I'm working the morning and I've had the crack of dawn.
♪ Money worries wherever I will come along ♪ ♪ Worry's the bully that just won't let me be ♪
Trying to keep me busy, tussling and struggling No home sits apart, DM the ash can't settle down I'm sure of where I'm bound so I sink another round Let's see more of a
And there's no one for to blame I refuse to accept that my work is all in vain Worry's a bully that just won't let me be Trying to keep me busy
♪ Tussling and struggling ♪ ♪ Still always remembering ♪ ♪ When the going gets tough ♪ ♪ Nothing they've ever loved ♪ ♪ Will be what I've seen enough ♪ ♪ Still always remembering ♪
♪ I'm always thinking on ♪ ♪ Everyone else, read for themselves ♪ ♪ I'm worried so bullied ♪ ♪ That just won't let me be ♪ ♪ Trying to keep me busy ♪ ♪ Tidaly, pinched, ugly ♪
Now I'm almost in the fire, me and the ash can settle down I'm sure I'm aware I found so I sink another round Let's leave overpay, and there's no one more that you play
I'm a piece to accept that my work is all they've made. Worries of bullying and childhood let me be. Trying to keep me busy, touching and struggling. It'll always be.
♪ When the glory gets dark ♪ ♪ That the labor of our love ♪ ♪ When we want to still live now ♪ ♪ Still always remembering ♪ ♪ When the glory gets dark ♪ ♪ That the labor of our love ♪
♪ We're even more than the seven in the ♪ (upbeat music)
Hello everybody! Hope you're having a fantastic day is beautiful where I am. I'm Sandra. I'm the Twitter host space for today and I'm also the Community Manager of Charmbers.
So CharmVis is a Web 3 community platform for managing members, coordinating tasks, facilitating decisions and holding each other accountable. Members can sign in with crypto wallets and gain access via community tokens and NFTs and it brings together onboarding payment management,
Proposals, project trackers, data repositories, all in one place. So really it's a great solution for token communities to build relationships, work together, and vote. So please check out Charmverse if you're not familiar with it, but wait until after the space because I am really excited to
introduce you to Cynthia Steenkamp, a digital artist in Web 3. You can also catch her hosting Twitter spaces as well. So let's welcome her, Hey Cynthia, how are you? Hello Sandra, I am good, thank you. It's been quite a day.
So it's very nice coming in here and actually kind of unwinding. Looking forward to this hour. Yeah, a little a little getaway. So well, let you let the listeners know you're a part of the polygon NFT showcase that's happening currently. It's happening today and tomorrow, right?
Yes, so it's a collective of artists in a metaverse. Well, I don't want to say metaverse. I feel like it's an Ikea word. We'll call it a 3D environment that's curated. And yeah, it's just a bunch of established products.
projects and artists that are displaying there right now. And it started a couple of hours ago. They're still going strong. They're doing a few panels through the day. And you can find out much more about that on Creative Al's page, who is the main host. And yeah, it's
It's just a good two days for networking and learning stuff about Web 3. Absolutely. I registered for the event. I definitely plan on stopping in, have not had a chance to yet, but can people still register or is it kind of booked up at this point?
So you can't add your art as in the registration for getting featured in the gallery is unfortunately over, but you can join in and be part of everything else that goes on. So that's not a problem at all. You can just jump in. Fantastic.
Yeah, so listeners go check it out. I'm sure you can find it on Cynthia's page. Also you can find it at Creative Owls. So please go check it out. I, like I said, I plan on stopping by this afternoon and maybe tomorrow too to go support some artists in
in Web 3 and check out what's going on, listen to some panels and all of that. So Cynthia, I do have to say thank you so much for taking the time to do this while you're also participating in that. So really happy that you could make it here today.
It's my pleasure. I feel like when you've been sitting in stereo, the computer screen for XMOTO hours already and one day, it's a good break to just jump into the Twitter space. Awesome. Well, happy to have you. Where are you calling us from today? So I am based in Scotland.
I'm hoping that this is going to be my home base until, you know, for the foreseeable future, but that's where I'm from. Oh, amazing. How, how is it there? Is it rainy, sunny? What's it like there for you today? You know, I feel scammed when we moved here.
everyone was like oh Scotland has such terrible weather it's never beautiful it's been so lovely because I've only lived in Scotland for almost four years now and it has been just gorgeous a little bit of rain but not as much as people make it out to be so it's it's
It has its seasons, which is nice. I love that. I love it. You're like, I, I was scammed. The weather's been beautiful. I want dreary and dark. You don't hear that much, but I love it. I love it. Scotland is definitely on my bucket list. So I'll look you up once I come to visit.
