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WAX Wednesday | WAX Artist Hang w/ @ArtistByron & @BlackFang_Art
Recorded: April 23, 2025 Duration: 1:00:51Space Recording
Short Summary
In a vibrant discussion, artists Byron and Fang share their journeys within the Wax community, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, community support, and the growing recognition of NFT art. They highlight trends in artist engagement and the significance of partnerships in driving growth within the crypto art space.
Full Transcription
good morning good morning good morning folks we'll get started in just a second happy wax wednesday
happy regular wednesday that's not gonna have the same ring to it we can start in just a second here
what's up, Tara Mike?
First, we're gonna be hearing from artist Byron and Blackfang today. Ghost Cam will be joining us.
She's gonna be a little bit late, so she'll be joining when she can.
Happy Wax Wednesday, folks. We'll get started in just a moment. There's Derek. Hey, what's up, man?
What's up? Thank you. All right.
Fang's here.
Good morning, Fang.
I see Carl.
I see Pantheon, too.
Make sure after our space. Good morning.
Good morning. Pantheon will be Make sure after our space. Good morning. Good morning.
Pantheon will be guesting in the next space as well.
We'll kind of both talk in a little bit,
touch on Ethereum Chicago.
So it'll be a fun space.
Fang, what the hell is going on?
How are you?
Hey, I'm good.
Am I loud and clear?
Because I was just looking at the settings.
Yeah, you sound okay to me.
Sounds like you've got a fancy microphone to me.
That's what it sounds like.
I do have a fancy microphone.
Like, I never knew you could actually use your desktop to do a Twitter space.
I'm like, exciting because I have an XLR mic.
Why shouldn't I just use that instead of, like, the stupid AirPods that sound really bad?
Yeah, I get that,'m uh i'm too scared i'm too much of a pansy to try using it on the pc because i know it'll set it up and so far
it works so i don't want to mess with it but if it ain't broke don't fix it all right i send an
invite to a byron once he gets in here we'll get started start for the late start buddy um i was
uh start a little late well, I was starting on time.
Let's get everybody in here and get everybody started.
I'm starting to ramble now.
Sorry.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I'm more late than you are.
I think we're all on time because the space is starting now.
So let's kick it off.
Hey, everyone.
Welcome back and happy Wax Wednesday.
I hope you had a great holiday weekend.
It was Easter or maybe you're celebrating the end of Passover.
Maybe you're just taking some time to kick back and relax.
It's great to be able to meet with everybody again.
So I'm Tommy from Wax.
Today I will be joined by my co-host, Ghost Cam.
I know she's a little bit behind.
So she'll be joining us in just a moment.
We've got a great conversation lined up today.
We've got two standout artists from the Wax community,
Black Fang Art, the creative mind behind the Lou Momoko Collection,
and artist Byron, known for his incredible zombie art
and the community he's built with GHC, the Horde community.
I want to talk to him a little bit about their journey as artists
and get some insights on how they grow their communities.
Additionally, both have had a little bit of re-branding and some journeys,
so I want to explore that a little bit as well.
If you're here with us live, please take a second,
retreat the space, invite your friends,
so we can have more here from our speakers.
And as always quick
reminder nothing we discussed here will be financial advice do your own research make sure
any move that you make is right for you you know measure twice cut once black fang byron welcome
how are you both doing guys howdy good to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
How are you, Byron?
I'm good, too. How are you guys?
Thanks for having me.
Solid. Just choking on my coffee.
We're trying to talk a bit at the same time.
Yeah, I'm about to have lunch and hang out with y'all.
It's going to be interesting.
Well, thanks for spending a much with us, man.
All right.
So I want...
What's that?
Don't spill that coffee.
No, I'll just choke on it.
It's all right.
I want to thank you both guys
for taking time to be here.
I want to share a little bit.
I think we'll start
just a little bit about our journey.
So for people who are maybe new,
I wanted to ask maybe, how did you,
and I'll first, I'll throw this to Byron first.
How did you find like kind of your first discover
that like, this is what you want to do,
that you're, you found that artistic voice.
Was there a moment when you knew that,
hey, I want to share this with a wider audience?
For me, I think I always kind of wanted to be an artist and try to get out there,
especially back in the 90s when Image Comics came out.
I really wanted to suddenly be a comic book artist and go to comic conventions and stuff like that. But life never worked out quite like that for me in that regard at that time.
Then in 2009, I was still doing my art and everything,
but I had done a picture, and that picture was of my zombie breaking in.
It's like my flagship image now, and that was the one that said,
okay, I think I could probably try to sell my art online,
and then I tried and have a lot of more failures and success,
but I keep going.
Awesome.
Thang?
How about you?
For me, it's a bit like I've always had the inclination towards drawing.
I went to art school from the fifth grade to the 12th grade um but it absolutely killed my passion for art like i i
i literally stopped drawing for like eight years after i finished high school so that wasn't the
moment when i found that artistic voice you were talking about uh it it actually happened with the
wax community i never had the intention of picking up a pencil, drawing, or even considering myself an artist.
Literally, the community supported me in a way that they just made me an artist.
They convinced me.
I didn't believe.
The community believed in me more than I believed in myself.
