From the beginning, artists creating digital art thought of single NFTs as images to customize Internet or gaming profiles. With this in mind, the first PFP NFT projects came to light, exploiting a promising market. NFT enthusiasts decided to dive deep into this art, perceiving the creation of PFP projects as a way of manifesting talent, imagination, rarity, a concept, and customization in the virtual world. This article discusses What Is a PFP NFT and its related themes.
What Are PFP NFTs?
This article is a segment of a more extensive piece about NFT basics.
PFP NFTs are NFT Profile Pictures – images you use as avatars in the virtual world, gaming world, or metaverse. Since NFTs exist on Blockchain technology, they have a unique digital identity and work as proof of ownership and exclusivity.
In general, PFP NFTs are 2D single static images designed for working as social media profile images, which is precisely their strong point. Most 2D artwork, part of popular PFP NFT collections, was created by a generative algorithm randomly mixing elements.
Furthermore, these collections regularly have 10,000 pieces of digital artwork and feature a single character that varies from image to image. Besides, these images generally show the face of the character, plus their shoulder and part of their chest. The relevant things of these images are the traits.
Traits may correspond to facial expressions, clothes, background color, accessories, hair color, and more. It depends on the creativity of NFT PFPs creators or artists. These traits define the rarity of the PFP NFTs and their value in the NFT market.
The first PFP NFT project was the CryptoPunks NFT collection. Until today, this NFT collection remains one the most famous PFP NFT collections worldwide. Over time, the popularity of NFT pictures has soared, attracting a growing community of collectors who eagerly seek out PFP NFTs, showcasing them as their profile pictures on various social media platforms like Twitter and Discord.
What Are the Benefits of PFP NFTs?
NFTs for social media profile pictures are massive and widespread for many reasons. The NFT community loves these creations since they remarkably differentiate engaged users from non-engaged ones. Besides, game character NFTs also help to give certain distinctions to gaming profiles. Other benefits include the following:
- You get special community-based rights. With a profile picture NFT as an NFT collector, you get voting rights; then, you have decision power in the project’s progression.
- They provide unique rarity: By default, any NFT is unique. Still, PFP NFTs might give you a higher rarity level since they contain multiple rare traits. They can stand out by their distinguishing features or overall design. Anyway, most profile picture NFTs give a good level of rarity.
- They feature a high level of customization: NFT technology allows you to select between hundreds or thousands of rarities. It means that every PFP project offers many choices with distinctive traits and characteristics.
- Some PFP NFTs come with real-life utilities, merchandise, or virtual services. Often, PFP owners can access the metaverse where the project has its own space or land. In other cases, they can get unique merchandising such as a real-world version of their NFT.
- PFP NFTs give you access to exclusive content: We can’t explain PFP NFTs without mentioning the exclusive content or events you can access when boasting a profile picture asset. This way, PFP NFT holders can add value to them.
- You feel a sense of community: You will be part of a strong community of owners and fans actively participating in primary and secondary marketplaces, Discord, Twitter, and other relevant social media. This way, you feel part of something important, where many people share ideas, feelings, creativity, and more.
What Makes PFP NFTs Different from Other NFTs?
Every NFT project has an avatar, the central feature representing the entire collection. In this sense, PFP NFTs gain significant relevance. Other types of NFTs could mean different things. For instance, other NFTs are backgrounds, scenes, secondary characters, etc.
How Can You Acquire a PFP NFT?
You acquire PFP NFTs similarly as you acquire any other digital collectibles – by going to marketplaces and purchasing directly or participating in an auction. The most famous marketplaces where to buy these art pieces are OpenSea, Rarible or Magic Eden. To do it, you must have at least one of the crypto wallets available on the Internet, such as Metamask. These wallets are built based on the Blockchain industry. To acquire NFTs as digital avatars, you have to deposit cryptos (preferentially Ethereum).
How Can You Create Your Own PFP NFT?
There are multiple ways to create PFP digital collectibles. You can do it directly in specialized software, such as Photoshop or Illustrator, or use a platform created for those purposes. Some of them are Sketchar, Picstar, and NFT Generator.
You can also handcraft images and virtualize them to convert them into PFP NFTs. To do this, you need inspiration and incredible talent.
