NFTs: A Digital Artist’s Tool for Exclusivity

NFTs, or verifiable digital codes used to signify ownership, are one of a kind. Therefore, anything that they are attached to becomes one of a kind. I first learned about NFTs in a digital art course last semester.

As described by Forbes Advisor, they are “digital asset[s]” that represent ownership of physical or digital items.

Although they have been around since 2014, they’ve drastically grown in popularity this year. At first, I really didn’t understand the point of NFTs, since anyone can just screenshot an image or download it in high definition.

All of the information in each of those pixels would be the same!

But then, who truly owns the artwork? Is it the creator? But, if a mere download or screenshot is all it takes to possess the work, then couldn’t anyone be the “owner?"

Non-FUN-gible

That’s where NFTs come in- or rather, non-fungible tokens. “Non-fungible” means they cannot be traded because they aren’t of equal value to each other, unlike dollar bills which can be equal to each other in certain amounts (ie: “fungible”).

People purchase these with cryptocurrency for, basically, bragging rights. There can be ten people in a room with a screenshot of a digital drawing, but that eleventh person with the NFT is the one true owner – just like someone who bought an original canvas painting from a fine artist.

Everydays: The First 5000 Days by digital artist/designer, Beeple sold for $69 million in March 2021

Okay, Digital Artists.. What does this mean for us?

NFTs are especially beneficial to digital artists for monetary purposes. I've learned that NFTs can be used for various items, such as gifs, videos, collectibles, video game purchases, shoes, music, and even tweets if you can believe it.

The majority of these items live solely online, which makes them perfect candidates for an NFT. Digital creators can now really sell their original work in the traditional way with this nontraditional exclusive digital stamp.

There are a few kinks that need to be worked out since NFTs are still relatively new. Forbes recommended to invest only a little right now to test the waters. NFTs can drop in value and be difficult to resell for a desired price. Also, any work can be stolen and sold as and NFT even if it isn’t the real thing.

Hopefully, in the future, the purchase of NFTs by the general public will be less of a spectacle and more common practice. The negatives will be addressed and NFTs will become a standard way for creators to legitimately sell their digital work.