And that's how I actually became an artist and found my
artistic voice it was with wax and the wax community like in 2021 i was i was just a
regular collector i started with uh street fighter series one i think it was like february 2021
and like the community was like so awesome i just had like i just couldn't have enough
like, so awesome. I just had, like, I just couldn't have enough, and during that time,
there were, like, a lot of, kind of, like, hmm, they kind of were, like, slop, slop art,
like, a lot of them were, like, really badly drawn, and they were, like, selling for an
obscene amount of money, and, and, like, in my, like, deep down in myself like come on i think like i can do like a better
job and not charge a penny for it just like prove i can do it so i i just i just created this
character that is momoco today made the first design you can actually see as the first template
um i wanted to also get whitelisted to prove like i can actually
do this so atomic hop told me i got to do a second template i i've drawn the second drawing of momoko
got whitelisted uh and like gave away all the nfts gave it to like people that i admire
they were like influencer bigger collectors people that I connected with in the WAX community. So it was just like a gesture from me to just like give it to the community.
Back in the day in 2021, I was like winning giveaways like crazy.
I would win in a day six giveaways.
And some of those prizes were worth like 50, 100 bucks.
It was insane, you know.
And I genuinely wanted to give back to this amazing community.
You know, I never, I never even considered myself an artist.
Even, even, even after I got whitelisted, even like it took me over a year to like see myself as an artist.
And it only happened with the actual support from the community,
the wax community.
I generally thought after I give away these nifties,
I'm just going to stop.
You know, I thought I was like, that's it, you know, and like with the community and the support, I just kept making like another template and another drawing and another drawing and another drawing.
Then I started working for ultra rare and I learned stuff from ultra rare.
And then I started like implementing animations, variation design and like kept going going and going till like i'm like here today and streaming also so like i i literally became i
i discovered that i could be a streamer and an artist and i genuinely wouldn't have guessed i
would be one and i like this i i generally found like a purpose into my life and i'm not saying
it's like just like to make it sound more than it is like i generally found something that motivates me like
makes me want to wake up in the morning it's it's not for the money it's just for like my passion
of share it's just sharing my passion for art and connecting with a community so through streaming
through my drawings i'm having a blast you you know, and whether it's with just one
person, if I can make, like, one person
smile with the anime titties I'm drawing,
it's like, it just makes my
day much brighter than it currently is, you know?
Sorry for the long
ramble.
No, that was perfect. That was great.
Shout out, Ghostcam,
welcome. Ghostcam's here. Ghostcam
will be co-hosting with me today. So, welcome, Ghostcam. Welcome, Ghostcam. Ghostcam, welcome. Ghostcam's here. Ghostcam will be co-hosting with me today.
So, welcome Ghostcam.
Welcome Ghostcam. Ghostcam is the house.
Hello, hello. Hey, I'm sorry that I'm late. Thank you for having me.
Oh, it's always a pleasure to have you, Ghostcam.
Just follow up for those questions. Byron and Fang. Do you guys ever get stuck or bored when you're drawing or painting?
How do you, what do you do to work through that?
Okay, let me start first.
So I actually, I've been having it lately.
And there's like no secret recipe.
I consider that the only way you can go through like a creative block or if you're just not in the mood of creating it's just going through it have the
discipline like just have the discipline and put in the hard work and like once that first hour
passes you'll just go back to your passion like Like just go with it. At least that's
what works for me. I like, even if I'm not in the mood, even if I'm feeling like absolute
dog shit and I just don't, I feel like I'm, I'm not getting the picture I want in my mind.
I don't feel creative in this moment. I just go with it. No matter what. Cause I know that
after an hour, I'm going to feel so much better.
Like, the first hour is, like, so frustrating.
I feel like I just cannot do it.
I feel like I want to give up, you know?
Like, some moments, like, I genuinely feel I would want to give up.
Like, I don't want to get out of my comfort zone, right?
So, like, that's why I do the streams.
Because, like, I want to push myself, get out of my comfort zone,
Because I want to push myself, get out of my comfort zone and draw on a schedule.
and draw on a schedule.
And every single time, I'm so freaking happy I've done it.
There hasn't been even a stream after one year of streaming and drawing every single week.
I haven't had even one stream.
I felt like there was no point in doing it.
I felt so energized.
It was so rewarding.
So I think it doesn't matter what you're doing if you're an artist if you're a creator if you're a writer if
you're a painter an accountant if you're having like a bad day just have the discipline get up
and just do it like i i don't think there's any magic trick to it
and just do it.
I don't think there's any magic trick to it.
Consistency is key.
Byron, what are your thoughts?
Oh, wow, man.
What can I add to that?
That pretty much covers everything.
Even if you don't feel like doing it,
show up and do it, right?
When I get kind of down in the dumps
about what I'm doing
or what I'm working on,
I try to go back to basics.
I'll take like a blank piece of paper and I'll just start scribbling circles on it or squares.
And then from there, I'll try to make it now a 3D square or I'll try to add the shading, right?
Like I go back to things I started to learn when I was a kid.
And then by going back to those or even choosing a different kind of medium, like a crayons, for example,
I go to something I'm not normally doing.
So I'm working on the shading or I'm working on perspective
or I'm using crayons and trying to figure out how to make these blend.
By doing things like that, it kind of forces the mind to either relax
and enjoy the process or work through just that one thing
and put everything else that you're doing aside.
And then it's like Black Lang said, like once you're done, once you start doing it,
you just kind of get into it and it evolves.
And then even if you don't like what you finally accomplished,
you will like the fact that you accomplished it.
Other times, though, when I'm pissed off, I'll take a painting that has been struggling
and I will put black all over it until there's nothing left but a skull.
So, I mean, different strokes at different times right i don't know i think i lost my topic
i also wanted to add on what byron said that was like an amazing technique i've never tried it
but i think the just the first lines if you can get the first lines going that's like the breaking
point where you feel like you don't want to do it but like if you just get the first lines going, that's like the breaking point where
you feel like you don't want to do it.
But like, if you just get past like the draw, the first line, once you get through that,
you're literally, that's it.