So listeners, I recently connected with Cynthia at NFTNYC at a cool women's event that took place in April. And since then, I've been on a mission to connect with artists and start an artist highlight series for these Twitter spaces.
because I really think it's important to bring them to light. The creator economy is being revolutionized by Web 3 and I just think it's really important to talk to artists in this space and help others that want to get into this space learn from their experiences, how maybe they
can monetize their content, how they can get involved in these type of events like the NFT polygon showcase, things like that that can help other artists out there not to mention really just show support to the artists we're talking to today. So again, happy to be sharing
this with people and please stay tuned because we will be highlighting other artists in the coming weeks and months. So really excited about that. Cynthia, I do need to say as I was kind of digging in and doing my questions for today, I decided to put on the playlist that you have on your
website and I loved it trying to get in your head and listeners you should totally go check it out. It's anything from ACDC to Johnny Cash, Aurora, Jim Miracui. I really loved it. It was fantastic. So that just might need to become one of my regular listening stages.
I love it. Okay. I love that you enjoyed it. I did. I just felt right. I was like, "Well, I'm looking at the Cynthia. What's she listen to? What's her playlist about? It felt like a good way to get into the right headspace." So let's dig in.
I love your Petroder profile where you just say, "Draw buns, boobs, and hearts." I also take pictures. And this is a very brief summary of your work, but I do love it. But tell us how you would describe your style and a bit about your creation process.
So yeah, hi everyone. My name is Cynthia. I draw bumps, boobs and hearts and I take pictures. That was like my tagline when I got into the NFT space and then it kind of like faded away because I started focusing on different things but I'm back to just embracing my roots and
When I started, I was a bit of a mess. I was doing too many things and now like honing in on what I actually enjoyed doing and yeah, it's the bombspooms and the hearts. The digital art part of me has come a long way and this is something that I'm really been enjoying.
growing within WebTree and on the blockchain because I feel like the blockchain has become my portfolio and how I track what I've been doing. Because I'm not very shy about minting stuff just because I like them myself. Everything that I do is for myself.
and so my style is a bit all over the place because everything inspires me whether it's music, sometimes I just sit and listen to a song on repeat and I make one of my funky hearts and it's just yeah it's just a nice little unwinding thing for me. I
I don't put pressure on myself to create. So to say, I just go with the feeling of wanting to put something, I don't know, an emotion into a piece of something. And it's been wonderful doing it digitally now because I used to do that a lot in physical
you know, whether it was painting, drawing or doing play. But yeah, I've just moved too much around the world for me to keep up with that lifestyle. So digital art has been perfect. Easy to take with you. Yeah, right? You can't move all over the place and be taking all
the mediums that starts to get a little hairy. But I really love that you said everything you do is for yourself. And I feel like I need to harness that. I do not consider myself a creative person in that sense. And I think it is really important to follow
that passion and create what you like rather than worrying about what everyone else is gonna like and I'm gonna try to internalize that because I think that's really beautiful and really important so yeah I really I really like that so it sounds like you've kind of always been an artist is that true
I come from a family, well, yeah, from a family where expressing yourself has always been encouraged. It's never been shared away from. Yeah, it's just a, it's just something that I grew up with and drawing and taking pictures
was just my thing. I was always that weird kid with a camera on me and when you know camera phones came that was like the best thing. I have so many horrible blurry pictures now when you look back at them but you know they're still memories. So yeah, creativity is just
I've been part of my life through it. I love that and your family just supported you and is that is that pretty much your main source of income or do you have a job outside of art or is this pretty much what you're able to do?
So art, I have only recently started calling myself an actual artist. I'll admit that before this whole, what are we going to call it, the little thing that happened, the seaword when that came into a few years.
a little baddie word. But until that point, I was just doing all sorts of things. I was pretty much freelancing because I was living in San Beatatime. I ended up in the UK in 2019, about six months before
before we went in to lockdown. So I didn't get a chance to really get out to the right workforce. That's going to be a transition. It was interesting to say the least coming to a new country and not actually being allowed to explore it. It was the weirdest thing.
