Lifting Up Early Artists

Lifting Up Early Artists
Screenshots from Garden of Eden, an interactive artwork on Zora by Tayodamn Shoes.

Today's MintFace focusses on lifting up early artists. First up is Saba's project who is on her way to having her first 100 digital artworks called Fuzziemints minted ... wtih ecah bringing utility to avatars AND a royalty share of 5,455 mints to follow.

Robin Friend might be early to NFT's yet his provenance in the art world is well understood by museum collections around the world including the U.K. National Gallery, Aperture Gallery in NY and Christies Paris.

And last but not least...22 year old, Nigerian born Tayo asks you to play a game with her artwork by exploring an turns her digital art interactive whether you invest or not.

Let's start with Fuzzie.

MintFace Artist Feature - Saba

Fuzziemints are all about utility. It's not a 10k project... it's just over half that at 5,555 artworks.

Their cuteness is what got me over the line with these.

Cuteness isn't enough however, when you're offering art buyers slight permutations on the same theme. You'll hear the NFT crowd chanting 'we want utility' from the stadium and if you're the home team and you don't deliver...well the art might not be enough for them.

The utility offered is for people already walking around augmented reality (AR) worlds. Each Fuzziemint includes an AR ready 3D model so you can walk...I mean bounch... around in augmented reality.

AR meetups will never be the same.

Fuzziemint is a hybrid generative project which means computers lighten the load for the creator doing much of the work.

The artist is Saba who I discovered through artist Rachel Creasey (who was featured in MintFace recently)

Rachel bought a Fuzziemint for her birthday.

...and I couldn't help but nab #7. Of course...these Fuzziemints are too cute on their own, so I minted #15 as a bodyguard for #7.

As with all projects... I prefer the ones that start slow and build. Fuzziemints have 30 more left on their first 100.

Why should you nab one of the first 100? You'll receive a 10% share on all profits of the next 5,455 FuzzieMints...yup... just like World of Women (and those royalty collector NFT's went for 20eth+ eventually.

#gofuzzie

View collection on OpenSea

Get Fuzziemints before secondary effects kick in

MintFace Sale Feature - Robin Friend

Robinfriend joined the digital art space and a week later found he'd had made his way on to both the Trending Creators and Trending Collectors list. Friend may be new to NFT's, but his provenance as an artist goes way back.

Friend's work has exhibited at the National Gallery, Somerset House & Royal Academy of Arts in London; Aperture Gallery in NY; Christies Paris; and held in Museum Collections around the world.

Art project names include Apiary which explores the surreal and sinister haunting of the British landscape.

I find the satellite radar dishes are so deeply felt sitting amongst the lavender.

Bastard Countryside is live on the Foundation marketplace. There are 50 Environmental Photographs where the natural & human clash & interact. A handful of the digital artwork are left from his book by the same name Bastard Countryside, that went out of print since it's launch end of 2018.

"Bastard Countryside collects together 15 years worth of exploration within the British landscape, dwelling on what Victor Hugo called the ‘bastard countryside’: “somewhat ugly but bizarre, made up of two different natures”."

If you're going to get an NFT, you might also consider getting the Bastard Countryside book if you can find a copy as they're now out of print.


If you're a prominent artist and haven't stepped into the NFT space, Friend is an example of what the transition to a decentralised community of collectors can result in.

MintFace Artwork Feature - Black Girls Play Dress Up

Tayo brings a sense of fun and interaction to her artwork by encouraging art lovers to capture a screenshot of her artwork to capture the outfit in hair of the black girls playing dress up in that moment.  

Playing along, here's the screenshot I collected from her 'Black Girls Play Dress Up' work on the Zora marketplace.

Tayo aka tayodamnshoes is a 22 year old Nigerian born women here to spread love and art, she is the creator of the world famous ebabes collectible, a series of 1/1 handmade art pieces with African names and African history.

"This beautiful piece is recognizing the power that is black women and their ability to change their looks effortlessly Is it a super power or is it in our blood to always look good. This is an interactive piece I created in 2021 to text out randomization in a gif, I posted it on Twitter to get people to screenshot on an outfit and hair. A divine feminine piece of art...." Tayodamnshoes.

The art was minted on July 9th by tayodamnshoes.eth according to Etherscan and is available for 1 eth.

You can discover more art by Tayodamshoes on Zora, such as the very cleverly done Garden of Eden that contrasts what happens when Eve takes a bite of the apple. The animation is sparkly brilliance!


If you know an artist curious about getting started with digital art, we also run the Digital Artist Economy workshop helping artists create their first digital art through a three week programme.

Share it with an artist you'd like to see on an NFT marketplace.

MintFace surfaces great artists and artworks so you don't have to.

Enjoying MintFace? Help keep it free by supporting the platform in one of two ways.

Art Collectors - you can become a member to receive a secret weekly MintFace  surfacing artwork that others have missed. No apes. No punks. Just quality art by quality artists.

Artists - you can send any notes of appreciation to ryanjennings.eth in whatever form you feel reflects your art.