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You’ve probably heard of NFTs before if you’re from this planet, but what about NFT artists?

The main goal of this article is to connect you with the top NFT artists that started the NFT movements.

We’ll talk about the origin of NFTs, popular NFT artists, and the first NFT that was ever created.

Sales (7d): 10,002,425,430,556,928
Volume (7d): $1,457,472,521
Volume (Total): $2,234,111,861

Data of old NFT projects are currently not updated due to some technical issues.We are still listing new NFT projects as we work on reactivating updates for older projects!

NFT Pioneers have over thirty years experience in sourcing , collaborating , advising Musicians , Artists , and Sports Talents , We bridge the connection between talent and buyer to help deliver incredible NFT Collections to Global Markets through Unique NFT’s.

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Approx. Total Winnings:

: 2019-??-??: 2022-09-17

Pioneers (formerly stylized as Kansas City Pioneers) is an American esports organization based in Kansas City which fields teams in Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six: Siege, Rocket League, Splitgate and VALORANT.

Legia Warsaw, the most successful club in Polish football history, has joined the NFT revolution.

“For us, it is once again a pioneering step in our commercial development and as we explore and commit to new areas of modern business,” says Paweł Kokosza, Legia Warsaw’s Commercial Director.

The NFT collections that started the NFT movement

NFT collections are groups of NFT characters with various different meanings and qualities. The first NFT collections are mostly cards depicting a different version of the same characters, no two NFTs in a collection are ever the same.

Below are the lists of early NFT art collections that started the NFT movement.

The CryptoPunks NFT Collections (2017)

The alpha and omega of the CyptoArt movement- Noah Davis

CryptoPunks is one of the top NFT projects that inspired the modern CryptoArt movement. It was launched in June 2017 by two Canadian software developers Matt Hall and John Watkinson at the Larva Labs studio.

As of 2022, a single CryptoPunks is valued at around $350,000 to $500,000 based on its uniqueness. There will only ever be 10,000 CryptoPunks.

The CryptoKitties NFT Collections (2017)

The future is meow. -CryptoKitties

The most expensive CryptoKitties is «Dragon,» which is worth $1,732,776.00 (600 ETH) as of 2022.

I love pets. My kitten’s name was Lita.

The Ether Rock NFT Collections (2017)

The CryptoCards NFT Collections (2018)

CryptoCards is a 64 item cards collection chronicling important dates in the history of Bitcoin from Jan 2009 to Oct 2017. The NFT artwork is one of the early top NFT collections released dating back to January 7, 2018.

Each CryptoCards contains a date, an illustration, and a short description of a significant past event in Bitcoin’s early history.

Become a Pioneer and earn rewards!We are looking for Pioneers who want to run an innovative gaming ecosystem with us. Is that YOU? Become a Pioneer and enjoy exclusive benefits and perks.How to buy Pioneer NFT

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Maximize Your Rewards

actual ISK rewards calculations may vary depending on the total pNFTs sold, staked and owned, as well as the time of purchase and staking.

What are the benefits?

As a Pioneer, you will continuously earn rewards. 40% of the total supply of ISK, our native token, will be distributed to Pioneer NFT holders along with other benefits.

How can I become a Pioneer?

Get started in 2 simple steps:

The clock is ticking down on our staking program! There’re 40,000 Pioneer NFTs in total, with only 26,000 units left for sale.

Africa’s NFT pioneers

Across the African continent, artists are using non-fungible tokens to reimagine what art can be.