I can't imagine. Yeah. Totally new place and then now everyone's talking about their bubbles and you're like, "What bubble? I didn't have a bubble. I just got here." Oh my goodness.
So were you able to really at that point just throw yourself into your artwork and is that kind of how you started to explore Web 3 in NFTs? That's exactly it. I was pretty much, you know, in my little house and I had to figure out ways to keep myself entertained and I had
been taking self portraits for a while at that point. I started doing that for myself in 2015 when I just got kind of mentally burnt out with the image that other people were doing or what are we going to call it? Because I did some modeling for a while and I
I was never fond of the image that was coming out. It was just too much retouching back in the day. It didn't feel humane or human. It was nothing that I could connect with. I turned the camera on myself in 2015. I started exploring that and trying to push my own image on myself.
And then in lockdown, that was a big, a big help for me to not feel so close then. And one day I just stumbled upon someone who was, I think it was Grimes, that was doing her cherubs. Completely random.
And she was selling these digital things and I was like, what is that? And then I started looking into it and then I found crypto and then it was just the spiral of two months of hardcore, like trying to figure out what this is and looking beyond it's just being a currency because, you know, I feel like when you get into something you have to
not just do the surface research, you have to understand what it's there for and that's what I think for a while and then I decided that maybe this whole end of teaping would be interesting to try and that's where
It all happened. Amazing. Well, one, so great that something good came out of COVID. I mean, you were really able to throw yourself into this whole new world and really throw yourself into your artwork for you. And I think it's also through
yourself into Web 3. I think you kind of need to do that if you're going to get into this world and figure out how you're going to mint and what are we pricing stuff at and really just dive in. I think anyone that's gone into Web 3 knows you really just kind of got to you got to dive in.
and start doing your research and watching YouTube and reading the articles. And yeah, did you start networking with people? Because when I met you, you had a good community of artists that you were hanging out with that night. So did you start networking through Web 3?
So I have this tendency of doing things backwards. I'm minted before I actually got to know people within the community. I was just excited. I was like, wow, I found this name. It looks so cool. So I minted
And then I realized, oh, people actually hang out on Twitter. And this was, you know, I didn't have the best experience with Twitter. I'm going to be honest. Twitter was a bit of an icky place for me because it was just like these random one-liners that people would throw out. And I didn't realize that space was a thing until I actually
forcefully or force myself to join to see what was going on here. And yeah, that was about 18 months. What is it? Yeah, a bunch of months ago. I just don't keep track anywhere. It feels like a lifetime already. But yeah, I'm going to start to get
to know people and networking and doing all sorts of things, getting involved in galleries which you know, metaverse stuff which I had not even looked into and it is just such a such an interesting place, it just never stops which is
you know, good at that at the same time. Yeah, you got to like shut yourself off at some point because people are always on, always want to talk. Oh, you know, you can forever be working in this space. And I think it's important to take that time for yourself. Shut off, focus on your artwork.
I do want to get into the gallery topic, but I also just wanted to talk a bit more about your collections and let people know one where they can view them, but also a little bit more. So the portraits, the self-portraits, I really love.
They're beautiful, they're edgy. A lot of them are like close up.
Yeah, so what made, I mean, I really like what you're saying about modeling and kind of it not capturing you as a human or how you felt it sounds like. And yeah, just tell us a bit more about these and what people can expect, you know, put a visual in their head of what they might expect if they look at yourself.
self portraits. So it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to call the collection and it ended up being all subversions of me simply because it's it is versions of me. I don't feel like I can just be one type of a person and that was very
what I struggled with when I was trying to do modeling as a profession. It's just that people were trying to put me in this one little box that was this or that couldn't deviate from it. There was a time where I wasn't allowed to tan, which was like just bizarre stuff. So yeah, I just had to break that.
And starting this collection just made me realize just how much of that I want to call it baggage. I'm still carrying the whole structural thing of us as a society deciding what is OK, having the link.
stick perfectly on, not being able to smudge it on your teeth. Oh my gosh, you have something on your teeth. That is terrible. So I just tried to experiment with stuff that just are kind of unknown, but also are me. I just want to break free from my own boundaries that I have mentally.
