How to create a free NFT

With NFT (short for Non-Fungible Token ) we mean a digital certification that attests the originality and authenticity of a particular media content . Whether it is photos, illustrations, videos, songs or even works of art, an NFT certifies the uniqueness of that particular content and its not being exchangeable with others (e.g. a bitcoinit is a “fungible” token, as it can be exchanged with any other bitcoin without affecting its value; an NFT no, as it is unique and with a specific value). And in fact, this peculiarity has made its way into the hearts of collectors and digital art enthusiasts, as well as fanatics of the latest trends, increasing the popularity of this technology.

But how is an NFT created? These certificates are nothing more than strings of code , a series of bits inserted into a file to be coined in case of sale. Because yes, these NFTs are sold regularly every day and in particular cases they cost hundreds of millions of dollars (although in reality, in most cases they have much lower costs). These transactions are regulated through the technologies related to blockchain and through the use of criptovalute decentralized like Ethereum , which is the virtual currency of choice with regard to the sale of NFT.

And that’s not all! Over time, the hypothetical spread of NFTs could bring about new interesting use cases . For example, a ticket for a particular show or concert can be minted and resold as a memorabilia ; a certification applied to a video game or to a content available in the latter (eg a skin or an object) could drastically reduce the phenomenon of piracy; or even an NFT that can function as a digital identity card and so on. Not to mention the future implications in the metaverse so dear to Meta (the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp company).

However, creating an NFT is not an operation for everyone, at least for the moment. In most cases, the minting of a Non-Fungible Token requires the payment of a tax for the gas emissions generated, in order to pay the energy costs incurred by the blockchain. This is a fee that is in the hundreds of dollars for each single NFT to be minted. An affordable investment for established artists, at the expense of newbies. However, there are platforms that can do this at no cost . Over the next few lines I’ll show you everything you need to know about how to create a free NFT, starting from the basics up to the tools necessary to approach this new technological trend firsthand.

Index

• How to create the content to sell
• How to create a crypto wallet
• How to create NFTs for free with OpenSea
• Other platforms to create NFTs

How to create the content to sell

First of all, you need to create content to be transformed into NFT and subsequently sold. As said before, the range of multimedia content in which these NFTs can be minted is very wide and therefore has several methods to be developed.

As for images and photos, if by any chance you are wondering how to create NFT with Photoshop , know that you can make a photomontage (obviously with images you own the rights of use) and illustrations as you normally would and then turn your work into an NFT, as I will explain later. In case you need help learning Photoshop , check out my tutorial on it. As an alternative to the latter, you can always opt for other programs to create images , perhaps free, such as GIMP .

Obviously, for each content there is also a specific program that can satisfy your artistic vein. Do not panic, within my site you already have several guides on the best video editors , best audio editors and for programs to create games , even if in the latter case the development of NFT is still a bit too cumbersome. .

How to create a crypto wallet

Well: you have created your first work destined to become an NFT, but you are still missing something to actually get started. Since these are content that can be purchased via blockchain, it is not possible to buy NFTs with traditional currency and you will need at least a crypto wallet to be able to access the trading platforms and be able to manage any earnings you will obtain by selling your works.

For this tutorial I will take MetaMask as an example , one of the most used crypto wallets in the field of NFTs and beyond. The peculiarity of MetaMask is its offline nature , allowing you to access your account at any time and ensuring the highest level of security possible.

To download MetaMask, connect to the official website and click on the Download button to view the platforms compatible with this crypto wallet. MetaMask is available on smartphone operating systems such as Android and iOS , as well as being installable as an add-on for Google Chrome , Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge browsers . In the latter case, since the extension requires very high permissions to be able to work and, therefore, could potentially read all the activities you carry out in your browser, I recommend that you install it in an alternative browser to what you usually use, so as to eliminate any privacy risk (the service is reliable and very popular, but you know, caution is never too much!).

Once installed, all you have to do is set an email address and a secure password for your account, store the secret words dedicated to account recovery on a sheet of paper (in case something goes wrong) and finally log in. to MetaMask to go to the next step. Alternatively, if you are not convinced about using this solution, I suggest you take a look at my guide on the best crypto wallets where you can find many valid alternatives.