That's it.
You'll just get.
So that's exactly a good idea.
That's a really good idea.
Put those scribbles down and grow from there.
It works.
That's really great. I never thought about erasing almost everything to like
refocus yourself solid stuff uh control of the lead you know yeah yeah go to take the next question
i do i'm just like always my microphone. Yeah, I actually would like to know. I mean, you told us about how or what was your thought behind it why is your
community the way it is i mean they are totally different the horde and the loody club so i'd um
yeah i'd like to to hear frank first and then byron if you don't mind
and then Byron, if you don't mind.
Okay.
So because all the NFTs I've made
were 0.5% freely distributed,
so that means from 2021 till the present,
every single template that was minted
on the Loot Momoko 22 collection
has been given for free.
Whether it was for specific requirements,
like a specific wise dislike like you had to own
something or something every single nft has been given for free so like literally um like that that
was like a very easy way for me to build a community since there was no uh requirement for
entry at the beginning at least so like literally i've been doing just like giveaways over giveaways
over giveaways like till today i still do giveaways and that's pretty much how i built like a
base of a community but it's slightly more than that like i like firstly i'm not just an artist
like you gotta be a a community man you gotta be a marketing person you gotta be a community manager. You got to be a marketing person.
You got to be a bit of everything, a jack of all trades.
And Ghostcam is an incredible example at leading as a community manager.
If you guys need an example, I generally think she's the strongest community manager we have on the live.
She really knows how to lead the community and create events and gather
people and lead them and she's truly inspiring like she always inspires me in that regard
but i feel that you always got to think from your collector's perspective when you create something
don't just put it just for the sake of doing an art for me because i had like the background i
started as a collector and i'm still a collector i still buy still collect i still complete sets on wax like this experience actually helps me
understand what's what's like a mint structure what would be desirable like how can i add value
over the stuff that i'm making so everything i think it through the point of view of a collector as in what they want you know i'm not
just making art for the sake of art and even when i'm making it it has to have a purpose it has to
have a goal in mind so i think like if you have if it's if the idea is like well thought and you
could think about your community and if you don't know much about your community do your own homework and
do your own research about your community and what what they would want to collect you can just go and
ask them it's like really simple and from my own research was that i'm going to create um the first
exclusive club of a not safer work pfp series that's basically how a lot of people know my collection
is from the word loody which is the pfp series there are only 555 pfp series that were made
in in 2022 and like there's like the floor price considering it was free like the floor price is
still pretty high in my opinion um and like the only way you can
gain access into like this discord server is you got to have honeycoms synced and you got to have
the pfp in your wallet so like literally you need to own this to get inside a club where you have
you have like sneak peeks you can vote for like future designs uh you have the private chat you
have like some sort of like
bots with like you can have there's like an ai mogokko you can chat with her and she's like
role-playing as herself the bot uh they're like couple cool things that you just cannot get unless
you're you're a member and that's where like share a lot of sneak peeks behind the behind the scenes
of like the animation process i'm doing after effects my
sketches so the stuff that i don't show on twitter that i don't show on twitch the stuff that like
nobody knows so it's like a it's like a mini patreon you know like people that have a membership
and they get access to like exclusive stuff and i just do it with the blockchain with the pfp
um you know that that was what I decided from like the research.
I felt like I really wanted this.
And it was like based on what the stuff I've seen on other blockchains.
And I just tried to make it and put in my own spin on it.
Not trying to copy.
If you see something that's successful, don't copy it.
Try and make it your
own and do your own research i feel being authentic and genuine is what is going to get you farther
away but like don't take my opinion for granted because like i'm not making money out of it like
literally in my in real life job i make it a month more than I make it a year from streaming and like the collection from secondary market fees.
So like don't take everything for granted.
Like if Fang says you got to do it like this, you got to do it like this.
No, you got to find your own way.
And for me, the reward is the validation and the support from this amazing community I managed to get.
amazing community I managed to get.
So I'm not looking for the money.
I'm looking at building a community
and having a fucking blast
every time I stream, every time I draw something.
I just want to have fun.
Sorry for being this long.
Sorry, guys.
You're fine.
It was great to hear.
So, yeah, Byron,
give us your insights and curious um things happen by fluke
and chance you gotta be lucky and take it take a shot when you see it happen i don't know like
it's it's all just random i i never started um making the art and making and minting on wax
with the idea of building a community it kind of just
happened uh i just when i first started on wax everyone was like oh yeah right on art kind of
like what blackline was saying like there was a lot of really bad art out there and uh when and
when i started more artists were starting as well and so everyone was just hungry for art and wax
was i think two cents at the time or even lower than it is now and they're gobbling it
up we're we're selling like editions you know 20 30 40 editions for just dollars on the like just
for for little bits right I was always told that let the market decide your values and almost give
give your work away just like what black playing did give your work away and the market will decide
your value so I did that a lot I gave shit loads of work away and the market will decide your value. So I did that a lot. I gave shitloads of work away and sold some,
got invested in Wombat Dungeon Master.
My work is in there.
I haven't upgraded that in a long time, but I need to.
Anyway, I just kept doing things that people said,
hey, try this.
So I would try it.
Hey, look what Nefty Blocks did.
So I would go and I would try that. Look, NFT Hivefty Blocks did. So I would go and I would try that.
Look, NFT Hive made a PFP machine.
So I'd go and I would try that.
And I would just give it away because I could, right?
There's no real upfront costs for us to mint our art on wax.
It's pennies, really.
And to give it away is more pennies and then people sell it.