— Source:
CNN

Zimbabwe’s electric revolution

Kigali’s inspiring skyline

The innovators designing ‘smart’ solutions in East Africa

The women behind West Africa’s tech boom

Haute stuff: The chefs transforming African fine dining

Seeing opportunity in Nigeria’s fitness boom

Energy innovators in West and East Africa

The pioneers revolutionizing education in Uganda

Nigeria’s pioneering thespians

Grooming the next generation of storytellers and content creators across Africa

The Drakensberg Boys Choir School: One of its kind in Africa

Surf’s up in Robertsport, Liberia

Trailblazing women taking the lead

Go behind the scenes of South African winemaking

An exploration of African wanderlust

Designed in Africa

These artists are vying for one of Africa’s most lucrative art prizes

Explore the Liberia of today

Health care innovations transforming the continent

The renaissance of African surf culture in Mozambique

The East African Safari Classic: Kenya’s ultimate endurance rally

Meet Sierra Leone’s clean, green, climate change-fighting machines

The Nigerian musical artists charting their own path to success

Made in Africa: These African designers are tailormade for the global stage

South Africa’s trendsetters in the BMX scene

How the ‘Sport of Kings’ is gaining popularity in Africa

These award-winning innovators are tackling Africa’s health care challenges

Amapiano: The new sound of South Africa

How these athletes overcame adversity and achieved greatness

South Africa’s coastlines are a biodiversity hotspot

First cross-chain project merges individual art styles creating remarkable assets for the future card owners PALO ALTO — April 1st, 2021The card set will sell in two waves at 9am PT and 9pm PT on April 6th 2021.

April 27, 2022Global design firm Populous and multidiscipline esports organization Kansas City Pioneers have partnered to introduce The Arena, a five-part NFT collection with world-class digital art that allows the viewer to join a fan community on a journey through a prototypical future esports experience.Designed for a global audience, the collection also provides a glimpse into the future of gaming in Kansas City. Authentic Kansas City imagery coupled with the Pioneers’ brand gives fans a connection to the Midwest spirit and fandom around the world.“We couldn’t be more excited to launch our first-ever NFT collection, The Arena,” said Mark Josey, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of the Kansas City Pioneers. “Partnering with Populous, a global design firm who connects people to places in powerful, transformative ways, was instrumental in helping bring that exact vision in esport and gaming to life. As leaders of the next generation of consumers, we know that we must meet our fans and communities where they are today and in the future. This incredible collection will do just that in providing access to authentic, personalized experiences, and build connections to a community here and beyond.”

Fine art and AI bring to life dozens of pioneers in a stunning Pionauts NFT collection

The Pionauts NFT Collection features  150 of the world’s most well-known historical pioneers created by a combination of brilliant AI minds and talented artists from more than nine countries.

In creating them, the Pionauts team reimagined the NFT space by fusing digital art and advanced AI technology to tell a new story.

The Pionauts is a rare NFT collection that juxtaposes art and historical figures, bringing them into the modern age, and launching the resultant images into the future as pioneering astronauts — hence the title of the collection.

The Pionauts takes those who choose to collect them on a journey from the past through to the future in an unprecedented opportunity to hold these rare collectibles that come with ongoing royalties from future comics, games, brand partnerships, educational programs and movies. All these medium and long-term projects are already in the exploration stages.

Applying Deep Learning technology and months of manual retouching, a collection of 8,500 unique variations has been created with modified characteristics such as age, facial features and expressions. The team then gave the Pionauts natural movement on MP4s.

Pionaut collectors get access to a free JPG of their NFT to print out as posters. They come in a very high resolution of 3000×3000 pixels.

The dozens of pioneers brought back to life include William Shakespeare, Nefertiti, Napoleon, Aristotle, Charles Darwin, Joan de Arc, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Albert Einstein, Vincent van Gogh, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart, and Nelson Mandela.

In consultation with the growing community, the Pionauts team decided to create 50% male and 50% female pioneers.

The Pionauts collection is digital art created for the collector to emotionally connect with the digitally altered pioneers. The goal is to make collectors feel like they know the Pionaut and to feel that the historical figure is looking back at them even as they contemplate this exceptional art form.

The team took the pioneers and transformed them into Pionauts, reimagining the future of NFT art and bridging the past to the future via AI.

The convergence of art and technology

The evolution of art has gone through several phases and stages and the application of technology is part of that evolution. However, very few artists are pushing the boundaries and creating art using new technology applications, such as AI.

The Pionauts stand out from an industry of digital art and NFTs, currently one of the fastest-growing digital asset classes.

Pionauts are among very few recreated using authentic imagery fused with technology. The majority of the contemporary digital art created is flat, pixelated, cartoon-based, or computer-generated. There has been little to no innovation.

