NFT is the talk around the world nowadays. Everything is somewhat connected to this concept of the modern way of presenting art.
NFT artwork is an excellent and exciting idea that many people have been using for multiple reasons. Whether you want to create some unique digital art or something more traditional but want to develop in the digital world – NFTs allow people to make their NFT collection that can be accessed from many different places and profit off.
But, one thing remained that was the issue for most NFT holders. To create NFTs, you’ll need to pay gas fees, get on the Polygon blockchain, or buy Ethereum. NFT creators decided that selling NFTs should be as easy as it is humanly possible, and NFT artworks should not be only for those able to afford to create NFT art but for everyone.
So, they managed to think of a few ways to make an NFT for free. And this is what we’re talking about in this article.
What Is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible token. It is a digital asset deployed on, for example, the Ethereum blockchain and can be transferred between parties and be verified as the original among many copies.
It’s a unique and digital version of a media piece. It means there can be no two same NFT works on the blockchain. There are some issues with that if, for example, someone would mint (we’ll get to the minting process later) an already existing NFT onto the blockchain, but a quick search would make this problem go away. Every NFT has its digital footprint, so if you’re claiming to have the original work, you’ll just need to show who minted it first and who is the original creator.
That way, you’ll be able to know if it’s an original piece in no time.
What Are NFTs Used For?
The most basic idea is that NFT represents digital media you can create. It does not have to be art, although many artists have used NFTs to their advantage, providing them with multiple ways of expressing themselves and simultaneously making money from their passion.
It can go from art to collectibles, and really – whatever you’d like to have as an NFT – you can pretty much create NFT out of anything that is a digital piece of media.
What Are Some NFT Benefits?
NFTs are created on many different blockchain platforms. Most people use Ethereum or Solana as they are one of the safest and most popular ones among creators.
The process of creating NFTs is minting. It means you can deploy your piece of media onto a blockchain, and it gains a special code unique only to this piece of media. It allows you to see the history of said media, the creator, what operations took place when it was created, etc. Also – it stays on the blockchain forever, and it’s public knowledge so that everyone can see it, and it’s very transparent.
Additionally, after you put it on the blockchain, you can quickly transfer it between parties, sell it, give it away, and create an entire collection or even one NFT. Digital tokens are also a great way to earn some royalty percentage from every sale you make.
Let’s get into the process of NFT creation.
What Is Lazy Minting?
To create your own NFT, you’ll need to mint it on a blockchain, as we’ve stated before. Well, to accomplish that, you’d need some cryptocurrency. Minting NFTs means that you deploy a part of digital media onto the blockchain.
Gas Fees
By doing so, there are some fees you’ll need to cover as there is a lot of effort involved in creating such a construct as blockchain. There are miners all around the world that are using their “gas” or electricity to make the most secure blockchain ever created.
And they get their fair share of the profit for that. So, to keep the blockchain running, people must pay to use it to keep it secure. Those would be your “gas fees” that you need to cover if you want to create an NFT.
Free Minting
But – you don’t need to do it. You can choose the “Lazy Minting” or “Free Minting” option available at most marketplaces. What does it mean? Well, it simply puts the pressure of gas fees from you onto the buyer. In other words, the person buying the NFT will also pay for the gas fees, and the NFT will get created “in-moment-of-buying,” as they say.
What are some benefits? Well, it takes the edge off you creating the NFTs as a creator. On the other hand, all those costs are put on the buyer, so it could make your NFTs less compatible and just more expensive than most. Paying gas fees may not be optimal for most creators but it can sometimes save you money. We will go over this problem further in the article.
And, in some cases, you could lower your costs if you’d buy crypto at a low price. Minting-in-time is done with the price-at-the-time. Depending on the currency, those can be up or down by a few to dozen percentage points.
In the end – the decision is yours to make. Let’s now go over the issue of creating an NFT.
How to Create an NFT?
Creating NFTs can be a long, problematic, expensive, or pretty easy journey down the crypto space. Or something in between. The issue is that there are many ways of accomplishing this task, and there is no only version of it that is the best. There are multiple ways to achieve it.
