Savage Talks Pod

John Westbay aka Westgard is an artist from south Brooklyn with an iconic logo, "LOVE" built into many of his artworks. He is creating clothing, furniture, and most importantly artworks for print and display. We discuss his beginnings, his barbershop he opened, motivations and inspirations in the art world and a ton of other topics. Great interview and story behind him, and a ton of hustle shown through his history as an artist.

Huge fan of his work, very excited to display my Biggie piece that he made, which you can check out in the link below.

https://withlovebywest.com/store/ols/products/juicy

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/westgard/

Personal Site:

https://withlovebywest.com/

Tommy was an early addition to the Nifty Gateway family after graduating from Standford. We talk the ins and outs of the company, the recent explosion in growth, how they choose artists for the platform and a whole lot more. Awesome to hear from him about his excitement and passion for the company, and I'm looking forward to the continued growth and expansion for him and this space as a whole!

00:00 - Starting out with Nifty Gateway

00:52 - Education and background

03:41 - Tommy's would-be alternative career paths

06:32 - Dealing with growth of the platform

08:38 - Artist selection criteria

11:43 - Making decisions for accepting artists

13:17 - Showcasing digital art

14:42 - Possible brokerage system ideas

16:51 - Realizing potential of the platform

18:34 - Connection dropout

18:52 - Back to interview

20:12 - Top favorite artists

22:16 - Impact on Covid on the space

23:38 - Music in the NFT space

27:35 - Potential future industries in the NFT space

30:21 - Tommy's other participations in the NFT space

34:02 Favorite and future drop mechanics

36:51 - Changing opinion of skeptics

37:44 - Ratio of people coming to Nifty Gateway for curation

41:53 - Application to drop process for artists

43:45 - Upcoming changes to the company

45:46 - Relation of crypto to NFT

49:40 - Physical displays of artwork

51:04 - Giving value to artwork

58:02 - Purpose in life

58:45 - Closing

Justin has been a digital artist in the space, working professionally as CCO of DeviantArt. We discuss his success in the industry, the pivot that has occurred since the explosion of NFT, where he thinks the space is going and many more topics.

I had stumbled upon his work via Twitter for his most recent drop on Nifty Gateway which has an array of beautiful pieces. Diving deep into his personal work page, I realized he has two distinct styles across 2D and 3D mediums. I highly recommend perusing through his pieces because they are all incredible, and they may come on market soon as NFTs which is also very exciting.

Twitter

https://twitter.com/justinmaller

Personal Page

http://justinmaller.com/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/justinmaller/

00:00 - Justin's introduction and backstory

04:36 - Career decision

07:04 - Art style

13:37 - Plans for future drops

14:45 - Drop mechanic preferences

18:06 - Favorite shoe

20:54 - Responsibility of NFT platforms

22:57 - Possible upcoming collaborations

24:59 - Future of the crypto art market

28:09 - New generation of artists

31:19 - Meditating about the situation

32:38 - Other overlapping hobbies

34:19 - Favorite books

35:26 - Natural progression of NFT technology

37:44 - Plans for collaboration

39:18 - Going through the NFT explosion

43:09 - Working for oneself vs for clients

44:25 - Deviant Art's future in the space

45:00 - Other motivations for making art

47:43 - Purpose in life

49:48 - Closing

Stephy Fung is a digital artist I stumbled upon through twitter who makes 3D art and fashion pieces across a spectrum of traditional Chinese clothing, modern takes on traditional Chinese clothing, and streetwear which I absolutely adore. She has an amazing presence across Twitter, Twitch, and TikTok, which I think is KEY for success as a growing artist to link with your fans and put a face to the artwork.

Hopefully we continue to see her, and more artists put out artwork to showcase, highlight, and educate people on their culture. It was great to see her pieces after failing to find any during/after Lunar New Year celebrations.