How to create NFTs for free with OpenSea

You have your artwork, you have a crypto wallet, what are you missing? You obviously lack a stage, an audience or in this case a platform on which to share and sell your work. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are many platforms that allow the creation and sale of an NFT, but most of these require the payment of a fee for the minting of each token. This narrows your options to very few platforms that can host and resell your creations for free.

Among these, OpenSea is the most popular platform around when it comes to creating free NFTs . Since its founding in 2017, OpenSea’s digital market has seen an incredible amount of NFTs appear, ranging between 80 million unique pieces with a total value of 10 billion dollars. Furthermore, recently the site has implemented the minting through Polygon , a blockchain based on Ethereum and specialized in lazy minting , postponing the creation of the NFT until the time of purchase by the buyer and therefore reducing the cost of the aforementioned to zero. tax on blockchain emissions.

Signing up for OpenSea is very simple. First of all connected to the main page of the site and click on the Create button to open the page dedicated to access. From there, select (from the supported ones) your trusted crypto wallet and confirm the connection with the platform. At this point you will be required, within your wallet, to sign an authentication to accept the terms and conditions of use of OpenSea . Once this is done, click on the profile picture to open a small pop-up menu. Within this menu you can click on various options, such as the classic profile settings and related onesto the interface .

For the purposes of this guide, click on My Collections to enter the page dedicated to the management of your collections of works of art, necessary for cataloging your creations and ordering. Click on Create a collection to start setting up a new collection. Fill in the appropriate fields by entering your logo , cover , banner , name , a custom url address and a description to easily identify your collection.

As for the non-mandatory fields, I suggest you evaluate the inclusion of a category , some links dedicated to your contacts and above all the inclusion of royalties , or a small percentage of money that you can earn for each single resale by third parties of your NFT. Once you are satisfied, click on Create to save the collection to your profile.

Click again on the Create button at the top right to open the page dedicated to the creation of your first NFT. OpenSea allows the uploading of files in different formats such as JPG , PNG , GIF , MP4 , MP3 , WAV and also 3D model files exported to GLB and GLTF . The only limit is the size of a file, which cannot exceed 100MB .

Next, fill in the available text fields by entering the name of your NFT, a description and an external link to enter to provide further information (links to Discord and Twitter are recommended ). By clicking on the Select Collection item you can catalog the content in the previously created collection. After that, you have the possibility to set some extra functions , such as the properties of the NFT, its Levels , Statistics to show to visitors, exclusive contentsaccessible only once the image has been purchased or choose whether to set a filter for explicit and offensive content .

Finally, open the menu under Blockchain and select Polygon to take advantage of the creation of NFTs through this blockchain at no cost. With Polygon it is also possible to select a higher quantity of NFTs to be minted by entering a number in the field under the heading Supply . Once you have set all the necessary information well, click on the Create button to finish.

After a few seconds of waiting, the OpenSea system will have finally generated your first NFT. Now you just have to sell it! Click on Sell to open the page dedicated to creating a new Listing . Enter the price in Ethereum (remembering that at the exchange rate 1 ETH is equivalent to approximately $ 3,700) and set the duration of the listing for the ad. To “price” your work, I suggest you take a “ride” on OpenSea and see how much, on average, works similar to yours are quoted.

Finally, click on Complete Listing : a screen dedicated to the validation of the operation will open . As this is your first operation on OpenSea, you will need to click on Unlock and accept a confirmation transaction with no value to enable your crypto wallet for sale. Next, click on Sign to sign your NFT for sale. And here it is! You just listed your first NFT on OpenSea for free!

This of course is just a general smattering of what is possible with services like OpenSea. For all the details of the case, I suggest you consult the official help center .

Other platforms to create NFTs

In this tutorial you have learned how to create a free NFT through the OpenSea platform, however there are other alternatives (unfortunately not always free) that you may not know and that are worth mentioning.

• Rarible – free platform dedicated to creating NFTs without having to pay the tax for emissions, using the lazy minting blockchaincreated by the platform.
• Featured – platform for the creation of NFT managed by Binance and which allows you to manage and sell your works after paying a fee using the BNB cryptocurrency .
• SuperRare – platform dedicated to artists, content creators and collectors, allowing them to use the Ethereum blockchain to create, collect and sell their NFTs.