In this article, we’ll mainly talk about the free version, as the title suggests, but we may as well go a little on the topic of NFT creation in general. So, let’s start with the first thing you need to have, and that would be – a crypto wallet.
What is a “Crypto Wallet”?
A Crypto wallet is one of the most crucial things if you want to get into this NFT business. Apart, of course, from your skills as an artist. But – you have to know a few things about it.
First, you don’t store your NFTs in your crypto wallet. Although you can’t have an NFT without it, it’s not the place where your NFT is. A crypto wallet is an identification of a user. If you want to transfer any data units on the blockchain, you need to have a crypto wallet where those data can be traced back.
You can also have cryptocurrency in it to mint your NFTs or receive payments and royalties for your work.
How to Create a Crypto Wallet?
There are plenty of crypto wallet operators, so you need to pick up what suits you best; whether it’s a Metamask wallet or Coinbase, it’s really up to you.
Creating a wallet is pretty much like your every-user account. Keep your password safe, preferably not on your electronic devices, as hackers can attack those. After that, you’ll have to create an account on one of the marketplaces.
NFT Marketplace Account
Now that you have your cryptocurrency wallet, it’s time to get into some marketplaces. Creating an account is pretty simple, just like in the case of any digital asset. You will be asked to connect your crypto wallet to this account.
Here are some of the best marketplaces that will allow you free NFT creation. Keep in mind that all the details are up to date of writing this article, and the crypto space is pretty dynamic, so it could change a bit, although – it should be more-or-less similar.
Rarible
Rarible is ne of the biggest NFTs and most respectable marketplaces you can find. It’s mainly used for photographs, but there are some art elements to it as well. It supports Ethereum, Flow, Solana, Tezos, Polygon, and Immutable X.
If you want to sell NFTs, you can do it one by one or just go ahead and sell your entire collection. Because Rarible uses Tezos, minting fees are pretty low, and with the lazy minting option, it can go down to zero as you don’t have to pay gas fees.
OpenSea
What Is Lazy Minting?
So, let’s head out to the open seas with – OpenSea, another big player for all your virtual needs. Whether it’s audio, video, pictures, art, collectibles, or anything you want – you can get it at OpenSea.
Many blockchains are supported at OpenSea, the most famous being Ethereum and Polygon. Most transactions are done with Ethereum, so it’s a bit pricey.
They do have a free minting option, so if you want to use that, you can go ahead and pick the lazy minting when adding your “potential” NFTs to the marketplace.
There’s one thing you need to know, though. There is a 2,5% fee for all transactions on the platform so keep that in mind while picking the marketplace. It’s not like we don’t recommend this one; it is the largest NFT marketplace, but you have to know that it has some limitations.
Binance NFT
This one is a sub-section of the whole Binance world, one of the biggest crypto exchanges on the market, so if you need something up there with the big guys – Binance NFT is your place to go.
The transaction fee is 1% for each, so it’s not destructive, and you can always cash out your currency. It’s easy, relaxed, and filled with many options to try.
Additionally, if you own some Binance tokens, the whole process is much easier as it gets more support from the website, and you can be a part of the Binance community if it’s something you’re up for. It also supports Ethereum, so it’s pretty accessible for sure.
To mint your first NFT, you’ll need…no money. The first ten are free. Every 11th costs 0.005 BNB, or you can opt for the lazy minting and opt out of the gas fee.
Nifty Gateway
If you want to go big – Nifty Gateway is the place to go. You may think it’s not as big as the other players, but you’d be wrong. Nifty Gateway was where the largest NFT sales in history occurred. Millions of dollars are being pushed through this service daily with some great results.
But, as the premium stuff goes, you need some kind of portfolio or some premium content to get through the competition, as it is fierce and talented!
It’s also a fantastic place if you want to create a collection. It allows an “open editions” feature that no other platform allows – an unlimited number of versions of your piece at a fixed price. The same happened with the Bored Apes, with thousands upon thousands of copies.
Of course, it’s time-limited, but it drives sales and allows you additional exposure.