And then I get that wax on the secondary,
which I can use to reinvest into my own stuff and give more away. And then I get that, uh, wax on the secondary, which I can use
to reinvest into my own stuff and give more away. And I just kept kind of doing that. Uh, I got
involved with alien worlds and people were mining the land of Magor 22 one, and they were getting
my NFTs there for free. So I ended up giving like thousands and thousands of NFTs away over the last
couple of years on wax. And it, it was great, right? People would,
people love free. So when you're giving stuff away for free, they're going to come and ask if they can have something for free. And when, when I started to realize that people could
actually make money off my work in a, in a way where I could actually make a little bit of money
from them making money, that's kind of like where it becomes a game changer, right? So if I give my
art away and people go, when they sell it on secondary, I get a piece.
Well, that's pretty cool.
So I start giving more away.
And again, people just kind of gravitate to that.
The fact that Wax also let me make my own coin, the DHC coin, and then have exclusive
drops for that was really cool as well because it's my coin.
So I can give it away as much as I want.
I can give away millions of those coins and people will give it back to me because they want my art.
So it's another little circular economy.
And then tie that in with what happens on Discord with the dust.
And you can actually earn dust by chatting in my Discord.
You can earn DHC by working in my Discord.
You can earn free NFTs by just paying attention to what I post in the Discord.
Because again, like backbying too,
I give away more stuff in the Discord
than I do in the Twitter
because I want to reward those
that are actually paying attention.
And that's what makes Wax
so freaking amazing
because it's just so easy
to give, give, give.
Like Derek keeps giving off
little claim codes
in the Twitters and stuff cost him
nothing and he can give whatever he wants away like this is a really cool thing about wax and
the community has been amazing because they support each other quite well more so than I've
seen on some other blockchains which very very not only tribal to the blockchain but tribal to
the collection on that blockchain and wax is built a little bit different where we try to lift each
other up because that's the only way we're going to make it and i kept getting off topic uh basically the whole thing
is just keep being authentic showing up do the work be yourself put yourself out there as much
as you can it's hard uh especially like if you're only an artist putting out art only with no real
thought on a lot of that i mean i, I do think about things I have,
like for my Zickle army collection,
I had,
you got a Zickle that you could buy and then every trait on it is mutable.
So you can ask me to change the name and I would set up a blend where you
could upgrade your specific Zickle to have your name on it now.
And then you could change the color and stuff like that.
So I tried to think about things that collectors like as well.
Um, a lot of the work I put on Alien Worlds was puzzles, right?
You would dig for 16 pieces, find them,
and you would assemble a 16-piece animated NFT or whatever, right?
Like always kind of thinking about things like that.
So, yeah, how did I get started?
I just showed up, did the work, and never stopped.
And I kept trying to not chase the
dollar even though it's what everyone is here for but it's easy to get distracted by the money
and then get lost by the money so if you just kind of like give it away for free you don't
have to worry about the money it'll it'll show up eventually right anyway i wish i had more
marketing skills though that's for sure i learned a lot by by watching other people i wanted to add i still i i got i just checked so i got from byron in 2021
i just check right now at the transaction that it was from uh the 7th of march 2021 he did a
giveaway on twitter i wasn't an artist back i was just a collector and i won
his giveaway and he gave me two art pieces with a max supply of 50 like that that was like i still
remember it like can you imagine four years later i still remember when i won the nifties
from byron and we didn't know each other back then right like i still have those
pieces and i have like this like attachment to it because like i have one of like my first nfts from
his collection the first moment i've heard about it and like his art pieces are like like oldie
but goldie you know like they're really really badass so i really like it so like he really
really was one of a pioneer one of the first on wax doing giveaways and like during that
oh that's awesome uh and then hearing stories like that too i mean i'm sure you hear stories
from people that have collected your work over the years and they remember their first piece
they got from you or their first ever nft might been yours. And that's one of the really cool things that kind of helps me get up in the
morning too.
It's really good insights.
The one thing that I definitely pick up on,
as kind of mentioned by both of you,
I think is you have to be consistent.
You know,
Byron,
you said that you woke up,
you started and you just
didn't stop, right? So when you're constantly working towards something, it's like the,
you're always kind of aware of not that may come your way. Is there any other
hints and tips maybe around that that you might suggest to people who are just starting out?
Are there places where they should look or places maybe that they can maximize
their bang for their buck,
I think, for as far as getting their name out there.
And you're going to keep working.
I think you get what I'm trying to say.
I'm going to stop jabbering.
No problem.
I mean, that's a really hard thing to do
because I'm trying to restart
a couple of identities on Twitter just for my specific blockchain collections because I don't want to keep just repeating myself on my own and then everything gets kind of muddied, right?
For people starting, like, I don't know, I only use Twitter right now.
I have Facebook, but it's only just, like, a memory now. I don't use Instagram and I've only just Twitter right now. I have Facebook, but it's only just like a memory now.
I don't use Instagram and I've only just started on Twitch.
I think the best thing to do is if you're a collector,
I mean, if you're a creator
and you're trying to get your name out there a bit,
start showing up into other things,
like start showing up in the spaces.
If you see some of the creators that you admire,
comment on it, you know, start interacting with them
and so that they might come and interact with you.
If you say a really cool comment on their artwork, for example,
they say, hey, Black Bang, I really like the curve of that lady's boob.
Then, you know, Black Bang might come and take a look at your profile and see,
oh, this guy's an artist too.
I'm going to follow him.
And bang, there we go, right?
That's one of the only organic ways you can do it.
And then giveaways.