And that's what I try to do. I just put myself in front of the camera and look at myself and see like, where can I drag a line that would bother me? That's basically it. Amazing. I love that. Alternative versions of ourselves, I think that's important that we try to embrace that because it's so
often we're trying to be what other people want us to be or what other people expect us to be or what we should be in quotes which I hate and I keep as I get older keep trying to break outside of that so I think that's really important for people to hear too like be yourself be who you want to be and that can be different from who you were yesterday or how you were feeling
So these pictures are fantastic listeners go check them out. Cynthia tell us where they can find your collections. So I have two main collection, but I also want to just put it out there like I do still take things that I feel are making me look pretty because
We are vain. I'm not gonna shy away from that. I do enjoy taking pictures. I encourage everyone to take pictures of themselves because you're only young ones and you're gonna be grateful looking back at these pictures in 10 to 15 years time. Even if it's just an awkward smile, you're still gonna see that, you know what?
That was a good day. It wasn't the worst. It wasn't the best, but it wasn't the decent thing. So I always encourage people to do that. But yeah, so my main collection is funky hearts and then as we were talking, all versions of me, you can find them on OpenC and the direct links can be found.
on my Koji link, which is in my profile, if you click on my little PFP here, and I have everything that I've ever done on the blockchain list and on there. And then you can also see all of it in one place through Spatial, which is something that I thoroughly enjoy.
So we're going to talk about that. Wait, but also let's talk funky hearts and what I mean you say I draw bombs, boobs and hearts, but tell us about the funky arts collection too that again you can find on OpenC or other links through the Koji link that's on our Twitter handle. But yeah, tell us about the funky hearts.
So, funky hearts is my collection that started many, many years ago. It's actually quite a funny story. I was just drawing something that was going to tattoo on my arm because I wear my heart on my sleeve is just one of those saying that really resonates with me and it's a way that I've lived.
always try to stay as true as possible to myself and that goes with everything that I do. I try to just be myself as much as possible without offending people obviously. That's never too cold. But you know, every now and then.
I'm probably at some point I'm going to offend someone. That's just the nature of being human I feel like. But yeah, funky hearts. It's just my little outlet. It started very anatomical and then recently it became a little bit more cartoonish and I'm just I'm just feeling like that is my
my happy place right now. Funky Heart is where I just get to throw color, I get to throw the things that I love. One of my most recent pieces is a Gundam inspired funky heart because I just love anime. I just do whatever I enjoy and throw it in there and
Also the whole like bumps and boobs. That is just part of a mixture that unfortunately didn't get too big because there was some issues with open sea and I've just merged deaf with F likey heart so I'm gonna have a little bit of body bits thrown in there.
Body Bits. I love it. So speaking of Body Bits, let's talk about your spatial gallery because it's really cool. I've watched through it. Of those of you who don't know, spatial.io artists can set up a gallery
And is it the Metaverse? I'm not sure. But you can walk through it with an avatar and really just like you're in a gallery, check out all the artwork and it's so cool. So do you get to like create the gallery setting?
So there are templates I'm using one of the templates and it's basically a box a gray box and then you can put all sorts of things in there I use it as my virtual portfolio and also a little bit of my It's kind of be like convincing myself that I'm an artist like look I'm done this
But it's just a good way for you to display what you've done, especially for someone like me who does multiple things. So on one side I have my digital art and then on the other side I have all my photography work and I feel like it's just the perfect media.
And then you can put in furniture to make it look more like a gallery, which is what I've done. And then in my specific template that I'm using for the gallery, there's a little cubicle in the center. And that is what I use to display special pieces that I've done in collaboration with other artists.
But it's definitely something for people to explore and they've started to gamify Spatial so you can do all sorts of things you can do quests you can do jumping it's It's built on unity now. So there's endless possibilities and you can import your own
own environments, which I hope to get to that point, but there are so many things to learn in this space. It's just, it's exciting and overwhelming all at the same time. Absolutely. Yeah, so it's really great. You can go on OpenSea and go on Magic Eaton. You can go on all these platforms and see
see the artwork, but it really does add a different level when you can walk through a gallery and see artwork hung as you would intend it to be hung or the color scheme that you might want or the furniture you want in there just creates a whole vibe. I really enjoyed it.
I definitely encourage listeners to check it out. Again, if you check out Cynthia's Twitter handle and go to the Koji, you'll be able to get to all of these things. Definitely go look at it. It's really neat. And if you're an artist, I encourage you to look into doing this for yourself because it is a really neat way to lay out your
artwork in your own personal way. So you've also been doing a number of collaborations. We were talking about networking and maybe you're doing things backwards. I don't know if that's actually a thing, but you've been doing collaborations with a number of people. Can you maybe drop some names for us?
