*Author: *Wackozacco

Editor：DawnXue

After repeated events focused around fashion in the Metaverse it has become apparent that communities of artists are using these platforms to create and share work in new ways with each other. While the format of events and the artistic identity nestled in wearables themselves is still experimental, we decided to take a step back and learn from the experience of others who are all forging a path in their own projects. On February 27, Metacat hosted 4 artists(Wackozacco，Patternbase，Sascha，TheAlchemistGus） to come together on Twitter Spaces to share their stories into Web3 as digital artists and their introduction to Cryptovoxels. A short list of questions was sent to everyone beforehand and the summary is an extrapolation of the topics discussed.

Stories about Crypto

As the impromptu English host for Metacat I decided to lead with my story as Wackozacco. Coming from America, I am now residing in Boulder, Colorado. The name is one of my first online gamertags that was a rip-off of a defamatory name for Michael Jackson who was an idol of mine at that time. When I was thinking of cryptoartist name ideas I still couldn’t think of anything better. My favorite game to play online was Live for Speed, and I first started to share digital artwork online with pixel cars across now defunct forums. I became really interested in crypto around 2017 but lost interest until discovering how I could mint my own artwork as NFT’s. I started to spend time exploring Cryptovoxels about 8 months ago after hearing Ben Nolan describe it on a podcast. I wandered into a Screensaver World live auction and thought it was super cool, eventually it motivated me to submit my own piece and share it in their live auction format.

Patternbase comes from Missouri but now lives in Chicago. Her name derives from a tumblr page she created years ago to compile and share photos of textile and fashion designs. She has since released a variety of pattern designs, wearables art and pfp’s under this name. Gaming did and still does play a big role in her work. As a child she saved her allowance to buy a variety of consoles and games as she was growing up. Her father even had some obscure gaming consoles of his own. While she has been aware of crypto since 2014, she didn’t buy any until 2020 when an insistent friend at a campfire encouraged her to buy some Bitcoin and Ethereum. Discovering Cryptovoxels and buying her first parcel in 2021, Pattern mentions that NFT’s in general have been the game she has always been looking for. Her first memorable moment was participating in a group exhibition hosted by StellaBelle. Getting to collaborate with other artists in such a way drew her interest much deeper to get more and more involved.

Sascha has been an artist for as long as he can remember. Simply using his birth-given name, he reserves his creativity for the designs he produces and other disciplines such as rapping. Coming from Germany, he went to design school and became a full-time professional 3D artist before stumbling into NFT’s and becoming the cryptoartist he is today. As a child his parents did not allow him to play video-games, so he played them at friends’ houses. The most favorite he can remember was Rocket Knight Adventures, when he got his first apartment he bought all these old games he had wanted as a child. He was led into Cryptovoxels through a client project, as he discovered the building process he found it to be really relaxing compared to his regular disciplines of 3D-production.

TheAlchemistGus is a Brazilian artist who has also been making art his whole life but never professionally until NFT’s. He got his first computer in 2004 with only MSPaint installed he produced designs that he would later learn to animate. He mentioned fighting carrots in the style of Naruto. Producing designs from Animes that inspired him. Fullmetal Alchemist was one of his favorites that he mentions was also the inspiration for his name as well as his real name being Gustavo. 2014 was the first time he got to share his art with a community during a street art movement in Southern Brazil where he got to project works he produced onto walls. He mentions Zelda as his favorite game but being interested in numerous Sci-Fi and Fantasy games. For Gus, hanging out at various parties in Cryptovoxels got him hooked. He was fascinated by the creations he discovered and with help from The Philosopher got started making his own.

Specific fashion influences that we bring into the Metaverse

After learning a little bit about how everyone got started making art and getting involved with Cryptovoxels, I wanted to find out about specific fashion influences that we bring into the Metaverse. The focus on wearables is what drew me in first to mint my own works. In real life, sneakers were the first fashion collectible I remember seeking out. I became obsessive for a little bit, and eventually tried to produce my own streetwear designs. The cost and complexity eventually turned me off but the feeling of creating wearables is very similar to me now.

Patternbase mentioned specific influences of Punk and Goth culture in her designs. She remembers watching old live footage of rock concerts with her dad as she was growing up and holding the fashion from this era in high regard. Sci-Fi has also had a large influence on her designs in real life and in the metaverse. She worked as a professional textile designer for 9 years before leaving this past September to focus on freelance work and all types of projects related to her designs. Her major goal for this year is to complete the Sci-Fi Punks collection. (https://www.scifipunks.com/)

Sascha did experiment with creating his own custom fashion designs but with most of his talents in digital production he learned it was easier for him to have designs printed and embroidered onto blank apparel so he could focus on exploring Metaverse opportunities simultaneously. He has sold out his first 2 collections and is now minting Blockberts and working on more projects. (https://linktr.ee/drknssBYsascha)

Gus brings in a wide amount of influence to produce his wearables. Unfortunately during our call, he was dropped but the influence mentioned across anime and video-games comes across very obviously and he has learned to adapt crazy designs like mech suits and mechanical bees to the default skeleton in an impressive way. He produces many other designs to accompany the stories that The Philosopher is creating the history of our lore on Cryptovoxels.

The creative hurdles to releasing wearable NFT’s

In our open discussion our first topic was the creative hurdles to releasing wearable NFT’s. My challenges have been in learning the methods for minting into public collections, Web3 technology in general and putting the extra effort into descriptions, titles, listings, etc. Patternbase’s biggest challenges have been in marketing herself, as a self-described introvert, learning and exploring ways to share her work is an evolving challenge. Sascha has already landed in an advanced category, confronting avatar compatibility issues with his new collections in development, he has reached a ceiling of sorts for where the technological limits are for individual creators right now.

High-poly avatars in Cryptovoxels

This created a nice segway to our next topic of high-poly avatars in Crypto Voxels. In general, everyone is trying to apply their skills in various ways exploring other methods of 3d creation, besides Sascha who has much more experience, nobody has specific preparations for this future customizability. Patternbase has experience with pattern making from her fashion career and digital fabrication in Clo3D, but right now is focusing on her other projects. Sascha gave us really good insight into the approach and limitations of creating and rigging an avatar. We are excited to see him eventually get these into Cryptovoxels.

How will existing fashion brands get involved in virtual fashion worlds

Our closing topic was looking for predictions on how existing fashion brands will want to get involved in virtual fashion worlds more in the future, our general conclusion was that these large brands will have the resources to create strong experiences and platforms to reward artists and their fans for participating in the metaverse with them. It is yet to be seen if the focus of driving profits will outweigh the effort to build a community that is fundamental to building successful NFT projects. As stigma against cryptocurrency and NFT becomes more popular, we wonder if the rumored name change to voxels.com will have better mainstream appeal for Cryptovoxels specifically? We can’t predict too much but we are all excited to keep participating and share our experiences with digital fashion as more possibilities become achievable within our reach.

Sincere appreciation goes to Metacat for hosting us and sharing our work. We look forward to connecting with more artists and builders making things in the Metaverse.