If you're a wax creator give away give everything away
you know nefty blocks are
bounty blocks are a really cool giveaway tool
where you can get followers and shit so
try everything push all the
buttons blackling what do you think
I'm not I'm like I'm not
sure like what advice I should give
because like right now i feel like
we don't have that many collectors and nfts are kind of under the water they are like how they
used to be so like what i recommend is trying to do a web 2.5 of throat
like it depends what you want to do you just want to sell nfts because you just want to sell it
you can stay web 3 but like if you want to build like an identity of an artist
and you want to try and like outlive the space or or like you know like survive through the hard
times which we currently are there there isn't much movement in nft space um i think you
should try to have a web 2.5 approach which means if you're an artist like try to be present not
just on x like i'm i'm posting my time-lapse videos on Twitter
and on YouTube because it's a lot longer format landscape. I'm doing multi-streaming
on YouTube and Twitch, and I'm talking with a TikTok agency so I can get a stream key and also
multi-stream on TikTok. I'm part of like six stream teams of different, different types. So
I'm in an artist club of streamers, of Twitch streamers. I'm in a VTubers club. I'm in PGG,
which you might know from CamNow and Consumer Breakers in PGG. I'm in a vtuber 30 plus years old club i'm like i'm trying to like network and try
to build genuine connections with as many people as i can to like discover where do i want to go
and how can i find and find like the the few people that i respect and they respect me back
and like build connections because I feel like you cannot
just make the art you got a network you gotta it's it's you don't you cannot be in 2025 just
the artist you gotta be uh the entrepreneur you gotta be the leader you gotta be the community
manager you gotta be the marketing person the animator it've got to be the jack of all trades.
And I feel that you cannot start like we did in 2021.
It just doesn't work anymore.
Like if you start just streaming on Twitch,
there are already like a lot of WAX streamers.
And if you try to copy what every WAX streamer is doing right now,
I'm not sure if this will be your like successful path like i recommend everybody try do your own research and find
which path is like the best for you because each each one of us are different like me and byron are
like completely different artists we have have different visions, different styles, different everything, right?
So like what I do wouldn't work for Byron and vice versa.
Or we would have some things in common like the Bounty Block giveaways, the Twitter giveaways, the Discord rewarding back to the Discord server giveaway, stuff in the Discord server.
Like I feel that you you gotta do your own
homework on this and i don't think there's a right or wrong way at going at this but like with the
current demand of nfts i think you should have like an open mind and try to think like definitely
outside of the box when you're like trying to build something because like you cannot just do what everybody
else is doing i feel that you got to try to be originally different you know like
but that's just me i feel like for some people it works right like it just worked but for me i just
cannot i i cannot i'm like i like i've seen like so so many ways to redeem on Twitch stuff.
And I thought about it for over a year.
How can I reward my viewers?
And I finally had the idea I needed.
Is that I'm going to reward my most loyal viewers with a custom Lootie PFP.
I've been asked multiple times by multiple people.
They wanted for me to make a custom
drawing for them a commission and I I refuse them all because like I just want to draw Momoko and
her anime titties right so um like I just found in my own way my own research in my own thoughts
a way to make it my own ideas
that I've seen somewhere else.
So I'm having a redeemable
and you've got to get 150,000 points.
You've got to be a diehard fan
to just get there.
And this way,
I can make something scarce very valuable
and reward my most loyal viewers.
And it's just exactly what I wanted, you know?
That's awesome. Good job on that one um i just wanted to mention one thing like when you're talking about the redeemables i'm not sure if this is a perfect time or not to talk about it but
that is actually one of the things that um wax is is actually ahead of the curve in my opinion
um with especially with the nefty Blocks updates or upgrades.
And that's kind of what I'm doing now with my stuff as well.
Like, I put out thousands and thousands of pieces earlier,
and some of them are ads, some of them are just, like, you know,
little pieces of a bigger puzzle.
So I'm trying to figure out a way to let those people that are holding them
burn them to get something better.
And that's a nice little feature that wax
has where we can do all these burns and crafts and blends and everything so i did the thing where
i gave away the horde's ass pack series eight right and they everyone that collected all the
pieces of certain series within that series because there was like a series of skull square
skulls speed skulls and ink sketches within that ASPAC 8.
And so if you collected all 16 square skulls, you got the extra special limited edition animated NFT.
And then I recently airdropped everyone that had that a golden ticket.
Now today they get to open up that golden ticket and they get to find out which of my original artworks they now own.
And they're not only a 101 nft from the own
byron's art collection but they also can redeem that uh and then i will mail them the physical
artwork so wax is set up for that and that's one way i'm trying to now reward the long-term holders
um and like with the bounty blocks again you can find out how many people are holding your
at a set really easily uh and how many are holding like a thousand of them so i sent out like i made an airdrop or a claim
drop for people that had 666 of my nfts at a certain snapshot and i set that claim up on uh
on nft hive and then so like i'm trying to basically reward the long-term holders so ones
that were back there in 2021 when the bull market
was just crashing all over the place and reward them with original art by burning some of the old
stuff they already have so trying to get that 2.5 web or web 2.5 going with the physical art and
then i want to work on a way to um allow people to redeem things for t-shirts and sticker swag and things like that
and talking with a couple people about that and that's really interesting like it's just
a constant i came out here to do all the art art art art and only art and now i'm becoming a uh
clothing designer sort of thing or trying to do merchandise and you know i'm not nearly on your
level yet black fighting but i'm trying you're way more organized merchandise and you know i'm not nearly on your level yet black
fighting but i'm trying you're way more organized than i am but i'm trying i haven't given up yet
but my whole shtick is going to be all about giving away the original artwork and so i don't
have to have it in my house anymore you get to have it so that's where i'm landing i've talked
too much too dude i think you're selling yourself too short like come on you're a freaking og like
and like i don't think it would be even fair like compare ourselves because we have like
completely different styles and you produce like you've produced so many art pieces like
i'm i'm i'm a little kid here if you want to compare it that way i'm i'm so tiny like you made so many art pieces yeah like there's no point even
discussing about like you're you're you're in a different league in that aspect well then i guess
i need someone to help manage me what do you say you need a job no seriously i got i i got a lot of
help um like a year ago i explored the other blockchain
that went on to say network and on the say blockchain and the cosmos blockchain and i
worked with a team there and they were the promoters the marketers the guys that were
going and making collaborations with other collections which is something wax needs to
do more of and anyone want to collab reach out help me out uh but working with the team doing
all those kind of things and they were even had like, one of the guys was even doing all the memes and everything.