An opportunity exists to deliver a narrative that pushes the boundaries of what art is, what art can physically do and what forms it can take.

That is what a team of two of the top-five AI professionals and artists set out to do several months ago.

The team behind Pionauts were able to take the pioneers and map them out to create lifelike modern-day people. They merged two different historical figures to see what they would look like via our technology.

Modifying the pioneers’ genes

The creators of Pionauts also modified the «genes» of their selected group of historic pioneers converting their age, facial features, and facial expressions.

“This is what William Shakespeare would look like if he had been younger or older. Our advanced ways of working allow us to create hi-res digital art that is so lifelike that if you were to zoom in on the painting background, you are able to see the ‘brush strokes’ as if painted by hand, and if you zoom in on the pioneer’s skin, you can see his skin texture and even his detailed pores,” says Pionauts CEO — Johan Van Asperen Vervennea.

Digital NFT art has evolved, but technology has not been used to the degree that it could change the space. The Pionaut project is also pioneering in pushing how people see and experience digital NFT art. Art can be so many things.

This is very difficult with NON-NFT artwork.

Artwork History Tracking

Apart from being unique, NFTs can also be used to track the history of an artwork, such as the original artist name, the manufactured date, the bid price, the last buyer, when and how the transaction was made, including the information of the current owner of the artwork.

Credibility

NFT artists will permanently have credit for their artwork even after putting their artwork for sale on the NFT marketplace such as OpenSea and Rarible. The original NFT creator is entitled to a royalty revenue commission on future sales of the NFT they created, meaning, they keep earning $$ each time their artwork is being resold.

NFTs are Authentic

You might wonder, are artists doing this already? Or who will buy a music NFT that can be downloaded for free on the internet? Let me burst your bubble, VÉRITÉ, an American independent musician sold 2.3% of her master recording (single), titled «BY NOW» for $30,226.04 USD in April 2021. The same Music NFT is now worth $703,442.44 USD in 2022. You can check it out on zora

Becoming an NFT Artist

To become an NFT artist, you don’t need to know how to build a DApp or know how to code at all. You can just put your artwork for sale on any NFT market place such as OpenSeas and Rarible. You will be required to provide proof of ownership, and wait till artworks are approved for sale as NFT.

What was the first NFT ever created?

Generate of artwork -Kelvin McCoy

NFTs have been around for years, dating back to May 3, 2014. The first NFT is named «Quantum,» and was originally minted (created) by Kevin McCoy. This was way before the word NFT was coined and exploded into the mainstream.

«Quantum,» the first NFT art ever created, is a code-driven pixelated octagon animation that changes color like a terrified octopus. It was valued and sold for $1.4 million on the 28th of November 2021.

What is an NFT?

NFT stands for non-fungible tokens. They’re a form of digital assets, such as music collection, artwork, event tickets, landed properties, soft copies of your birth certificates, etc. Anything can be turned into an NFT. You can check out my Hashnode award NFTs here.

Key Takeaways

As promised, below are some popular NFT artists.

Mike Winkelmann

“I DO VIEW THIS AS THE NEXT CHAPTER OF ART HISTORY.” -Beeple

Mike Winkelmann popularly known by his professional name Beeple, is an American digital artist. He is one of the first NFT artists to ever sell the most expensive NFTs, worth 70 million dollars. The digital artwork is titled, «Everydays’: the First 5,000 Days», and features a collage of 5,000 digital images created by Beeple himself for his Everyday start to finish series.

The first 5,000 days of making digital images is a 13-year project. Beeples’ NFT projects now include «Beeple’s HUMAN ONE» and the «CROSSROAD». Beeple’s artworks have brought him to the top three most valuable living artists in the world.

Pak is credited with introducing Beeple to NFTs. — Wikipedia

According to Sotheby’s, an American fine art broker, Pak is an artist at the forefront of digital art and crypto media. An anonymous creator. Pak has been active in the world of digital art for over two decades, leveraging evolving technology to create boundary-pushing artwork. The individual NFTs are A Cube (1), Five Cubes (5), Ten Cubes (10), Twenty Cubes (20), Fifty Cubes (50), Hundred Cubes (100), Five Hundred Cubes (500), and Thousand Cubes (1,000).