Yeah, I mean one of them is in this room that's coin laundry we did a little bit of a a brief collaboration I don't want to say brief but it was a it was a collaboration many moons ago when we were still like quite fresh in the space and I just love that
piece, it's the capitalist heartbeat, it's a heart that has the washer opening and blood comes out in money. It's just so perfect because it really represents both of us. He did such a good job with that.
just recently did the collaboration with Rock of A.J.'s. He is a rock guy. He paints rocks. It takes pictures of them. And he's just amazing. I haven't put it up in the space yet, but I need to give him a special shout out because I was just so surprised what I filed them.
It's just like you don't hear about many people who paid drugs you actually come into the NFT space but he's not legit artist. But I'm just been really fortunate to find my kind of people in this space and yeah it's just been so much fun doing
things with them. That is one of the beauties of Web 3 is you can connect with people from across the world that are your kind of people that either share your values or working towards a common mission, share your love of art and a specific type of art. You know, you can kind of be at
unique as you want. I was going to say weird that seemed like the wrong term but weird in the best way possible. You know, you can really be your true self and still not worry about, I don't know, you're still going to find your people and I love that about Web 3.
Yeah, amazing. So I'm curious what your experience was kind of getting into Web 3. I mean, we talked about it happening during COVID. So you were kind of solo figuring it out on your own. But as far as kind of working in art in the Web 2 world or in the in real life world versus
like how did that go? Obviously there was a steep learning curve you threw yourself in but do you feel like it's different type of people you interact with or yeah what was that transition like? So I do feel like it's very different type of people that you interact with.
And this is because I did try to get into the actual traditional art scene for many years. I did go, I did study art for a while and try to get down that route, but where I grew up, which was in Sweden,
It's a very small art scene and everyone knows each other and it's kind of difficult to break into it if you don't have the credentials. If you don't have the proper portfolio, if you haven't already, you've got the connections. So comparing that with Web 3 where you literally just throw yourself out there, you just jump into space.
You network, you talk to people, you find your people. It has been so freeing and so what I'm going to call it, invalidating that I'm in the right space for myself, that I'm doing something that is healthy for me.
feel I personally don't feel the pressure. I am here because I want to be here. I could be working in a traditional boring job and spending my life with that but I want to be here to help people, I don't know, find themselves and to also keep on building within this
ecosystem and helping improving it. I want to be on the ground just shaping this space because I feel like right now we're in a beautiful position where we're all here to shape what Web3 is going to be in the next few years. So I do encourage anyone who's
who wants to get into the art scene to do it through Web 3 right now because the freedom that you have here you're not going to find in Web 2. And here is where you can just lay down whatever you want to do for yourself and yeah just embrace this freedom and see the blockchain as your portfolio.
really very well said and that leads into my next question. But first, be on the ground shaping web 3. I think that's a beautiful sentiment and we're still in the early stages and like I said, I really hope that there
artists out there that are curious about getting into this space and able to learn from Cynthia and other artists like her about the possibilities that are out there. And that takes me to my question of the benefits
in the challenges of the space. Because with the good, always has to be some of the bad. And I think that's important to be real and talk about it. But first let's start with the benefits, which you already started to talk about. Like it's easier. You don't really need to break into the scene.
right? You can really just get up and running a little bit of research, a little bit of networking if you need help. And you can find your people, but what are some of the other benefits and then on the flip side, the challenges that you've experienced in this space?
So the benefits I feel like is generally just meeting people and being able to network in different time zones because you're going to meet people. There's no way you would meet a lot of these people, IRL, like coin laundry that's a
here in the room, Reyna, Big nail. Like I've met those people, they live across the pond, they live on the other side of the world. And I've met, well, I met you. Like we would never be networking if it wasn't for this space. So it's, it's
It's just, it's an open space and anyone can come in here. It's not, yes, there is a little bit of daykeeping, but there are people that are willing to just embrace you and want to teach you things. I feel like I've landed in a very
Open the educational space people want to teach each other they want to chair the knowledge and I've learned so much in the past 18 months I would say it's been a Really intense time for my poor brain, but it's been worth it
I hear that so I've been a web 3 for almost a year now. Yeah, my poor brain too. I feel you. Always trying to catch up, always trying to learn, always just, man, you can't catch up. That's the sad part. You just can't catch up with it. Absolutely though.