Hope you all enjoy and draw some inspiration! (Pun not intended)

Twitch

https://www.twitch.tv/stephyfung​

Known Origin

https://knownorigin.io/stephyfung​

https://foundation.app/stephyfung​

Foundation App

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/stephyfung/​

Twitter

https://twitter.com/stephyfung

Cornelius is another amazing digital artist who has created a ton of works in the digital space over the years. He is best known for his piece on the Octane homepage, which is just another notch is belt of success. It was an absolute pleasure to discuss his current works, past works, getting started in digital art at the age of 15, and a ton of other great topics.

Thank you to the Twitch chat for really keeping this one lively, it was much appreciated!

Cornelius' Site

https://corneliusdammrich.com/

SuperRare Page

https://superrare.co/zomax

Derek was an amazing podcast and came in from all angles with a ton of knowledge and expertise. I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing him through the lense of a collector and YouTube channel producer because he has that knowledge of what makes things pop and gain traction which I think is super important for artists in this space.

https://twitter.com/DerekHowe

Jenny is knowledgeable and talented in a wide array of subjects. She has a ton of enthusiasm she puts into her work and creative fronts that continued to impress me throughout the podcast. Learning about her take on the bond between purchaser and artist, philosophy of buying crypto, and experiences throughout crypto was a great insight to her life and art.

Shoutout to my guy Lane for another great recommendation for the podcast it was an extremely fun podcast!

Rarible:

https://app.rarible.com/hahawomanchild/onsale

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/hahawomanchild/

00:00 - Intro

00:54 - Art style and discussing some pieces

04:12 - Jenny's home workstation

07:51 - Incorporating programming into artwork

09:16 - ETH 2.0 network

10:35 - Investing in tokens

12:34 - Oracles in blockchain technology

15:08 - Working for crypto companies

17:00 - Thoughts on art marketplaces

22:48 - Making connections and the artist-collector relationship

27:34 - Bitcoin and the stock market

31:44 - The crypto art market and its risks

38:35 - Future style development

43:05 - Drop mechanics as part of the art

44:59 - Dealing with high engagement volumes

47:24 - Personal hobbies

49:59 - Discussion on Clubhouse

51:45 - Stand up comedy

55:20 - Opinion on anonymous selling platforms

57:57 - Art in Jenny's daily life

01:04:03 - Covid's effect on Jenny's life and art

01:12:04 - Jenny's purpose in life

01:14:56 - Different bases for motivation

01:19:48 - Jenny's reason for making art

01:24:37 - Outro

Tim is an amazing artist I had found about a week ago before his massive success on KnownOrigin and SuperRare. He has been in the digital art world for quite some time with animations for TV shows before this, and now working at a University to help teach others. The chat was moving for this on Twitch which was awesome as well. I really enjoyed chatting and look forward to more success moving forward!

Own Website

https://timriopelle.squarespace.com/

KnownOrigin

https://knownorigin.io/timriopelle

SuperRare

https://superrare.co/timriopelle

The interview with Baka started off with a lot of heavy aspects discussing his personal struggle making it as an artist. It was moving to hear the level of bullshit he's had to go through to make it to where he is at currently. We discuss his ongoing push for more mental health awareness, his DMs being open so people can reach out as needed, and how he is starting a discord for artists with weekly mental health check-in.

The second half of the interview was still serious in parts, but had enough hilarity that my cheeks were hurting when I finished the podcast. Another great guy, I'm happy to see him succeed. I think we will have a quicker turn around for some possible panels with him and others, which I'm extremely excited for the opportunity.

Twitter

https://twitter.com/TheBakaArts

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bakaarts/

SuperRare Profile

https://superrare.co/bakaarts

Ethertales

http://ethertales.com/

Filip Hodas creates dystopian digital artwork styled after pop culture. He has absolutely exploded onto the scene of digital art, but still remains extremely down to Earth. He won Man of the Year, Digital Category for Esquire Magazine this year, and is currently being featured on Oxford Street until the 28th of Feb, 2021. It was an honor to speak with him about his success, plans for the future, artistic creation and a ton of other topics.

Creations

https://www.behance.net/Filiphds​

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/hoodass/