As an artist, you might be looking for new means to sell your creations. In your research, you’ve probably discovered NFTs.
Beeple is one example of an artist who has used NFTs to become one of the most successful artists in the world. That said, I’m going to show you exactly how to sell NFT art in this guide below.
How to Sell NFT Art
1. Create Your NFT Art
The first step to selling your art as an NFT is to create it. There are no limitations to the type of art you can turn into an NFT. Here are some examples of kinds of art that have been sold as NFTs.
- Illustrations
- Paintings
- Photography
- Sculptures
- Writing
- 3D Renderings
- Pixel Art
- And more
If you’re wondering how you can turn something like a sculpture into an NFT, there are various ways.
Ultimately, you need to digitalize your art to turn it into an NFT.
This can be done by taking a picture of your creation or creating a 3D model of it and then uploading that file to turn it into an NFT.
Also, if you want to offer a physical piece of your artwork with the NFT you can do that too. This is called “utility” and can be added to the terms of your NFT when you create it.
If you don’t already know how to turn your art into an NFT, you can quickly learn how to create NFT art in our step-by-step guide.
2. Choose a Marketplace to List Your NFT
Once you have created your NFT art, you need to choose which NFT marketplace you want to list your NFT on.
Although an NFT marketplace doesn’t determine your success as an artist, it does play a role in who might see your work and collect it.
But, if you do a good job marketing yourself as an artist, a marketplace is secondary to your reputation.
Here are some of the most popular NFT marketplaces by blockchain to sell NFT art.
| Best NFT ART Marketplace | Blockchain Network |
| Foundation.app | Ethereum |
| NiftyGateway.com | Ethereum |
| SuperRare.com | Ethereum |
| MakersPlace.com | Ethereum |
| KnownOrigin.io | Ethereum |
| Mintable.app | Ethereum |
| Opensea.io | Ethereum |
| SolSea | Solana |
| Rarible | Flow |
| AirNFTs | BNB |
| Opensea | Polygon |
| AtomicHub | WAX |
| Opensea | Avalanche |
| Objkt | Tezos |
| Palm Studio | Palm |
| StratosNFT | Arbitrum |
When choosing a marketplace to list your NFT it’s important to consider how easy the minting process is. For example, Opensea allows you to create NFTs in minutes with minimal technical skills required, as do most other art-focused marketplaces.
3. Determine A Listing Price For Your Art
Before you list your NFT art, you need to determine what price you are going to list it for. This can be hard if you’ve never sold an NFT before. Nonetheless, there is no right or wrong way to list your NFT.
In fact, you will likely have to experiment with different pricing. If you want to sell your NFT art quickly, listing it for a lower price could help.
Then, once you start gaining some traction you can increase the price of your art as the demand for it increases.
Popular NFT artists like XCOPY have used this approach successfully to sell their NFT art.
Originally, XCOPY accepted offers on his artwork for $50 to $150. Then, as people began offering more for his work, he continued to increase the price. Now, XCOPY’s NFTs sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars each.
If you’re still having trouble deciding how much to list your NFT for, simply consider the costs associated with creating your art.
Supplies and materials, blockchain fees, commission fees, and other associated costs can add up quickly.
At the very least, make sure your listing price allows you to break even on what you initially invested to create your art.
Note: Depending on which blockchain you create your NFT art on, you will list your NFT in the native currency of that blockchain.
For example, if you create your NFT on Ethereum, it will be listed in ETH. So, make sure you know the value of the cryptocurrency before deciding on a price as it differs from fiat currency.
4. List Your NFT Art
After determining a price for your NFT art, you are ready to list it on your marketplace of choice. In general, there are multiple ways that you can list your NFT. You can list your art for a set price or put it on auction.
When you’re just starting out, the auction method is a good option to help you determine how others value your NFTs.
With that, you can set a minimum price and if someone is willing to pay more or you get multiple bids on your NFT, then you can assume there is some level of demand for your artwork.