connecting with people is fantastic. Like you said, we never would have connected most likely, but it was through an NFT conference. So people put yourself out there, talk to people, most people really are willing to share their knowledge, which is fantastic. All right, so what's the problems with this
space that you've had. Oh my gosh, we have so many growing pains, totally. I feel like the main thing is education still. It all comes down to education. Education is the beautiful part of this space, but it's also the part where it can feel like it's overwhelming as we
we're just mentioning, like there's a lot to learn. And when you come into the space, one of the main boo-goos that I did, which back in the day was still normal, is that I minted on a storefront contract. I minted quite a few things on storefront contracts. And then some marketplaces just disappeared. And that was the end of
that. So just the it's so difficult because writing your own contract is it takes a lot of a special kind of person to be able to focus on that coding. I'm not that type of person. I cannot put a life of me focus on line after line after line of code. It's just
not in my, I don't have the capacity for it, but I admire everyone who can do that. But we are getting the tools that are making it easier for us as creators to be a bit safer and not have to rely on marketplaces with their storefront contracts, places such as third as third web, they're doing a beautiful job
with just giving contracts to people. That's where I'm minting everything that I'm doing now moving forward. It's my own ERC 721 contract and it feels good because I can list things on multiple marketplaces now. I have freedom, which is what this space is all about.
You're going to get burnt. I hope that doesn't deter people. We're all growing in the space, marketplaces, companies. There's going to be a web-to-money coming in that might not like the outcome and they might just dump you. Just be ready to look after yourself.
great piece of advice. And I think you nailed it. I mean, yeah, writing your own contracts, not for me. But like you said,
platforms like third web are great examples of a platform that will help you do this. I have a friend that works at Aspen, which is another minting platform. Same kind of thing where smart contracts, they deal with that stuff for you. So, you know, they're looking out for their creators and really
Really, a lot of times that's how you're going to protect yourselves as far as I understand it, is kind of relying on those companies that want to help these creators get their projects out there and kind of take the liability off of you, if someone buys your NFT and then goes and sells it to someone else, like they're beholden to the original contract. Is that right?
Yeah, and also like if something happens to you to a marketplace like it's happened to a few of us in the space where you you want to be excited about a new place and they promise you know a lot of lovely things and then after a few months they just disappear because
that the hype wasn't there because I, I mean, I came in as crypto was moaning, you know, we were all going to the moon. And now here we are. Like crypto has crashed pretty, pretty hard from that time. And a lot of people are just not willing
you put in the effort? That's true. And I think, you know, Web 3 kind of started with crypto. Wasn't Web 3 at that point when crypto was just kind of coming onto the scene, but I love that Web 3 is so much more than crypto now.
There's a lot of crypto in the space. Crypto is usually used to purchase NFTs and all that, but it's the NFTs, it's the blockchain technology, it's the decentralized organizations. There's so much more to it, and I think newcomers
that are web 3 curious, really just think about crypto, right? And that can be a dirty word. It's like, oh, well we see what's happening, things are crashing. I don't want to be in that space, but there's so much more cool things happening in this space too. That's going to change everything like the creator economy.
Yeah, no, I absolutely agree with you. And not only that, but I feel like the terminology that we're using right now is just hurting us. We need to shift. We need to shift so hard because on board and even on boarding is such a icky word. We just have to like give people interest in.
I feel like, yeah, no, onwarding is another word that I need to stop using. I say it all the time. I also know like this space, but I don't know what else to say. But 100%, the jargon that comes along with this space makes it so intimidating on its own. And we're not going to be able to
on board. More people to this space. If we keep saying introduce, introduce, introduce. Yeah, if we're not going to be able to introduce more people to Web 3, if we keep using words that they don't understand immediately, you know, you can
start talking about Web 3 and start pretty much speaking a whole different language that no one's going to understand if they're not familiar with Web 3. And that alone makes it really overwhelming and it's going to make it really hard to adopt to the mainstream people. So I'm really glad that you said that.
