“Be first. Be fast. Be 100% online.” - The mantra of every crypto and NFT degen.

Let’s face it. This is not realistic for the majority of the human population. Most people have jobs, a family, and a life outside of crypto and NFTs.

WaterMargin187 is the creator of 3D Anime, an anime-inspired NFT collection available on NFT.io (Enjin’s NFT marketplace). Known as “Mark” in real life, he also works a 9 to 5 as a warehouse manager in England.

Despite entering the Enjin community late in May 2023 and his busy work schedule, Mark embraced the powers of Beam (Enjin’s proprietary QR code-based digital asset distribution system) to distribute anime art to the community.

We all have that guy

We all have that one friend that gets us into trouble. Luckily for 3D Anime, it was a good kind of trouble.

“My initial spark came from my friend That Guy (@IceCreamGreezer) / X, a brilliant and very talented artist who showed me some of his NFTs one day, and out of amazement I often asked him, how he did it,” the 3D Anime artist narrated how he came to learn about NFTs.

Mark learned how to make NFTs from his good friend. And after downloading the right programs and watching videos, he was all in on this NFT train.

Funnily enough, WaterMargin187 did not start on Enjin immediately. He looked at other “more popular” platforms and proceeded to set-up accounts there. Fortunately, That Guy came in the nick of time.

“Forget about Opensea, your talent will be lost in the many artists that have been there for years plus there is a new market which has emerged and it is still in beta stage…” Mark recalled what IceCreamGreezer said.

Aside from the allure of entering into a new market, IceCreamGreezer shared the power of Beam QR which would massively ease the way NFTs could be distributed. Instead of manually copying and pasting hundreds of NFT addresses, people could now easily scan a QR code and receive an NFT in seconds.

Distributing Anime NFTs via Beam

Though still in beta mode, NFT.io quickly stood out as an affordable and seamless platform for everyday lovers and creators of NFTs. Signing up on the platform and going through the minting process provded easy for Mark.

“It felt that everybody could own a piece of art without having to pay astronomical ETH gas fees,” Mark said.

The 3D Anime collection comes from WaterMargin187’s love for Manga cartoons. Heavily inspired by classics such as Fist of the North Star and Akira, Mark utilized artificial intelligence (AI) and Blender (a free and open-source 3D computer graphic software tool) to bring his creations to life.

“Now that I had the blueprint I just had to find a way to make them have their own personalities and traits,” Mark said.

The NFTs resemblance and relatability to real life characters ensured a strong reception within the Enjin community. Interested collectors could see themselves in the art and search for the character that perfectly suited their own personalities. The majority of the NFT collection consists of 1/1s where only 1 NFT of a certain character is ever minted.

While the art definitely deserved to be followed, Mark also realized how Beam helped collectors get a hold of their favorite NFTs on Enjin for free.

“I am a late comer to Enjin admittedly but the Beam feature was the best Enjin tool for me. I just post the QR code and it allows everybody to scan and collect 1 NFT per wallet,” he explained.

While Mark started 3D Anime to test his artwork, the collection quickly gained acceptance within the Enjin community. With this, Mark devised new ways to reward early and loyal holders through special airdrops called Mascots (non 1/1 NFT editions) and lore accompanying the anime characters. 

With each story, Mark differentiated each character from one another and added an extra dimension to his creations.

Leveraging Enjin’s community of creators

As a “latecomer” to Enjin, Mark also benefited from members that joined before him. These artists helped him navigate the creator’s journey.

“We have various discussions whether brief or not but daily, and I make it a ritual to say GM to all my friends if I got time…”

Early Enjin members such as Spitfire and xProe developed communities that have provided up and coming creators a market to promote and distribute their art.

ENJ Beam Club and Enjin Community Greece, available on Telegram, promoted creators to a highly engaged audience that are ready to claim fresh Beam campaigns. These chat groups have served as a go-to-market for many creators. Taking it further, community developers have also made a Telegram bot called BeamHubBot which tracks and manages Beam campaigns. 

Aside from developers, Mark has also connected with a core group of artists within the community. Not only has he learnt best practices, but these artists have helped Mark promote his work through collaborations.

“I actually have the support of the community, and support from brilliant Enjin artists such as Toka2204, Sonate008, SiemosYiannis, and PhilPark_NFT to mention a few names…who just like art and have a community spirit…”

With the right tools and community, it’s never too late to get started in NFTs.