An Interview with CREEK, Creator of CryptoMoonies
This WAX-stronaut talks about the origins of his iconic Moonies, the community that has built up around them, and where they could be headed next… as well as meme NFTs, the dreaded Cones, and “uTiLiTy”.
MAY 28, 2021. INTERVIEWS. WRITTEN BY HYDRO.
The phrase ‘TO THE MOON!’ is thrown around a lot in the crypto space, but sadly, many of these cryptocurrencies lack what’s needed to make it there. Like arms, and legs… and a spacesuit. In the CryptoMoonies however, CREEK has created the first characters who have made it their mission to get there – and they’re already well on their way.
Inspired by the leading cryptocurrencies of the day, the CryptoMoonies are a collection of lunar travellers aiming to land on that big grey rock in the sky. With the help of a few Sharks, a number of Whales, and a whole lot of Punks, these cosmic crusaders will stop at nothing to get there – and then spread across the galaxy!
I first came across CREEK prior to CryptoMoonie #001, and have watched his popularity explode since – and its no wonder. Producing some of the highest-quality NFTs on WAX will certainly turn heads, and CREEK has done so time and time again over the past few months.
Stick around to the end of the interview for our CREEK interview card and a very eccentric Moonie!
Hydro: Could you tell me a bit about yourself, your background and how you got into NFTs?
CREEK: I’m a graphic designer from the US. I’m a fairly private individual, and like to somewhat maintain my anonymity, but that definitely doesn’t mean I’m not personable. I’ve made a ton of friends in this space in a relatively short span of time!
What is the idea behind CryptoMoonies? Why did you decide to go for a space theme with your NFTs?
The idea came from when I started working on my “To the Moon” card when I began working on my collection. I thought it would be cute to have a little astronaut inside the rocket, and started to model it. Early in the process, I started thinking; “This kind of looks like a toy…”, and continued to flesh out the idea. I had seen some of the work that Trym Ruud was doing in the Ethereum space with Rude Boys and thought it would be cool to bring something like that to WAX.
My son definitely played a role in the inspiration as well. He is autistic, and one of his obsessions is Funko Pops. We have dozens of them, and so I thought it would be cool to make something that he would want to play with if it were ever made into a physical toy.
I can certainly see the Trym Ruud influence, and its endearing to hear that your son was a source of inspiration for the Moonies. You touched on bringing this concept to WAX – what brought you to WAX in the first place? Why did you choose WAX over the number of other platforms out there?
I’m fairly long into Nano, and because of that, I’m also into Banano, because who doesn’t love a good meme coin? I made a Banano card design and showed it off on Reddit, which got the attention of BeardlessDuck – one of the Banano guys. He pitched WAX to me and informed me it was how they were doing CryptomonKeys. I was intrigued at how affordable it was compared to Ethereum, and since my designs are very collector-focused, I decided to go for it. Once I sold a piece within 10 minutes of posting it, I knew I made a good call.
As of this evening, we’ve now met 8 official CryptoMoonies – how many do you have planned?
Officially, I have 10 planned, but I am doing these in generations of five. There are sooo many Cryptos on the market that I could probably do these for the next decade and still not run out of ideas for the main series! I am starting to get a bit more into Collab and One-Shot work which does not require the theme to be tied to anything specific. My plan is to continue making Moonies and other related NFTs as long as there are people willing to buy them.
As far as I recall, you were one of the first creators to mint membership cards that gave holders exclusive perks, with your Shark and Whale Cards. Since then, you’ve created Moonie Punks, as well as a whole host of other utility cards. Could you tell us a bit about how your utility cards and Moonie Punks came about?
Moonie Punk was a complete throwaway joke that I did to throw some shade on a number of “Punk” projects that were coming into the scene at the time. It seemed like every day someone was dropping a new punk collection, to the point that we were borderline reaching meme status. I figured it would be a great teaser for Commander Satoshi, so thought, “What the hell?”. About a week later, I started getting the; “Wen next Moonie Punk?”, questions from my community, so decided to run with it. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when I learned about Nefty and their blending platform that I decided to do the Moonie Punk blends, which is where people could collect 20 of the pixel art images and blend them into a figurine.
The access cards were an idea I had early on. I really wanted a way to reward people who managed to get in early on the project.
You have quite possibly the best Discord community in WAX! What’s your secret?
LOL! Honestly, while I would like to take credit for the Discord, the community sort of grew into what it is organically. I think one thing that helped early on is that we took a hard line approach on some of the more annoying elements to the WAX community. Things like dropping WAMs randomly in the chat, begging to be whitelisted, demanding “uTiLiTy” for every single thing that exists within the collection are frowned upon. We started the Cone of Shame channel to deal with those types of people to give them a moment to slow down, and take a moment to breathe before coming back into the chat.
