Creating Midnight: The Process Behind the World of Cryptopups
Apple, creator of the?World of Cryptopups, takes us through the design process for one of his pups, Midnight!
*Bag of chips rustling*… Are we rolling?
Hi, I?m Apple! Mayor of puptown, CEO of the World of Cryptopups, and Rusty?s punching bag. I am here to preach the greatness of man?s best friend – dogs.
In all seriousness, I make NFTs. The World of Cryptopups collection is a digital puppy card collectible with overwhelming cuteness! We got card rarities, blends, events, treats, stickers, games, and anything you can imagine.?
Keep those eyes open as I show you how the cuteness begins. Oh, and can you pass me my bag of chips, please?
1. Stare at dog pics
Voila! Feast your eyes upon the cuteness overload that is dogs!?Ah, don?t you just love dogs? Life just wouldn?t be perfect without them.
What?s that? You?re not a dog person? *takes out a gun*?
Oh, haha, for a second there, I thought you said you didn?t like dogs. Anyway, onto the next step.
2. Line art?
With the dog knowledge I?ve digested, I proceed to create the line art? outline? sketch? you can call it whatever!?
Why does it look so clean for a sketch? Well, my pups are made from vectors.?
What?s a vector? A vector is basically a – umm? A vector is? So, I use Adobe Illustrator to make these adorable pups. I usually start with manipulating basic shapes like circles and then proceed to create more abstract shapes using the brush or pen tool. The next step might shock you!
3. It?s digital art; why do you have a paintbrush?
With the power of digital art these days, all you gotta do is blink once, and your art is coloured!
Wait, did you seriously believe that? There is no magic colouring device!
Since I use vectors, I don?t manually apply colour to the sketches with a brush. Instead, I use my favourite tool, the shape builder! It?s like cutting out decals to put on your car, except there?s no car; it?s pups. It basically slices the object so you can make any shape you desire!
Okay, scroll down – there?s more!
4. Shadows, spice, and everything nice!
Now we?re adding some ?Oomph? to our puppy friend, but how do we do that? By adding shadows, of course!
Once again, I use the shape builder tool to make shadows. I follow the same process of making the initial shape and cutting out the parts I don?t need.
You may have noticed that something looks different, and I would agree. A wise cat once told me, ?Maybe add some tapering to the line art?, and that?s what I did.
I go in and edit the line art a bit to add some tapering to the edges where I want it to look connected to the original shape. For example, the head to the body, the ears to the head, and the legs to the torso. No more boring details! Next step!
5. Cryptopup, I choose you!
These cards are extremely valuable. They were forged in the fires of puptown, carefully crafted by the top pupsmiths, and polished by the great pups.?
Obtaining them is not a simple task. First, I open my Adobe Illustrator card template files. Next, I carefully hit ctrl+c and then ctrl+v. Finally, I position the pup with incredible precision into the middle of the card, and there you have it, perfection.
6. Hi, I?m Midnight!
Every pup has its own personality, and is not just a blank piece of vector art. At the end of the designing process, I name each pup and create a story for each of them, which you guys can see when they’re minted on the blockchain. Every puppy card and pupskin NFT has a description attribute value where I place the story for everyone to read!
The World of Cryptopups is not just an NFT collection, but also the home of all these unique pups living with their cat friends, panda friends, and maybe even more friends in the future!
And there you have it! That?s how pups are made! I mean, not in real life.?
Being the only animal NFT creator in this space that uses vector sure is tough. I get asked for ?wen drawing session? sometimes, and I?m like, ?I don?t draw.?
What?s that? I?m not the only animal NFT creator that uses vectors in this space? Catstickorss? Yeah, no, I heard they use MSPaint. Very skilled.
Thank you for making it this far, and thank you to everyone who has been with us on our puppy journey! You are what makes puptown the coziest place in the world!?
Now, excuse me, I need to feed my cats.
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Blockchain evangelist. Content creator & graphic design hobbyist. Loves gaming!