Right.
And constantly putting out new memes with my art on it to the people that
they're trying to promote to and,
and the collectors and stuff.
So having a team,
Oh man,
does it ever make a big difference?
Otherwise,
yeah,
you're,
you're going the full course and running the gauntlet of everything.
And you know,
it's fun too.
You can find ways to make it fun, it's so much work so yeah it's not easy to be a one-man show if if you want to
be just an artist and you want to you got to do everything else the time you have left for drawing
is going to be substantially less than you even imagine it takes so much time to plan to do marketing to do community management
to stream to chat to do like so many aspects that nobody can expect how much work it is like
you got to involve yourself with so definitely if you do not feel you're ready for that you might need a team i personally uh do everything
by myself because i i um that's just that's just how i roll basically um what i also forgot to
mention on streaming um i feel that not just being original i think it's also really important to be
entertaining and for whether you're doing music or art or streaming i think when you
do your own research you got to think really well how can i be different than everybody else that's
out there right now like that like if you can answer that question i think you are you're on the right track and this can keep you
afloat and above a lot of other projects are going to come up and just copy whatever currently is
popping um like if you can answer that question i think you're you're gonna go and start doing it
that was a great back and forth guys good a lot of good insights i'm going to hand it off to a
ghost for the next question but this is a lot this is really a lot of like solid stuff here
yeah i totally didn't want to interrupt um i you both mentioned it or touched on it already so how about rebranding
yourself i mean i remember it was blackfang wax once now it's blackfang art um byron
explored basically every every blockchain possible if there's a technical opportunity. Byron is exploring it for us, if it works and how it works.
So I'd like to know how you felt about that or why did you feel like it's necessary?
I mean, like I said, you touched on it already, but how do you feel about rebranding, shifting
focus?
How do you keep your audience with you doing so?
I'll go first, I guess.
I can't remember who was supposed to go first.
I forgot my liner notes.
I've rebranded myself a couple times already in my lifetime.
There was a point in my life I got kind of really down in the dumps
and just deleted myself from the internet
because I was just fed up right uh and it was it felt good to do it in a way like you know and like
nobody really nobody really notices you're gone until like oh hey we haven't seen this post from
this guy for a long time right and i just needed a break from've, I've reset myself a couple of times now, um, with wax and my whole blockchain,
um, I don't quite know exactly what I'm rebranding into except to try to get rid of
original artwork. I want to focus more on trying to do bigger paintings. Really. I really want to
focus on just becoming more of the artists that I want to be. So I'm using what I have now on wax as a way to try to
channel that. And I'm using it like I'm also, you know, I'm on other blockchains. And like,
I wanted the reason I did that is I needed to write like I needed to try something different
because wax at the time, back in 2023, was really at a low point, like a lot of the crowd was really
mean to like, there was some collectors that were just freaking nasty Like a lot of the crowd was really mean too. Like there was some
collectors that were just freaking nasty and some of the old G's too. Uh, and they were letting it
known how upset they were about everything and everyone. And it was just kind of a bad vibe.
So I went off and I looked around a little bit and tried some other things and, you know,
expanded my brand of my name, right? Like my art my art that's basically my whole brand right there. My brand is my art
and and I've helped bring collectors now into wax and these people are like yeah
They bought my PFPs, but PFPs only go so far right. It's one thing
Nothing against PFPs. I love them. I love making them
but most collections and communities were based around just one drawing, one PFP with 8,888 different variations, for example.
And I didn't quite understand it.
I still don't quite understand it.
It still doesn't vibe with me that I would build my whole community around one piece of art.
My whole community is built around the fact that I keep pushing out art and handing it off to people and giving it away and making crazy, silly, dumb things like the Easter egg PFP I did.
So rebranding, I mean, no big deal.
I am who I am and I'm always going to be and I'm just going to keep pushing what I got.
So I don't know.
Did I answer that?
Blackfine, take over.
Please help.
I personally never had like a like a rebrand rebrand it was just like uh when i started a
collection i never pushed myself in the front i just i just used lewd momoko as like the entity
and the brand and the artwork and everything from like the twitter and me myself as black
i was just an artist.
I wasn't like vocal, I wasn't talking.
I was just like in the Telegram servers
and the Discord servers.
I wasn't vocal about it.
I was also like really shy.
I didn't want it to like be,
have the spotlight focus on me.
