On this episode of RAS, we caught up with one of Singular's brightest, Rachel (@ladykusama), the co-creator of the Kusama Kings collection, and sole creator of Kutes, a collection of 150 adorable animal NFTs.
Like many artists in this space, she found NFTs through a friend, and has since decided to make it her home for the forseeable future. We were happy to speak to her given that she's a Singular advocate. It was great learning about her favorite NFT artist, creation process, and her NFT goals.
RMRK: How did you start your art career?
Rachel:
I have been drawing as a hobby since I was a child, and spent my high school years doing digital art commissions over the internet. I studied Computer Animation and Visual Effects at the university, and worked at an animation studio and as a freelancer.
How did you get into NFTs?
I am new to NFTs, having first been introduced by my cousin, and co-creator of Kusama Kingdom, KBL. Kusama Kings was my introduction to NFTs after launching in October 2021. As well as creating NFTs I have recently started purchasing them too.
What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on?
Kusama Kings is the first project I have worked on, and will always be special to me for that reason. I loved being able to have so much creative freedom in the design of the Kings, and coming up with new designs each week is always a blast.
NFTs have provided accessibility and exposure to various forms of digital creations. Do you have new artists that you follow and what do you find interesting about them?
I really enjoy the work of Luigi Lucarelli. I discovered his art recently after seeing his collection, Pastel Beach Mall, on Singular. He is a really talented character designer, and is able to convey a lot of personality in each of his designs. My first NFT purchase was a unique piece by Luigi Lucarelli which I now proudly use as my profile picture.
What is your creative process like?
I start by researching the subject I am drawing, and looking at lots of reference images. I use Photoshop and a Wacom Intuos graphics tablet for all of my artwork. I always create a sketch that I am happy with before beginning the final drawing. For Kusama Kings, each element has its own layer to streamline the drawing process. I always try to be organised and use a non-destructive workflow where possible.
Where do you get inspiration from?
Having experience in the computer animation industry, I draw a lot of inspiration from animated movies. I have a large collection of “The Art of …” books. These books are typically released alongside animated movies and feature a huge variety of work by talented professional artists. Claire Hummel (@shoomlah) and Lois van Baarle (@loishh) were among the first digital artists I discovered, and I continue to follow them and greatly admire their work in particular.
What are your goals in the NFT space?
NFTs provide a way for art to be more than just a pretty picture. I want the NFTs I create to look good, and I also want them to have utility. Creating a community around my art is something I want to achieve, both through Kusama Kingdom and through my own personal projects.
How do you see the NFT space shaping up?
I believe that NFTs will become more and more mainstream and will grow alongside the metaverse. We are already seeing major companies creating NFTs and this is a trend that I expect to continue. NFTs themselves will take on a form like we have seen from the Kanaria project - becoming more customisable with increased utility.
What would you most like an NFT platform to have?
As an artist I would like to see NFT platforms allow artists to build royalties into their NFTs. This would allow artists to generate a passive income from their work long after their collections are complete. I also would like to be able to create NFTs with the same level of functionality that we have seen from Kanaria.
Imagine a use case for RMRK 2.0 powered NFTs. / Have you considered making use of RMRK 2.0 functionality in your future works? To get context, you can check out this post.
We already have plans for how to use RMRK 2.0 functionality in the Kusama Kingdom. We will be releasing a collection of NFTs with this functionality once we are able to. I am excited about the potential and it is fun as a creator to think about all the possibilities that RMRK 2.0 enables.
What exciting new stuff can we look forward to from you, and where can people find you?
With Kusama Kingdom you can expect 2 new collections to launch in January 2022. Our Twitter is @kusamakings and our personal Twitters are @kusamabinladen and @ladykusama you can also see our website www.kusamakingdom.com for more information.
We love it when we talk to artists that are focused on building NFT collections atop RMRK 2.0. It's exciting to envision what the future holds for interactive NFTs on the world's most advanced NFT protocol.
From the little we've seen with Kusama Kings, we are very curious to see how the Kusama Kingdom will unfold in RMRK 2.0. We are bullish that with RMRK 2.0, the only limits to creativity (NFT composability) will be the creator's imagination.
Going through the Kusama Kingdom website, it's clear to see that Rachel and her partner take NFT marketing seriously. We hope that other artists will do the same--here is a short guide we published on 7 tips for launching a successful NFT collection.
Are you a talented digital artist? Start minting your cool NFTs for free on Singular, a brand new limitless NFT ecosystem. Apply here to get a sponsored trial of Singular worth 500 FREE MINTS! Feel free to refer your friends, we will be happy to sponsor them too.