That’s why many art-focused marketplaces like SuperRare and Foundation use an auction-style method to sell NFTs. Of course, some trial and error is necessary to help you determine which listing method you prefer most.
5. Market Your NFT and Build Your Brand
As excited as you might be to sell your NFT art, it’s important to note that it won’t sell on its own. There are thousands of other artists who want to leverage NFT technology to blast off their careers as an artist, but it’s not that easy.
To sell your NFT art you have to let people know it’s for sale. How do you do this? Marketing. How do you market NFT art?
The same way you market anything else—by sharing your journey, getting involved on platforms where other artists and collectors are, and helping the people you meet along the way.
That said, you want to utilize social platforms with underpriced attention—meaning the platforms that will give you views even though you don’t deserve them.
Currently, TikTok, YouTube, and even Twitter in some cases are particularly good platforms for artists.
TikTok and YouTube allow you to share your artistic process and story tell in video form, while platforms like Twitter are great for networking with others.
By combining these platforms and interacting with others, you will begin to build a community of people who are interested in your art.
Overall, it’s not a race, it’s a marathon. It takes time to build a brand as an artist. And if you really want to turn your passion for creating art into a career, you have to build a brand. There’s no way around it.
Da Vinci, Warhol, Van Gogh, Pollock, Beeple, XCOPY, FEWOCiOUS—they have all successfully branded themselves as good artists. That’s why you know their names.
You have to do the same. Maybe not to the same extent as them, but to some degree. People have to know your name so that they know what you do and what you offer.
If you’re looking for more practical tips to market your NFT, check out our guide.
How Much Does it Cost to Sell NFT Art?
The cost to sell NFT art averages anywhere from $0 to over $200. This price includes blockchain transaction and minting fees, and marketplace fees (which range between 1% to 5% of the sale price). The cost to sell your NFT art is determined by the blockchain and marketplace you use.
Here is the cost to sell NFT art on various blockchains.
| NFT Art Blockchain | Cost to sell NFT Art |
|---|---|
| Ethereum | 0.01 – 0.05 ETH ($0 – $150+) |
| Solana | 0.00001 SOL ($0.01) |
| Polygon | Free (subjective to marketplace fees) |
| Tezos | .08 – 3.6 XTZ ($0.20 – $8) |
| Cardano | .17 – 1.5 ADA ($0.13 – $1.15) |
| WAX | 0.13 – 13 WAXP ($0.05 – $5) |
| Avalanche | 0.008 – .02 AVAX ($0.50 – $1.50) |
| Zilliqa | 0.7 – 2.9 ZIL ($0.05 – $0.20) |
The most costly part of selling NFT art is the minting process, assuming you mint your NFT on Ethereum. The Ethereum blockchain requires that you pay a transaction fee to both mint and list your NFT.
These fees can cost as little as $5 and over $200 depending on how busy the network is. But, don’t worry! There’s a way around this fee called lazy minting.
Lazy minting allows you to create NFTs with zero transaction fees by not publishing them to the blockchain. Rather, the buyer pays for the minting fee at the time of purchase. You can create NFTs for free on Opensea using this method.
Is It Easy to Sell NFT Art?
Selling NFT art is not as easy as you think. First, you have to create the art, then turn it into an NFT which incurs various fees, and then you have to market yourself and your art in hopes that someone will buy it. Undoubtedly, the most difficult part of selling NFT art is the marking portion.
The good news is that if you have a passion for creating art, you’re on the right track. But, not all artists are good marketers.
And that’s okay. You will either have to learn how to market your NFT art or you will have to find someone who is willing to help you. Moreover, getting to a point where you make enough money to support yourself and your family can take a long time.
Most great artists aren’t successful overnight. Rather, their love for art and consistent effort eventually snowball leading up to success.
How Much Does NFT Art Sell For?
