How expensive is it to make an NFT from scratch? (2022 Beginners Guide)

This question comes up a lot and was put forward by one of our community members. I think it's important to break down what costs (not necessarily in a dollar figure as this can fluctuate from one blockchain to another) are involved if you decide to create your own NFT asset or collection.

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Creating the Art

This is usually the easiest part to some degree. If you're an artist who already has a backlog of designs that you could turn into an NFT, then this step will take no time at all. This also goes for creators who have content produced or designers who have a strong handle on Adobe Suite products.

However, if you don't have a design background or don't have anyone who may want to be involved in the project that does, there are platforms where you can find designers to help for a cost.

1. Behance - Designer Dependant (inbox them for prices)
2. Dribbble - Designer Dependant (inbox them for prices)
3. Fiver - Depending on what you want, the price can start at as little as $50 USD
4. Upwork - Hourly rate based, approx of $15-20/per hour for a designer

Before going to these sites and sending inquiries, it's important to have the following penciled down otherwise you're wasting your time and the designers. This doesn't mean you need to know every single detail, but a general idea of the below will make this process A LOT easier for both parties.

1. Style of design you like, gather some inspiration (visit Pinterest, OpenSea, Reddit, etc)
2. Your budget (Keep in mind there are other costs for minting etc)
3. The amount of NFT's you want to create

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Choosing a Marketplace

Now that you have your NFT art ready, it’s time to mint it and put it up for sale. For this, you need an NFT marketplace that supports the blockchain of your choice. There are a few options when looking for the right fit, so researching Ethereum, Solana, Tezos, and Algorand are great starting points.

One of the biggest differences between Ethereum and the rest would come down to the gas fees, security, and active users.

You can find previous threads at /WhatTheNFT that provide great insight into the marketplaces on these blockchains and where may suit best for your NFT collection.

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Pricing (How much should I charge?)

There are some factors that contribute to this and it's not always an easy task. If you're new to the NFT space, it’s better to start at a lower price. Once you have established yourself, you can increase the prices of your future collections or drops.

The golden rule most creators follow is to never mint their artwork if the gas fees are more expensive than the artwork itself. Many NFT projects also offer extra benefits for holders such as membership benefits, metaverse land, exclusive merch, and events, among others. In such scenarios too, you can price your NFT higher (this is a little more advanced, but content creators are looking to build in access to their NFT drops, so it's still relevant in some cases).

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Minting

Minting an NFT is how your digital art becomes a part of the blockchain–a public ledger that is unchangeable and tamper-proof.

Each marketplace will have its own steps to mint NFTs. Here are the basic steps you have to follow:

1. Create a digital file of your NFT art and make sure the file format is supported by your marketplace of choice.
2. Create an account on the marketplace, connect your wallet, and click the create option (this may be placed different, depending on the marketplace)
3. Upload your file, give a name and description, and add properties and unlockable content (if available).
4. Lastly, click create and you are all set!

The other alternative is Lazy Minting. Put simply, lazy minting is when an NFT is available 'off-chain' and only gets minted once there is a sale of the NFT. This means that the artist doesn't have to pay any upfront gas fees to mint their NFT. Another way to look at lazy minting is to see it as a way to defer the payment of gas fees until the NFT is sold. This really only makes sense though if you are going to use Ethereum, as gas fees can be very pricey at times.

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Hope this gives beginners a solid idea of costs and considerations when creating an NFT or collection. Minting fees and marketplace costs vary, so you will need to do a little research on your end. But this gives you a framework you can start to work towards. #WAGMI

Edit: Special thanks to r/WhatTheNFT