Pak is referred to as «The Satoshi of crypto art» because of his anonymity just like Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.

Pak is best known for his work with non-fungible tokens. His highest-selling NFT, and the most expensive in the history of NFT «Merge», generated $91.8 million in sales in December 2021. While still anonymous, Pak’s NFTs have been sold on platforms including Sotheby’s, Nifty Gateway, MakersPlace, SuperRare, and Async Art.

NFT from an exploding building

VHILS is a unique street graffiti artist from Portugal. His real name is Alexandre Farto, and has a great desire to paint on building walls. His tools include chisels, hammers, drills, etching acid, bleach, explosives, basically anything that will leave a mark on a wall. He unveiled his Street NFT titled, «Rupture» in 2021 with a blast. He’s also putting the 2-second recording of the blast of a portrait to a wall, and the digital rendering of the explosion for sale as an NFT.

The blast was recorded with a slow-motion camera technology at 2000 frames per second. VHILS has sold a total of 1,346 NFT artworks on cryptoart, including debris from the building explosion, all valued at $1,454,636.95 (511.422 ETH).

Woman in NFT

What a man can do, a woman can do much better. Alexa Meade is an American artist popularly known for her body painting skill. Her artwork involves painting portraits directly on the human body and three-dimensional spaces creating the illusion that our reality is a two-dimensional painting when photographed.

Alexa jumped into the world of NFTs by turning her body painting videos into NFTs and putting them for sale on Nifty Gateway. You can watch one of her popular NFT videos (Reality Melting) below.

Cool! Isn’t it? You just watched an NFT.

The artist behind your favorite childhood comics -Binance

José Delbo is an award-winning Argentinian artist popularly known for his work on Wonder Woman, Batman, Transformers, The Beatles Yellow Submarine comic book, and much more.

Like grandpa like grandson

Below are some of José Delbo NFT artwork.

What is Blockchain?

NFTs, being a non-fungible token, means they can’t be exchanged for anything else. This is because each NFT is unique; they are identified by their unique hashes.

Say you have 10 cents, your 10 cents can be exchanged for 1 euro because 10 cents are always equivalent to a euro. This is not the same with NFTs. When you own an NFT, it’s never equivalent to any other similar copies or other NFTs.

Fungible entities are assets such as money that can be exchanged for another asset at the same value. Fungible entities hold value. While non-fungible tokens are unique. They hold data instead.

What are NFTs?

NFTs are a unique digital asset that can be purchased, sold and collected — this can include images and videos, and much more.

Top videos

With a record sale of artist Beeple last year the profile of NFTs was raised and increasingly celebrities are getting in on the act with Quentin Tarantino, Grimes and William Shatner all launching their own NFT products,

It is hoped that when it comes to sports, NFTs will allow fans to get closer to their favourite clubs, providing a brand-new way for players and stars to engage with their fans.

“Legia has recognised the need for a long-term, well thought-out NFT strategy to build an engaged community of passionate football fans,” says CEO Tim Magnall.

“We’ll now get working on NFTs that mark and represent some of the most iconic players and moments in the club’s history, as well as ensuring that Legia NFTs have utility to its fans — that these NFTs help them get closer to their club,” says Magnall.

“This should be a watershed moment in European football.”

Who is an NFT Artist?

Popular NFTs artists are creative and dedicated. They use technologies such as Photoshop, Canva, MS Paint, Corel Draw, or more advanced technology like Cinema 4D, 3D modeling, or even physical tools like chisels, hammers, drills, etching acid, bleach, and explosives.

NFTs are here to stay. They have existed since 2014, even though they became the talk of the town recently, in 2021. NFT artists can leverage NFTs to get the credibility for their artwork and take their profession to the next level.

If you’re interested in learning Web3 as a developer or want to brush up your knowledge on Web3 technologies. We’ve got you covered on our Web3 Blog on Hashnode.

See you in the next one.

Bye Bye 👋.