According to data gathered from DappRadar, the average NFT art sells for $200 to $2,000. Ethereum NFTs maintain the highest average with a sales price of $1,301, while the Tezos blockchain has the lowest all-time average of $38.78. If you are just starting, expect the lower end of the spectrum.
Here is how much NFT art sells for across various marketplaces and blockchains.
| NFT Art Marketplace | Blockchain | Average All-Time NFT Art Sales Price |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Ethereum | $2.03k |
| MakersPlace | Ethereum | $1.52k |
| KnownOrigin | Ethereum | $353 |
| Solanart | Solana | $899 |
| Teia | Tezos | $4.35 |
| Fxhash | Tezos | $93 |
| Hic et Nunc | Tezos | $19 |
| Marketplace With the Highest Average: Foundation | Blockchain With the Highest Average: Ethereum | Total Average NFT Art Sales Price: $702.62 |
Even when taking all this data into consideration, there’s no telling for sure how much your NFT art will sell for.
There are several other factors that ultimately determine the perceived value of your art.
- Your brand
- Type of art
- NFT utility
- Supply and demand
- Blockchain
- Marketplace
Beyond NFTs, art is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.
So, to increase the likelihood that someone will pay you a lot of money for your art creations, you need to get your name out there.
How Much Do NFT Artists Make?
According to a poll on Twitter, 62.6% of NFT artists make anywhere between $1 to $1,000 per month. Another 25% of artists make $1,000 to $5,000 per month, while the remaining 12.5% earn $5,000 to more than $10,000 per month. Though this is an average, it gives you a good idea of what’s possible.
The amount of money you make is usually a result of the amount of time you spend building your brand and creating art.
Hence, if you want to make more money as an NFT artist, create more art and grow your brand.
What Type of NFT Art Sells Best?
There isn’t one type of NFT art that sells best. Rather, all types of art can be sold as NFTs. That said, digital and physical paintings, illustrations, 3D models, and animations are all types of NFTs that are often sold on as NFTs. The more unique your art is, the more likely it is to stand out.
Here are some artists that have leveraged NFTs to take their careers to the next level.
- Beeple (Digital/Graphic Designer)
- XCOPY (Digital/Crypto Art)
- FEWOCiOUS (Digital/Crypto Painting)
- SnowFro (Generative Art)
- Amber Vittoria (Painter/Poet)
- Tyler Hobbs (Visual/Generative)
- Gavin Meeler (Paintings/Digital)
- Mad Dog Jones (Digital)
- Drift (Photographer)
- ThankYouX (Paintings/Digital)
As you can see, these artists all have their own styles. And if you look at their artwork, you will notice that they all are unique from one another.
More than that, they all have incredible stories which they have shared with the world using social media and other means of communication like podcasts.
How to Add Utility to NFT Art
You can add utility to your NFT art by providing additional products, services, lessons, and exclusive access to your collectors. The most common utility of NFT art is a physical piece of the artwork itself. Ultimately, there’s no limit to the type of utility you can add to your NFT art.
Here are some examples of utility you can add to your NFT art.
- Physical art piece
- Signed artwork
- Exclusive merchandise
- Personalized note or message
- Art lessons
- One-on-one meeting
- Q&A
- Meet and greet
- NFT airdrops
Adding utility to your NFT is important. The goal of utility is to provide your collectors with more value.
By providing collectors with more value, your potential to increase demand for your artwork is even greater.
The great thing about NFT utility is that you are in complete control as the artist. You get to decide what utility you offer, how long you offer it for, and any other terms that might be necessary.
Furthermore, you can always add utility even after you sell an NFT.
Selling Your NFT Art Key Takeaways
Learning how to sell your NFT art is easy. Executing and making it happen can be tough. Here is how to sell your NFT art.
- Turn your art into an NFT
- Choose an NFT marketplace
- Decide how much you’re going to list your NFT art for
- List your NFT for sale
- Market your NFT and grow your brand as an artist
If you are new to both art and NFTs, check out this 10-step guide on how to become an NFT artist.