Also – there is no minting fee for transactions on the platform. You may ask – but what are the other transactions? Well, you can get your NFTs from different places at Nifty Gateway. There are OpenSea listings and many others to get your digital assets from multiple locations.
Create Art
You can mint NFTs all day long, but if you have nothing to show for it, it’s only for the show.
So, to do so, get into sketching, creating music, and getting creative in various ways. Think about what is popular, what you can comment on, or something from your personal life. The possibilities are endless!
Every NFT created is a gift from you to humanity on various topics, so make the best out of it.
The best thing about it is that there is a place where you can go ahead and express yourself with no limitations, and you can count on some money from it.
No more big galleries with problematic curators, no more getting rejected by editors – the world is democratized, and you are the person in charge of it, so get the most out of it while you can!
Upload Your Art
So, after the crazy creation time, it’s time to upload your piece to one of the many marketplaces we’ve mentioned before.
The process is simple, and the site will guide you through it, so there is no worry.
The one thing to keep in mind is that you should probably get the best version of it possible. You don’t want to put out a picture that is only a resized version of your work or something unfinished. Remember, even if you don’t pay the price of minting, it’s a price that someone has to pay. It could be your client, for example, and not getting it right and having to mint over and over again the same file in different formats – it could be a nightmare!
If you have it, choose the blockchain you want to use. There will be some kind of choice depending on what type of marketplace you are using. And you’re ready to go!
Now Your NFT is Minted
And here you have it, a minted NFT for all your NFT needs. Now you can put it out, sell it, give it away or do whatever you want. There are multiple people just waiting for new opportunities, searching NFT marketplaces to find the one, the only piece to get for their collections or buy as an investment.
Of course, our job here is far from gone; you can always help your case with some good, old…
Marketing
That is right; you can’t sell something people don’t even know about. And that is why you should get into marketing as soon as possible. Create an account on a social media platform and spread the word!
Tell the people what they are missing by not investing in your product. The most important one is a Twitter account. People from the crypto space tend to prefer this type of conversation.
But, if you have any following on any media platform, you can also try it there. So many exciting individuals are looking for great opportunities, and you can provide them with such.
If you have an art piece, be sure to also put it out for some contests locally or globally. Those awarded NFTs are always a treat and can get many potential customers. Do not miss out on any opportunity; you’ll never know how many you will get!
Smart Contracts
And, finally, let’s talk briefly about smart contracts. As you know, there are many ways and places where you can sell your NFTs, but one thing remains the same – it’s all about getting it out there.
And after that – it’s all about getting it the right way. We can’t, of course, give you a whole lecture on how to create a smart contract, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
First – it’s all about the money, so ensure you are secure in the transaction.
Second, include the royalties from every secondary sale of your piece. It’s essential as it can get you some passive income in the future, and if your art piece goes viral, it’s a hefty sum of money at some point.
Thirdly, be sure to include the point of being the original artist that created the piece. Many people are trying to create counterfeit art, and it’s good to have it in writing to show it to the people and link it to your social media accounts, for example.
How to Make an NFT for Free – Conclusion
As you can see, creating NFTs is an exciting process during which you can accomplish a lot. NFT space feels a little alien to most people at first glance, but after you get acquainted with it, it turns out to be a fun little experience that you should not skip.
There are many ways of getting your stuff out there, and with free minting – it’s unwise not to use this method to your advantage.
We’re always happy to bring out some solutions for aspiring artists, and it’s no different in this case. NFTs are a great way of democratizing the posh art markets so that people can participate in this world without resorting to some exclusive club where if you don’t understand something, you’re ignorant of this kind of art.
With the democratization of art in the form of NFTs, everyone can enjoy what they like and how they like it without fearing discrimination. Crypto space allowed people to freely express themselves and participate in parts of society that were unavailable to them previously. And that is why we should all be grateful for it.
Also, thanks so much for reading; we appreciate your taking the time to check our articles. We put a lot of effort into it, so let us know if you liked it or have any questions. We’ll see you at the next one! Stay safe!