A third option is to head directly to marketplaces. These platforms have tools that let you easily design and monetize digital assets on the same platform. The steps involved are the following:
- Choose the right platform: Select the platform where you’ll create your art wisely. Make sure it meets your requirements. Some of the best platforms are NFT Art Generator, Fotor, Mintable, and Pixel Chain.
- Design your PFP NFT: It is always better to make multiple sketches before creating a definitive PFP NFT. Brainstorm general ideas and unique traits you want your collections to have. Some advances can create hype between interested people and be great for creative art monetization.
- Mint your PFP NFT: Once finishing your creations, put them in the public sale. This requires you to mint your NFTs, i.e., “uploading” them to the Blockchain using a specific cryptocurrency. Keep in mind that platforms work with their own Blockchain technology. For example, OpenSea supports Ethereum, while Magic Eden supports Solana.
- List your NFT for sale: The digital marketplace you’ve selected will allow you to offer up your PFP NFT at a specific cost. Still, the price of the NFT will depend on the rarity, the collection, the demand, and whether you configure a fixed price or create an Auction.
Some Examples of Good PFP NFTs
Next, we’re showing you some good examples of PFP NFTs projects you can find currently in any NFT marketplace. These are just some examples, but we encourage you to check out our comprehensive list of the Best PFP NFT in the NFT space.
CryptoPunk NFT Project
As we mentioned in the first section of this article, the CryptoPunks project was the cornerstone of the NFT avatar revolution. Its founders, Matt Hall and John Watkinson from Larva Labs, built software to create thousands of unique characters with similar characteristics. When Hall and Watkinson created CryptoPunks, they were giving their NFTs for free. Incredible!
Crypto Punks are characterized by pixel art styles (common to many other NFT projects for profile pictures). Each cryptopunk has a unique combination of traits. Multiple NFTs of this collection have high rarity, ergo, they have a high value.
Cool Cats NFT Project
Like CryptoPunk, Cool Cats NFT project is one of those projects in the NFT industry with 9,999 art pieces. This project features a cool blue cat as a main character of a series of adventures. This generative art project was born as a cartoonish project, and then led to this final product. The project has over 300,000 traits, so the rarity here is exceptional.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)
BAYC NFTs fall behind the CryptoPunk project in repute, but still, its art pieces are some of the most popular among influencers, actors, and other famous people. This creation of Yuga Labs boasts a collection of 10,000 bored apes – digital assets with unique characteristics and distinctive traits.
One of the best aspects of this collection is that it offers exclusive benefits to members, such as the entrance to a VIP area, parties, and other impressive events. Each non-fungible token of this collection boasts popularity on its own. Due to its fame, a derived collection called Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) was the light a couple of years later.
Who Has a PFP NFT Profile Picture?
Multiple celebrities use their profile picture as non-fungible tokens in their social media accounts. Some of them are:
- Jimmy Fallon. He’s the proud owner of Bored Ape #599.
- Reese Witherspoon. She will incorporate the World of Women’s artist work into films and TV series.
- Serena Williams. The famous athlete has posted a Bored Ape NFT on her Twitter account, indicating that she’s the proud owner of this piece of art and one of the celebrities that have joined the club.
- Snoop Dogg. The famous rapper bought the NFT Right Click and Save As Guy for USD$7,088 million. He acquired it from SuperRare.
- Neymar Jr. The soccer superstar bought the Bored Ape Yacht Club #5269 for USD$569,531 and the Bored Ape Yacht Club #6633 for USD$1,05 million.
- Marshmello. The American DJ and producer acquired the Crypto Punk #8274 for USD$504,069 in October 2021.
The Bottom Line
PFP NFTs have revolutionized the way we express ourselves and connect in the virtual world. These NFT profile pictures offer a unique opportunity for artists to showcase their talent, imagination, and creativity while providing collectors with exclusive digital assets.
The benefits of owning a PFP NFT extend beyond aesthetics, as they come with community-based rights, high levels of customization, and access to exclusive content and events.
Popular projects like CryptoPunks, Cool Cats, and Bored Ape Yacht Club have gained immense popularity and even attracted the attention of celebrities and influencers who proudly display their PFP NFT profile pictures.
As the metaverse continues to evolve, PFP NFTs will undoubtedly remain a significant aspect of digital art and personal expression in the virtual realm. So, embrace the world of PFP NFTs and unlock a new dimension of creativity, rarity, and community in the exciting NFT landscape.
