What’s so Special?
Going to break bitGAN character for this post because I have a heartfelt message. Please indulge.
So what is so special about the bitGAN Collabs?
Well besides the fact that many of them melt your eyeballs like Liquid ghostGAN from Mindshift…
They are dear to me because they represent everything that is awesome about cryptoArt.
These Collabs are all about:
Artistic Sovereignty
Sharing between artists
Empowering each other
Exchanging ideas freely
and possibly as important
Being fairly compensated for creativity
Not only are all of these co-credited, but the proceeds from the primary sale are being evenly split. 1/3rd to the collaborator, 1/3rd to me, and 1/3rd to a community bitFUND that will be used to support the bitGANg in ways that the owners direct. I know, I know, everyone is thinking DAO. But I looked deeply into it and DAOs aren’t ready yet. I have even come to side with the growing belief that most organizations calling themselves DAOs, are just rebranded committees. So I am not going to pretend the bitFUND is a DAO, but I will commit to the bitGANg that it will take direction from them and champion their interests.
But wait, there’s more.
One of the coolest collabs was the Minting DAPP.
And this is relevant to the bitFUND…
So Higgsbelly led the way to make bitGAN Collabs a completely sovereign contract with all metadata on-chain pointing to 144 bitGANs stored on IPFS. This required a variety of complications and expenses like hosting images on IPSF, but in the end I think it is doable for everyone. As we were setting up the DAPP, we started thinking wouldn’t it be cool if Higgs shared everything he did with the entire bitGANg.
Imagine everyone being able to use the same premium IPFS hosting I am using. Imagine anyone that wants to create their own custom DAPP, being able to create their own DAPP - just like bitgans.net. No more lazy minting at the mercy of OpenSea. No need to rely on a solidity dev. And who doesn’t love interacting with the DAPP to mint your own artwork?
I would personally love it if the bitFUND was used to support sovereign drop after sovereign drop, and we all helped each other make as many as possible. If you have a project you want to get out there, let’s get together to make it happen - just like we all got together to make bitGAN Collabs drop happen.
This is another major reason I love this drop.
And now to tell you about the most personal and humbling.
These Collabs took my own art up a notch.
Each and every one of the bitGAN Collabs was made by interacting with collaborators. Both in discord and video meetings. In some meetings, I was directed to make one using tools that the bitGANg put together. In others we just talked concepts, shared art, exchanged techniques, and the collaborator went off on their own to blow everyone’s minds. And in others, artists worked completely independently from the tutorials.
Check out Crazy eyeGAN from Architect - realizing Architect himself held an impromptu bitGAN making contest which was the major inspiration for this drop. His three bitGAN Collabs are an example of a completely independent workflow that he invented and generously shared with everyone.
And one of the persons to be directly influenced by Architect was me!
I actually think Architect’s work was the seed for half the collabs. So beyond me showing everyone how I made bitGANs, I came away from this experience learning as much as I taught.
And this can be seen in the Collaborator 11,484, my most detailed and expressive bitGAN to date. It took inspiration from so many of you. It uses techniques and workflows that I stumbled upon during the collab meetings. It even uses some techniques that were taught to me by a many of you, and this was humbling… to see so many gorgeous bitGANs, inspiring me to make mine as gorgeous… It really pushed me.
I am proud to have my name next to each and every collaborator of this collection. And I am further humbled that each and everyone of you asked for my name to be first even though the original plan was to have it second. Truly humbling.
This was an unforgettable experience. Thank you everyone.
Pindar