Many of these awesome moderation tools were developed by my friend stuckatsixpm, and my server was sort of used as a testing ground for these things. I also have an absolutely fantastic moderation team that do a great job at keeping order when it is needed. We also actively encourage being wholesome, and while a few assholes have made it in, they tend to not last long.
Lastly, I actually get in and engage with the community on a daily basis. I listen to feedback, and do whatever I can to address concerns people are having. Ultimately though, we just try to keep it fun, and not take things too seriously. Occasionally, we have to crack a whip when things get out of hand, but for the most part, we just let the community do its thing.
Who are your favourite artists at the moment? Is there a particular NFT collection that has piqued your interest?
It’s a bit cliché, but within the NFT scene in general, it has to be Beeple. I’ve been following his work for years, and his success in this space is legendary. For WAX, I’ve only been exposed to a few projects, mostly by way of mutual connections, or artists reaching out to me directly. I tend to mostly follow creators that are directly engaging with my community, like stuckatsixpm, PuftCreative, and Square Rooted, whom are an Admin and Mods in my Discord server respectively. I’ve also started following ConsonantDesign, since they are doing something similar to what I am doing. I’ve actually spoken with them directly to gush about how beautiful their work is. We’re in early talks about doing something together soon.
Beeple is certainly the mainstream figurehead for the NFT space. You’ve done a fair number of collaborations thus far – is there anyone you’d particular like to work with in future?
There are not many creators I think I would turn down a collab with. Unfortunately, the amount of work that I’m doing keeps me pretty busy, so the bandwidth I have to do collabs is a bit limited, which puts me into a position where I have to prioritize one over the other. I will say that if there is anyone wanting to collab, the best way to get in touch with me is to come and engage with my Discord community. I spend much of my time over there, so it’s a great way to bring attention to an idea.
Where do you see your work 12 months from now?
As soon as Nefty gets pre-minting up and running, I am planning on launching a line of Moonie Trading Card packs. I also have something else that I REALLY want to do, but I plan on keeping that a secret for now – I think it would be incredibly cool though! I also have been mocking up a separate figure altogether that ties into the main lineup. I don’t want to spoil it, but the Moonies could use some companions to help them on their mission…
What about WAX? Where do you think WAX will be a year from now?
I think it’s going to depend on a couple of factors. If the Crypto Bull gets a breath of life, and it continues for the next several months, it could potentially blow up big time. With a huge player like Funko coming to WAX, it opens the door for so many new people to easily enter the space. I’m not an analyst or anything, so no one should listen to me insofar as price predictions or financial advice, but I could easily see WAX reaching parity with the USD within a year or so if it becomes easier to acquire.
Quick-fire question time!
Tea, coffee, or something else?
Depends on the day. I’m from the South, and sweet tea is a favorite amongst my people. LOL. I’ve been drinking a TON of coffee lately while working on CryptoMoonies though.
Summer or winter? Why?
Winter, on account that I HATE being hot.
Crypto or fiat?
Crypto!
One unusual fact about you?
I’ve never once broken a bone.
You can invite three people, dead or alive, to dinner. Who do you choose?
Alfonso Cuaron because he is one of my favourite directors. Kevin Smith because that guy knows how to carry on a conversation, and he’s a massive nerd like me. Robin Williams, because who wouldn’t want to share a meal with that wonderful human.
How can we follow you and your work?
Through speaking to CREEK regularly and dropping into his Discord every now and again, it’s clear why he is one of the leading independent artists on WAX. His NFTs are incredible, he’s as wholesome as can be, and his community is simply a joy to be a part of. Don’t sleep on CREEK – without a shadow of a doubt, him and his Moonies will take the galaxy by storm!
To mark the occasion, we have three NFTs available. Two of these are our CREEK Interview Card, and a special spiky-haired Moonie! The third, you’ll have to find somewhere on this page…
The Chief of the Cryptonauts
Collection: nftinsiderio
Max mint: 300 (1 auction, 239 public, 30 for promo holders, 30 for OG Backers)
Drop price: 25 WAX
Dropping 29/05 22:00 UTC (public), 22:05 UTC (OG), 22:10 UTC (promo)
Drop link: Check our Twitter or Discord!
50% of the proceeds will be donated to CREEK to help fund his art!
Moonie Timmy
Collection: cryptomoonie
Max mint: 195 (1 auction, 100 public, 30 for promo holders, 30 for OG Backers, 10 for Whales & Megs, 25 for Sharks & Chums)
Drop price: 50 WAX
Dropping 29/05 22:30 UTC (public), 22:40 UTC (OG), 22:50 UTC (promo)
Pssst… grab yourself a Timmy Moonie Punk here!