One of the questions we frequently receive, both in our help desk enter.help and in our Discord community is: How can I increase my chances of being a featured enter artist? 

There is no doubt that being an artist is a lot of hard work, and that the work usually consists of many lonely hours in the studio, usually followed by trying to show your work to friends and family, with a voice in the back of your head that says, “They only like my art because they love me”. Then you have the times where you pace from venue to venue, begging someone to take you in and let your art shine. Most artists that have been in the game for a while know how it is to hear “you have the wrong image”, “this won’t sell”, “maybe next time”. 

Being artists and musicians ourselves, these experiences have been with us and inspired us during the whole process of building the first enter platforms. We want to give all artists a fair and equal chance to show themselves off and actually get paid for amazing work, while empowering them as much as we can to give them control of their own career, brand and future.

What does it mean to be an enter Featured Artist?

There seems to be a common misconception that the Featured Artists are already established and have a huge following on social media, crediting that as their main factor of success on enter. As a matter of fact, some of our Beta Artists actually sold their very first piece to a stranger after the Beta launch!

The Featured Artist gallery started out with all of the amazing people that were picked out to be a part of our Beta release. The enter curation team spent countless hours looking through applications from hundreds of artists. A common factor in those who got chosen was a clear vision of how they would like to use enter and what kind of content they wanted to provide to the platform. 

The enter Featured Artists are artists that know who they are, what they represent, and are uncompromising when it comes to their individual styles of expression. Another key factor is a willingness to learn, experiment and see what works, while still keeping their individual traits. The ones that stand out as “successful” on the platform usually also spend a lot of time connecting with the users in our Discord community and promoting themselves in their own social media (Low key guerrilla marketing, anyone?). 

What are the curators looking for?

You have probably seen it in our FAQ or heard it from one of our enter helpers: 

“By posting high-quality and unique art pieces on the Launchpad, you can be invited by our curators to become verified.“

Well, what does that mean exactly? 

Let us start with “high quality”. Most artists will of course refer to their art as high quality, but when working in the NFT space, there might be a bit more to it than buying the finest pencils or the best camera. If you are a physical artist, consider how you frame your work. For example, taking a picture of a piece of paper where you can clearly see the table beneath is perhaps not the most appealing way to present it. Details are everything in the digital world, where every little thing can be zoomed in on. Playing with different mediums and experimenting with how to keep the clarity and details of your physical work might result in getting your NFT recognised in a different way. 

So what about “uniqueness”? There are so many amazing artists in the world, and those who stand out often have their very own thing going on. They might experiment and try out all the new trends and techniques, but always while staying true to their own artistic identity. 

Fox_leader, from Launchpad Artist to Featured Artist!

Now this might be an unpopular opinion.. Avoid fan art! 

One of the most frequently suspended types of art on enter is fan art. As most of you know, making money off of fan art is a grey area, and we generally recommend all artists to stay clear of selling fan art NFTs without the copyright holder’s explicit permission. 

Another good reason to stay clear of it is, well, people love original content. The best way to stand out in a crowd is to make something unique. So why choose a motif plenty of artists have chosen before, when you can make something new?

Keep in mind that enter.art is an experience center, so the best way to advance is by bringing something new and exciting to the table. 

Make a difference through making an effort

It’s kind of self-evident, but nonetheless extremely important – make an effort! No matter if you create oil paintings on canvas or 8-bit creatures, jingles or full symphonies, buyers appreciate the dedication and care you put into your work. We all want quality, and quality comes from effort, so spend that extra time on your NFT, and it might just end up being the best extra time you’ve ever spent.

We’d much rather see 10 gut wrenchingly amazing works, than 100 NFTs created in five minutes. Most likely, your buyers will too! 

Think outside of the box and know your worth!

With time and effort comes price. We believe that all artists deserve decent pay for their work, but this can be hard to achieve out there in the “real world”. The enter platform brings visibility to a whole new set of amazing artists and attracts a group of buyers and collectors you might not find in a regular gallery. This means that artists can set the prices they deserve for their vision and the effort they have put into an NFT. When setting prices, take into consideration the time you have spent on your work, the amount of detail, the originality and of course what the majority of your pieces are sold for.

Many of enter’s most popular artists and creators choose a concept for their NFTs, and then mint them for a set amount of time, for instance “one week of crypto cats” or “one month of crypto dolls”. This is a really good strategy for creating anticipation and FOMO! Why not make your own roadmap for your upcoming NFT concepts? It’s a great way to show what you’ve got going on and what’s coming in the future, and will make buyers mark their calendars and set their alarms! Roadmaps are extremely shareable on social media as well, so faceinstatweet that stuff!

Having a concept for your NFTs will make them more collectable, and let’s face it, collectability is a big part of the current NFT space! Especially the first version and special editions of a concept can reach incredible prices, so make a strategy for your concept. 

Last, but not least...

Be creative and transparent in what you have to offer! Use the space you have in your NFT description to really flaunt what you’ve got. Is your NFT exclusive, multi minted, part of a series? What is included in the NFT? Whether it’s a print, a physical item, the original painting or exclusive access to your next gallery show, let the buyer know! The true fun of NFTs starts when you realise that you can use it however you like. 

Why limit yourself to a digital copy, when you can offer so much more? The opportunities to play and offer a unique experience for your buyer are endless, especially after we launched the multi minter and royalty splitting features. Go explore!

Make sure to make the most of it, stay creative and have fun!