I mean, for the first month when people were shouting L.S.G. I literally thought that it was looking for group because I got from a gaming background. I was so confused. I was like, "What are they looking for?" Gosh, but it just takes a while. It takes a while and you adapt and I find myself talking to my aunt.
has been and he's like, I don't know what that means. What? Talk to me like what? You know, because I'm in this world down and becoming one of those people. So I totally agree. I'm so glad you said that. I'm also really glad that you mentioned education because we absolutely need more education in this world and we need
those resources from the people that are actually doing it. So I know you host Twitter spaces and you'll talk about some of this stuff but is that something you're interested
interested in maybe contributing to is getting some educational content out there because I'm sure that there are so many artists that want to get into this space that want to learn more.
Well, I'm always happy to help if anyone needs help, but there are platforms that are providing the educational aspect, the polygonal lines, for example, they're putting together a good, like, I don't want to say infrasheed, but an info database, and there are
also starting to make videos and I know that there's a lot of small creators that are trying now to put video content out there because not everyone's going to want to read. I know I'm one of those people. I struggle focusing. It's quite the challenge and getting
to this space has been, it's been a Steve learning curve, so I've been very grateful for the few videos that I found like almost two years ago now. But yeah, I would highly suggest that people go and reach out to the guys that are pulling on the lines because they have a great team
and granted they are called the polygon alliance but they do welcome other blockchains. That's a great shout out polygon alliance go check them out I'll give them another shout out at the end. Listeners if you're joining they
We're chatting with Cynthia Steenkamp, digital artist in Web 3, and learning about her experience and journey into this world and what it's been like thus far. If anyone does have a question, please raise your hand or request to speak and
We can try to answer some questions for you. Cynthia, do you know that you have your gallery and your participating in this metaverse event today? Do you still display your stuff, IRL?
I actually haven't. I did once upon a time when I used to do actual oil paint things, but in the past, oh gosh, see, this is gonna sound terrible in the past. What is it now? Almost 20 years I haven't. Time to splice.
but yeah so it's been a while since I did physical and I'm really tempted to start giving it again though. I yeah that's one thing I want to do as soon as possible. I just need to figure out what I'm actually gonna do because I don't have the space for like having an easel and paints and all of
that jazz. So I'm not going to get back to that as much as I would love to, but also, no, it just, you know, it gets expensive in out of hand so quickly. But I'm probably going to be dabbling in prints. I think that's going to be the closest thing that I'm going to be looking into within the near future.
Yeah, I mean, I just can imagine your stuff being up in a gallery, absolutely, in real life. So I would love to hear if you do that. Also, I know that at some of these conferences,
like NFT and Voicies, a great example that they will set up galleries with digital art everywhere. So if you ever are displaying stuff at these places, please keep me posted. Obviously I'll be following you on Twitter, but I'm sure our listeners will be wondering
wanting to know about that after checking out your work as well. So what about NFTs if you needed to make a pitch to someone like what would your pitch be about what what you're so excited about?
about NFTs. Our goodness me. It's just a technology really because we've only started scratching the surface of what we can actually accomplish with it. Like granted, I'm personally just doing art for the sake of art, but it's
The technology itself is just I am very passionate about it. I am very passionate about how this is going to change so many people's lives, the blockchain itself, crypto in general. Like there are people in third world countries that cannot have a bank account, but they can have a crypto wallet.
And this is something that I saw myself when I was living in in San B. and Central Africa. There was so many people who couldn't have an actual bank account, but they were using their phones and they were using their airtime basically to pay. So that is going to be the biggest shift.
And I think that the third world is going to be leading the switch from traditional banking to a more crypto-centric way of dealing with life. Simply because you don't need to have an address, you don't need to have a phone number
or registered, whatever thing. Because where I lived, we didn't have post codes. Like, it was literally a plot. That was it. It was no address. It was on a long road. And that was it. You had to give directions to the mailman if you were ever going to get something. So I think
I think that is the main thing for me that I'm very passionate about just how we're going to grow as a society. But utility wise, crypto and blockchain, there are just endless possibilities. Things like using like ticket master, I think it is that are going to start using the blockchain.
for their things. Like scalping in general, all these ticket nonsense, all the airline tickets that you can just transfer from wallets instead of having all sorts of nonsense going through, it's going to save time once we get there. Once we have the infrastructure for
blockchain, it's going to be so smooth. But yeah, I think the first thing we need to do is sort out the wallets because we cannot be sitting with like what 10 wallets for all different blockchains and it's just a mess. But yeah, now I am very excited for what the future holds when it comes to blockchain.
