You’re in for a treat! We were delighted to interview cryptoPOM, known for her fantastic 2D illustrations and hyper realistic character design. The colours burst out the screen grabbing the viewers attention.
cryptoPOM, thank you for taking the time to do this interview with us.
Congratulations on the minting of your new NFT “On The Internet, Nobody Knows You’re A Girl”. How did you first get into creating digital art?
Digital art is something I actually really learned how to do in university. I studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design (with a major in Sequential Art, which is comic book design), and we had a few courses in digital illustration, although the majority of our course-load was actually almost all traditional. However, once I learned the ease of working in Photoshop with a Wacom, I became an addict!
Your work primarily consists of incredible 2D illustrated portraits helping to create some masterful character design. My favourite is this stunning ‘HODL’ piece from your Night Traders series.
What are your inspirations? This could be artists (NFT or non-NFTs), TV shows, music, or any random thing on the internet!
My inspirations all tend to stem from elements of culture/society/politics that I pick up on and find interesting. For example, one of my works on Foundation criticises the “what about the environment?” naysayers we’re seeing a lot of in the NFT space at the moment, pointing out the hypocrisy that these same people often engage in anti-environmental behaviours that do just as much (if not more) damage to the environment (such as driving gasoline-fueled cars, as an example).
My influences in terms of my visual style really come from all over the place, though. Anything from Mondrian to Chilean street murals/graffiti to graphic novels and video games can end up being something that gets me excited to create something.
What made you decide to mint your artwork to sell as an NFT?
Honestly, I was in the cryptocurrency scene for ages before I heard about NFTs, much to my embarrassment. It was in the middle of some totally random crypto Discord when I was showing some of my artwork to them, and somebody said, “Wow, you should apply to Nifty Gateway!” So, I am shamefully late to the game, but as soon as I researched NFTs, I knew it was something I absolutely had to do.
What is your work process from idea to finish?
First, of course, is the idea phase. I don’t draw without direction — I always try to have a goal and image in mind of what I want (although this can go changing along the way). Once I have it in mind, there are times when I start with a traditional sketch first, but those days are honestly becoming rarer and rarer. Either way, the beginning phase is always the base sketch, whether that’s using traditional methods and scanning it, or drawing directly on Photoshop (I was using a fairly crappy Wacom up until it just gave up on me yesterday — I’ve placed an order for an upgraded version). After that, it becomes a process of grabbing textures appropriate for the shading I’m doing (I use many open source texture platforms to find what works for the image), and then layering colours and shadows/highlights over the finished piece. I experiment with collage effects here and there (old newspapers or frantic text, for example), but that’s usually more or less the whole process.
Cryptocurrencies and NFTs have been dominating the world news for the past year thanks to the meteoric rise of Bitcoin, Cryptopunks, and of course, the famous Beeple $69M NFT purchase. What are your honest thoughts on the cryptocurrency and NFT space right now?
I’ve been in crypto since around 2015, and I’ve always been a huge advocate of it, so it’s just fantastic to see it beginning to really reach its true potential. I’m so excited for what the future holds, and you can bet I have my fingers in many different crypto pies!
What are your other passions besides creating art?
Oh, definitely video games. I’m a MASSIVE gamer, although now with NFTs taking over my life, I find that I don’t have enough time to devote to this passion. Sometimes, I wish I could, but even when I take some time off to play, I start feeling the FOMO and get back to work/Twitter/Discord to get in on the action again! Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of crafting, survival and management games, but I’ve been on the look-out for a good JRPG to sink my teeth into. Wish me luck on my quest!
This is something CoinBurp asks new starters in the company as part of their Q&A interviews that get posted on the blog, but the answers are always great! What TV show or movie are you ashamed to admit you love?
Everyone mocks me for this choice, but “Party Monster” is a REALLY GOOD MOVIE. It’s darkly hilarious, it’s camp, it’s pure hedonism, AND it’s based on a true story. I have no idea why people give me crap for it! I guess I’m not ashamed to admit it, since I’m promoting it so much, though… I actually don’t know that anything really shames me, though, I’ll admit to any guilty pleasures. Ooh, here’s one, trashy reality TV. Anything from “Toddlers and Tiaras” to “Dating In The Dark” can totally grab me. Now THAT’S shameful!
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for us. The CoinBurp team can’t wait to see you grow as an artist!
Post some links to where people can find your artwork and social media accounts. Also, feel free to shout out anything else you wish.
Thank you so much for having me! Feel free to follow me on Twitter ( @cryptopom1), I’m always thrilled to make new friends. As for my artwork, you can find me here:
And also, do check out the CryptoVoxels art gallery I run and curate!
Important Information
Cryptocurrencies are generally not regulated and investors do not have access to recourse or compensation schemes such as, for example, in the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Investing in cryptocurrencies can be high risk and investors should carefully evaluate their appetite for risk and their understanding of trading cryptocurrencies prior to entering into a transaction.
