Meet the artist: Chano
Who doesn’t love a bright and humourous collectible that throws you right back to the good old days where cartoons were all the rage? In this Artist Highlight, we’re meeting one of enter’s most popular digital artists to find who’s behind collections like Mind Creatures and Ratoons.
NFTs pave new ways for creative people around the world, and with the pandemic that hit the world in 2020, it has become a source of income that also provides freedom and flexibility for artists while shooting for the stars. One of the artists who has dived into the waves and found great success in the digital sphere is Chano - the mastermind behind some of enter.art’s most popular collectibles and PFPs.
Like many other creatives, his journey to NFTs started during the pandemic, and he has since filled the gallery of enter.art with bold characters filled to the brims with humor and charm. His various collections are distinctively unique, colorful, and often randomly generated, and are a go-to choice for collectors looking out for the next PFP gem.
Next to working on his own projects, Chano is also an active part of the Filipino NFT community, with projects like MPPCnft; a project that aims to showcase the Philippines as a world-class tourist destination through NFT art and community building. This guy is extremely busy across the board, and following him never gets boring as new projects are always brewing in the background. It’s safe to say that we’re extremely eager to see his projects brighten up enter.market in the coming times as well.
Recently, we got the chance to ask Chano a bunch of questions, spanning from who is behind the project to his challenges working in the NFT space, and what opportunities it has brought. Sprinkled with some of our favorite Chano NFTs - let’s dive right in!
Ratoon "The Enter Artist" - Ratoons Collection
Who is Chano?
Hi! I’m a Filipino digital artist. I’m not famous, but that doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy what you do. I’ve known since I was a kid that I have the talent to draw. I remember the time when I was creating my own version of characters in DragonBall Z, Pokemon, Ghost Fighter, and other anime series, and then some of my friends and classmates were buying them. Unfortunately, technology came, and computer games took my attention. I stopped drawing until I realized that I wasted my time instead of enhancing my drawing skills, but I do believe it's never too late. I graduated as an Associate Computer Programmer, though I did not pursue it because we have a web designing subject that also teaches us how to use the basics of Adobe Photoshop, and that’s where it started, until I searched for different things to do in Photoshop, from editing to digital art creation.
How did you get into NFTs?
I was looking for a job on an online job platform and I got a client that asked me to create a generative collection of a Ninja (Chano Olqno on Behance), and I earned a lot on it. I was asking myself how they make money out of those NFT arts, so I created my own version, and I realized you should have the budget for the gas fee to mint. I searched again to see if there is a platform that offers a free transaction or just a lower gas fee, and there I found enter.art.
Mind Creatures
I started to create a collection named Mind Creatures, which is more like sci-fi characters, weird creatures that are purely based on my imagination. Well, that’s how art should be created, everyone has creatures in their mind, and I believe most are weird-looking ones.
"Imagination that runs through your mind"....... A collection of fantasy characters living inside the Enterverse. Every people in this world have a creative mind that can make their own characters inside their head, like the superheroes and villains that we watch in cinemas....... This is the short story of Mind Creatures, The Spirit fox created a portal going to Enterverse to rule peace and stop those intruders who want to destroy the Enterverse but the Evil Overlord finds a way to create their own portal and their evil plan is to make other forces from other Cryptoverse destroy the good community of Enterverse. - Check the collection out here!
Ratoons
The next one is Ratoons. I saw NFT characters like monkeys, cats, and pixels, but I rarely saw a rat character, so I made it. I enjoyed it a lot when creating those and looking for more different Ratoon characters. If possible, I would like to have plush toys of Ratoons.
Ratoons are the new generation after human extinction. The first ratoon that steps onto the earth found a book about the human lifestyle and teaches to the next ratoons generation. Ratoons are non-generative art, each ratoon has different and unique characteristics. Each week new Ratoons will show up. - Check out the Ratoons on enter.art, Discord & Twitter
EnterBoyz
I also have a generative collection - the EnterBoyz. The reference was my younger days, and it shows the characteristics of a youngster, like playing, doing naughty stuff with the boys, and doing other stupid things.
EnterBoyz is a 5555 PFP generative collection. This collection can be likened to the lives of today's young people, some are naughty, good, or devilish. - Check out the collection here!
Lavish Animals
Next are the Lavish Animals. They are different animals in a human-like form that are living a lavish way of life. Last but not least is the Gangzter Apez, monkies and apes that are very popular in the NFT space, so I decided to make a PFP of that in a gangster form.
Lavish Animals is a non-generative NFT and a limited collection of 777 PFP artworks. They are animals who act like humans and wear luxurious outfits. - Check out the collection here!
Gangzter Apez are a non-generative NFT art collection. All Characters are unique and are drawn manually. If you're into ape gangster-looking PFPs, then this collection is 100% yours. If you buy it, you can request a png file format without the background so you can use it for commercial purposes. - Check out the collection here!
What excites you about digital creation?
The technology itself makes you skip a lot of processes that are a part of the traditional way of doing art.
You’re a self-taught artist - how has your learning process been?
YouTube is my best friend, it offers a lot of “How to” tutorials. You don’t need to pay someone to teach you, learning is actually free, just teach yourself some motivation.
Mind Creature #5 - Mind Creature collection
What have been some of the biggest challenges coming into the NFT space, and how do you overcome them?
Stop thinking you’ll be able to sell out your art immediately, trust the process and just enjoy what you do.
What is your fondest memory of working with art?
It was when the pandemic hit us. The company I worked with decided to include me in the retrenchment process, and I came to the point where I was almost out of budget to support my living. At the time, I was the only one in the house and my mother wasn’t able to come back home here in the Philippines because of the lock-down. I have a sister that would be able to support me, but I knew it wasn’t right because she already has her own family to support, so I looked into finding an online job, and I managed to get one. They asked me to make a cartoon portrait of the people from their photo in a Rick and Morty style, and they would pay me $5 for each figure. Each day I finished 5-6 portraits which included 2-4 figures, so that I could earn $50-100 in a day (I guess, but I’m pretty bad at math). As time went by, I decided to create my own custom portrait service on Etsy, and I managed to get more than 100+ sales. Now, I believe I can also make money out of NFTs.
Make sure to keep an eye out on Chano in the coming times for more fun collectibles and exciting projects:
Artist Highlights & Drops
Want to know who is behind your favourite NFTs? In this section you get to meet the artists of the enterverse and stay up to date on the latest NFT drops.