You're like reading my mind. First of all, I want to say you sold me on NFTs. If I didn't know anything about them, that pitch sold me. So that was great. Also, the wallet thing agreed. A lot of people just don't even want to try to get a wallet. You got to Google how to even do it. And then you're terrified. You're going to lose your
phrase and it's just yeah another thing that is not helping people adopt web3 but we're working on it right? We're working on it. So I do need to I have a few more questions and then I gotta let you go back to your event but few more questions but in the meantime before we get to that I do just want
I want to mention for any creators out there, mentioning Charmverse, it is a fantastic productivity tool and a great Web 3 community tool. So I told you about it in the beginning, but specifically for creators, it is a great platform to build your brand and engage
your community. You can also generate income with NFT subscriptions and it's also a great way to get feedback from your community. So if anyone is interested, hit us up in the DMs. Let me know. I'm also Sandra. You can drop into our discord and tag me. I'm happy to answer any questions you have.
But yeah, so if you are interested in finding a great platform to host your community, please reach out to us. And then that being said, I would like Cynthia any advice that you'd like to pass along to artists trying to make their way in this space. Things maybe you've navigated that you can
Save someone else from having to navigate or yeah, just any advice that you can pass along. Oh, gosh, I'll just say do it. Throw yourself in there. Yes, you are gonna make a few boo boo's, but it's fine. Like it's totally fine. Like I have collections across so many places.
But I'm streamlining now. I've learned how to do things. The main thing would be probably to look into your own contract so that you're not tied to any marketplaces because you never know what the future is going to bring with people and traditional whatever going to call them institutions.
try to be as independent as possible when it comes to that aspect. But just go for it. Don't hold yourself back. Don't try to follow any weird blueprints that you're gonna find on how to do things. Don't follow the trends just to you. And that's a beauty about this space. There is space for everyone. Anyone can come in and
anyone can do whatever they feel like. And you know, my timeline has all sorts of art. And I love that. Like we have stick figures, we have photography, we have acrylic paint things, we have, there's just space for everyone. And that is what I love about the NFTs.
space right now. It's still in its infancy and I hope that it never really grows up in the sense that it doesn't become boxed in and that people don't feel like they have to fit into one mold. But yeah, just to you and go for it.
I love that. Thank you. I'm also taking a page personally out of Cynthia's book to be yourself and accept those alternate versions of yourself. I love we kind of started the chat with that.
and I'm going to be carrying that with me because I think that is really important. Cynthia, how about one last thing? What's next for you? What should we be watching out for? What's happening?
I don't know, I'm just here for the ride. I'm literally showing up every day, hoping for the best and having fun. I am loving this space because I have freedom. I don't need to do anything.
I don't need to be here, but I want to be here. So for now, I'm just creating what I want to create and just enjoying the freedom while I have it. Because who knows, maybe I'm going to be tied up in a weird contract in a few months down the line, and I'll have to do stuff that I
might get tired of but you know contracts are weird. I love it. I love it. I love what you're doing. I love your energy and that you're just going with the flow and doing what feels right to you. So keep crushing it, keep doing it. We're going to let you get back to your events.
NFT polygon showcase. But make sure listeners you're clicking on Cynthia's PFP, give her a follow. And then from there you can find our website and link to links to our collections like the funky hearts and the old versions of me. Go check those out.
all so cool. Her artwork is amazing. The playlist that I mentioned earlier is on there. Definitely go check that out. And I will be listening to it again for sure. And then also Pauling on Alliance. We'll give them another shout out for artists kind of trying to find their way in this space.
Yes, now please do and also don't hesitate to reach out. Like, if I don't know, I'll put you in contact with someone that might know, because I feel like that's how we need to offer it in the space. We don't know everything, but we can, we probably know someone who knows something about something. But thank you.
so much Sandra for your time. It has been so lovely hanging out with you and also just just such a lovely energy. I just yeah I just really enjoyed meeting you. Even if it was so briefly you just radiated a good vibe. Well I'm blushing no one knows.
But I'm blushing and thank you. I write back at you. This has been such an easy space. I feel like I could talk to you all afternoon, but I will let you get back to your event. I'm so happy for you. Your work's amazing. I really look forward to following along on the journey and let's stay in touch.
Absolutely. And everyone, take care and do your thing. Just follow your heart. I can't say it any better. So with that, we leave you. Thanks for tuning in and have a fantastic day. Bye everyone.