So I think it shifted once I managed to get the courage and um believe more in myself it
was it was literally all thanks to the wax community because i had so many amazing people
like for instance like ultra air the ultra team john and richie like they they they taught me so
many stuff on doing like animation variation design and like
john believes in me more than i believe in myself and i asked him like
like how do you think i can do this i've never done this before like he just showed me like in
premiere pro how to do it and like an hour in a zoom meeting and he told me like i believe i
believe in you and i think you're gonna do a good job
and like that was like oh that was like mind-blowing to me because like this person can
believe in me more than i believe in myself and i feel that it wasn't just john and richie it was
like tens and tens i don't know if it was hundreds of people. There was definitely tens of peoples
that believed in me. And that helped me like one year, two years later. It helped me also believe
in myself because like I have a lot of self-doubt. I have a lot of internal fights with myself. So I
really needed this type of support. And this is what makes me go forward and keep pushing,
this type of support and this is what makes me go forward and keep pushing keep creating art is this
community that validates my existence and like appreciates what i make and i'm having an absolute
blast with it uh i made i ghost cam mentioned i i started pushing myself forward with black
fan underlying wax when i started streaming initially i started streaming
just to promote some games like terraformers of many worlds my friends from pexagon and their
games like the intent was just like me uh like chatting with my community and like playing some
games i never thought i would be capable to share my art process. Because, again, I wasn't, I was, I was a bit afraid, a bit shy,
and, like, thinking I would fuck it up if I do it on live stream,
share my drawing.
Like, what if I fuck it up?
So, like, after doing, like, a couple of streams and a couple of streams,
I thought, like, oh, let me just test and see if, can I,
can I actually draw a drawing?
And it took me, I don't know, a lot of hours, a lot of sessions just to get it.
But once I started, I felt like, holy shit, I can do this.
And it was so rewarding.
And now all my streams are mostly drawing streams.
So I rebranded.
I changed my username everywhere on all my socials from Blackfang Underline
Art, Blackfang Underline Wax to Blackfang Underline Art.
The only reason was that when I connected with non-NFT members, so I have a foot in
the VTuber community, I have a foot in the artist community, and those communities have
nothing to do with nfts and i don't push it
in front of them because like there's a lot of hate against uh nfts and i'm trying to build like
genuine connection and if those people can give me the time and get to know me uh and it actually
worked like i managed to get like build connections with other streamers that I vibe so
much and so well and like when I told them about the fact that I got that I got picked for NFT NYC
and I make NFTs I was like so afraid they would hate me for doing it because there's so much hate
for NFTs and they were like oh man like I totally respect your hustle. I'm really proud of you. And I was like, holy shit.
I was so scared because I genuinely made such a good connection
with this artist that's also streaming and truly inspires me.
And I was afraid I would lose that connection the minute I started talking
to make NFTs.
But I revealed it and it was so good.
So because I'm trying to have this approach
and like not be just a a blockchain crypto bro that draws i'm trying to do it somewhat different
and that web 2.5 aspect i'm not i'm not trying to push the nft narrative on anybody they they'll
see the twitchy ties and think it's just a game.
But if people get to know me for who I am,
they will actually learn about
NFTs. So I'm trying to not put
any pressure and not get
any hate for it. So I'm trying to be
in different communities that have
nothing to do with those NFTs.
And hopefully I could
get some different type of people
in the WA wax blockchain.
You know, I don't know.
I'm just trying to do it my own way.
That seems like, excuse me, like a running theme.
It's like you have to kind of find what works for you.
And I was saying you kind of mentioned that earlier.
And Byron, your approach of just like getting in there and consistency and just doing it.
They both work for you.
And you both come out with kind of like different styles um each in your own like um areas so i think one
thing i see that you're both doing is that you're both just getting in there being consistent and
then figuring out what works and then just doubling down on that now excuse me sorry um for all our
listeners today if you missed it um both of our guests today
were featured in the ethereum chicago conferences community gallery so first off congratulations to
both you guys um would you mind sharing just really quick what does that kind of experience
mean to you what does it feel like seeing your work recognized on that type of a stage by byron
and then feng okay um well when um andrew it, I didn't really think a lot of it because in my lifetime, I honestly thought it was like a contest, right?
And I'm not a huge fan of contests or things like that.
I like hosting them.
I just don't like entering them.
But then when I thought, you know, just give it a shot.
thought you know just give it a shot um let's represent wax if i can and then i got accepted
Let's represent Wax if I can.
to me along with black playing and consumer break and a few others who i'm brain farting on right
now but you know when i when i learned like i told my wife and i told my friends that's really cool
i wish i could have gone there to see it to to attend it but i think things like that initiatives
like that and the ability to be seen by people that would normally not probably see your work is really cool like i'm i'm very
jealous of the times square thing that black plan got and you know how would i feel about that i'd
be pretty freaking amazed uh so anytime anybody shows my work anywhere i'm always flattered um
uh humble like i i it's it's uh what i can't even think of the word
it's unexpectedly kind gesture
that I don't know how to
reciprocate
I say thank you
I can't believe people actually want to see my work
sometimes
I don't know how you feel Blackman
Fang what does it feel like to you
when you see your work kind of selected for something
like this
firstly wanted to add i haven't got got picked
for the times square thingy so not yet i do not know if i got paid for times square i know i'm
just sitting at nftnyc inside of it and on their website they have like a gallery at the event
They have like a gallery at the event this summer.
So for Chicago, this is actually the first time I had my artwork shown in the physical space.
I never had my artwork shown anywhere.
Just online in the digital format, on streams, on website, and that's it.
So this is like a huge, huge accomplishment for me.
And shout out to Anthony from Pantheon.
I would have never known about this event if Anthony didn't tag me on Twitter.
I just applied with my latest artwork, which was the succubus back then.
So I'm really grateful to what anthony has done for us because like he literally like gave us like an
opportunity to show our art to people that do not know anything about wax like a lot of people that
have no idea of the stuff we make and it's like this is like a really good time to get out spotlight
so i'm like really really grateful and happy about it This is truly an amazing accomplishment. I cannot express it in words how it feels for me.
I'm generally speechless.
That's how I feel.
