product designers for Apple and other big name companies.
2.FxHash is becoming the premier hub for gen art.
The collectors on Ethereum and Solana have now crossed over to FxHash as well. FxHash is fast becoming the platform of choice for artists because of low gas fees and artists just really dig the low power consumption of the Tezos blockchain.
In most online art galleries, you will see an artwork, and you will buy. In FxHash, you mint. This setup is a win-win for artists, collectors and art dealers.
The artists establish their reputations by having constant sold-outs of their collections because they introduce their pieces at lower prices.
The art collectors have in their instant reach quality artworks.
The art dealers can make money buying and selling artworks.
3.There is money to be earned.
If you're an artist, you can create your art and sell them on FxHash. For art dealers (aka traders), you can buy at really low mint prices and watch the collection's floor price sky rocket. I've seen in one day like mint price was 1 or 2 or 3 XTZ, and after selling out, the secondary market is doing at 10 times or more.
Caveat
Of course, not all collections are selling out or not being scooped by the big collectors. I saw one time this collection because I minted one. It's called Southern Gothic by Willard. I bought at 3 XTZ. I just posted at 99 XTZ, and the next day, a collector bought everything priced below 100 XTZ. But that is because a big-time collector really fancied Southern Gothic. As they say in art, art is priceless, and so collectors won't differentiate from 1 tez to $300 tez, at least on what I have been seeing on the action on FxHash.
Another thing to watch out is copyminters. There had been cases of copyminting, meaning codes were copied. FxHash flags those copymints and suspend them. So if you bought one, probably it's good-bye to your XTZ coins. One way to avoid copyminting is mint only verified artists.
How to Mint?
Have a Tezos wallet. Best is Kukai wallet.
Put Tezos coin on wallet. Tezos tokens are available on all major exchanges.
Go to FxHash site, and then sync Tezos wallet using the Sync button
Click Explore
Choose a collection to mint
It depends on the price you want. Normal is 1 to 5 XTZ. Above 5 is usually a top rated artists' price. There are even 100 XTZ. But for now, best not go into that. When you have the feel of how things are, you will then be able to discern what to mint. Ex. You chose Verse.
Press Mint Iteration button
On the button it will say what price it is, so you won't be lost there.
Approve on your Tezos wallet
Like in Hive, we use the hivesigner or keychain, everything on Tezos won't proceed if not approved on wallet.
Now you own a generative artwork NFT, what do you do with it?
If you're in it for the beauty of the art, you can print and display on your lovely walls. Remember, these artists are renowned. It's currently a trend now among FxHashers to print their favorite collected NFT and tweet about them.
But if you're in it for the money, just list your NFT. You can go to the collection, find your piece, and then press list, and set the price you want to sell it to. To guide you, you can look at the floor price of the collection. The floor price should be at the Marketplace button, which you should see when you click on a particular collection.
Once somebody bought your NFT, proceeds will then go direct to your wallet.
Happy minting!!!
Here are some of the pieces I minted.
One last thing, if it says AI (artificial intelligence) on the description, don't mint it. They usually don't go up in prices. Collectors don't consider AI to be artistic expression, so I think that's why.
Thank you for reading.
***All photos and NFTs are mine.