I'm really, really grateful to the community,
how much support and love I receive.
So it truly gets me excited.
If you guys do not know, I also uh i also got picked at nftnyc uh right now they've
been like 3 000 art submissions so it's it's like a huge opportunity i always i it was like a was
like a dream for me to get picked and uh like the next step is for the curators to pick only 100
artists that will be shown at times square on the billboards so if
you guys uh want to help me you can help me just by hitting like the the like button on my pin tweet
and hopefully the curators will actually pick me because this isn't a beauty contest this is a an
nft event and nft events the curators want to see actually have a strong community backing you.
They're not just going to pick it just for the arts.
They want to see more layers to your project and to your NFT.
So, you know, it's definitely more complex.
So, like, finger crossed.
It would be a dream come true to me.
But even if I don't get picked, I'm already, like, super grateful
having my art shown at that event,
which is, like, the biggest event for NFTs, I think.
And it's the first wax-minted NFT, I guess,
that will be shown at NFT NYC,
which is not just, like like an accomplishment for me this is
an accomplishment for for all the wax community because like i got picked because you guys showed
what what a big community we have like they look at this sort of stuff they don't just
pick it it's not a beauty contest right so like thank you every single one of you guys
that have been supporting
me for like the past four years i'm really grateful and with that everyone it's about time
um we're gonna be next space i'll be throwing a consumer break in a minute for the anftopia space
um the next space will also be featuring uh anthony pantheon and um the i believe the
community curator um from s chicago So make sure to check in there.
Huge, huge thank you, Byron, Blackfang.
Thank you for joining us and sharing your journey,
your insights and everything you've been kind of building
with your communities.
If you haven't already,
make sure to give them both a follow here on X
and check out everything they're building.
Blackfang and Byron,
any final thoughts you'd like to share
or maybe you want to share the best places
for people to follow and stay connected?
Fang, you, would'd like to share, or maybe you want to share the best places for people to follow and stay connected thing.
You,
you'd like to go first.
Yeah.
I suggest following me on Twitter and I post my stream schedule every week.
You can see what I'm working on every week,
twice,
twice a week,
typically on Wednesday and Fridays.
And I just share my,
my art process and you guys
can like literally ask me anything and i'm there with the chat always talking and chatting and
having a blast um and i also want to give a shout out to ghost cam who's who's truly truly inspiring
if you guys do not know ghost cam is she she's a baddie. She's a badass. Amazing artist.
Really has a big heart and an amazing community manager.
And shout out to our Looney Club and Looney Club members that are here in this Twitter space.
Thank you for coming over, guys.
Appreciate y'all.
I just want to say thanks for having me as well.
Best place to find me is usually in my Discord, actually, the Hordes Discord.
There should be a link on my Twitter profile.
I try to talk as much as I can because it's a nice little distraction in between the art.
Discord, I'm always checking.
So if you ever have any requests or just want to chew the fat, join me there.
Register your wax wallet and start earning dust while you chat too.
So there's that.
Other than that, thanks everyone for collecting, for commenting, encouraging me over the years.
It's been amazing.
I can't say enough how much it means to me is what I'm trying to say.
Really appreciate it.
And for the Horde, praise the Horde.
I was actually going to give away a whole bunch of freebies to those people that commented
their wax wallets during this session, but there was no way to comment.
So they can't do it.
And the only people that knew to do that would be in the Discord.
So it pays to be in the Discord.
So now I have to give some free stuff away to them just because they wanted to, but they
couldn't.
All right. Thanks again for having me always a pleasure um both you i would be remiss if i didn't send a big thank you to ghost cam for helping with the space and adding her own insights
um ghost cam is a big um impetus between um or it's behind our art spaces um here on wax um
on wax um ghost can is there anything you want to share before we break for today
ghost cam is there anything you want to share before we break for today
i'm still processing all the things i've heard actually this was such a great space thank you
to byron to feng for um doing this for just having this genuine conversation it was
really an experience and um i'd like to hear both of you again on our spaces at
some point so yeah
that's it
from me I'm still
catching up with things in real
life I'm a bit all over the place
today I'm sorry
thank you Ghostcam
we appreciate you
shout out to Tommy
everybody give a clap to Tommy.
He's been making all these awesome Twitter spaces.
Come on, guys.
Show some love to Tommy who's been nailing all these.
It's not easy to be the host.
He's been the host for so many years.
Everybody, give a clap to Tommy.
He's been killing it.
He's been slaying. He's been slaying.
He's been in the trenches here.
You know, being in the spotlight. Oh, gee. Show
some love to Tommy. Thank you so much,
Tommy, for making all
these sweater spaces and thank you, Ghost
Cam, for being here with us.
You guys rock. Appreciate you all.
I am
very, very humbled by that. Thank you so much
I think that these spaces successful because the community that always shows up shows out shows off
and for the guests so always throw back to the guests my co-hosts y'all are the glue so
Let me of course and let me make sure I thank everyone here listening to our space
Thank you for coming as I just said that whether you're here live or you're catching the replay we appreciate you tuning in all right um it's about
to start make sure you head over to the wax drop weekly space hosted by the end of topia team break
man welson christia um they cover wax drops and wax news every week today's special guest as i
kind of alluded to will be anthony and pantheon and tiara the curator of the f chai community
art gallery you do not want to miss this one. That's our show.
Next week, we'll be back chatting with... I'm going to have to double check because I'm going to have to shuffle up my schedule,
but we'll have someone possibly next week.
And then the week after that, I believe we'll be having a Women of Wax space.
So I'm excited to host that again.
Everyone stay safe.
Watch out for each other.
Happy Wax Wednesday. Thank you.
