If you are thinking about starting to create your own NFT but don’t know where to start this guide is for you!
In it, I’ll walk you through creating your very first NFT, step-by-step so that you can be confident in the process and learn how to create your first NFT!
You’ll learn from my experiences and mistakes so that you can avoid them yourself, and I’ll share the tools I use to help me along the way. I hope that this helps you create your own first NFT!
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Creating Your First NFT | How To Create An NFT For Free
Table Of Contents
What Is An NFT?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a key part of crypto collectibles.
An NFT can represent all kinds of things, from physical assets like cars and jewelry to virtual assets like XP in a video game or medals for military service.
This post will show you how to create your own non-fungible token and list it on OpenSea.
For more background on how we’re building a marketplace for digital collectibles with non-fungible tokens, check out our white paper.
Before diving into creating your own NFT, here are some things you should know:
First off, just because they’re called non-fungible doesn’t mean they aren’t interchangeable!
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Why You Need A Digital Asset Manager
You may not know it, but you already use digital asset managers. When you save a file in an image editing program like Photoshop or GIMP, that file becomes a digital asset.
Digital asset managers are invaluable tools for keeping track of all of these assets.
For example, if you’re an artist who wants to create an album cover or a video game with customized art and 3D models.
Digital asset management software will allow you to keep track of all of these files as they’re being created.
By using a digital asset manager, you can ensure that all of your files are correctly labeled and organized so that they’re easy to find when you need them.
Additionally, digital asset managers allow you to track which digital assets have been used by other creators.
This means that someone who uses one of your assets without permission tries to take credit for it.
You’ll be able to identify them in an instant and either get what they owe you or stop them from using any more of your work.
How I Use Trezor
While Trezor is most commonly known as a hardware wallet, that’s only one of its use cases.
In addition to storing and securing crypto assets, Trezor can also function as a USB security key for authorizing computers or access tokens for websites.
With multi-factor authentication (MFA), a site can send you an email with a link that asks you to confirm your identity by pressing a button on your Trezor device.
And when paired with two-factor authentication (2FA), Trezor can replace something like Google Authenticator, which generates random numbers and sends them via text message every 30 seconds.
This means if someone steals your password but doesn’t have physical access to your phone, they won’t be able to log in.
It all adds up to a simple but effective way of protecting against unauthorized account access.
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Storing ERC20 Tokens On Trezor
There are multiple ways to store ERC20 tokens. This tutorial will show you how to use a Trezor hardware wallet with MyEtherWallet and MetaMask.
If you are completely new, it is recommended that you read our introduction to Ethereum wallets here before proceeding.
TREZOR’s official documentation also has detailed instructions for using their hardware wallet in combination with other wallets as well as for setting up and managing accounts.
Let’s get started! First of all, we need to set up a TREZOR account by installing and signing into their Chrome extension.
Go ahead and install it now if you haven’t already done so (you may need to reboot your browser).
Finally, we are ready to send some Ether from one address to another.
Creating Your First NFT: Step-by-Step Guide
Creating Your First Non-fungible Token (NFT)
The best way to create a new non-fungible token (NFT) is by using OpenZeppelin’s ERC721 standard.
From there, you’ll want to look into using ZeppelinOS for deploying and upgrading smart contracts on Ethereum.
The process for creating and managing an ERC721 token with ZeppelinOS can be found in their documentation here.
It’s not technically difficult, but it does require a fair amount of steps so make sure you’re sitting down before getting started.
Once you have created your NFT, you will need to deploy it on a blockchain such as Ethereum or NEO.
You can then create a marketplace where users can trade/buy/sell tokens that represent real-world assets like collectibles or game items.
For more information about how to do all of these things please see my previous post: How I Created My First Non-Fungible Token (NFT).
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Deploying Your First Smart Contract
A lot of people get overwhelmed when they hear that Ethereum is written in Solidity.
And yes, Solidity is a new language with its own rules, quirks, and syntax. You’ll be learning as you go—but there are plenty of resources out there to help you learn Solidity.
In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that Ethereum has more educational material available than any other blockchain platform out there right now.
For most developers, it’s best to start at the solidity documentation page and check out some tutorials after that.
As far as what to write, just create something simple like a smart contract that deploys an NFT (non-fungible token).
If you don’t know what an NFT is yet, don’t worry about it. Just focus on getting your smart contract deployed.
Mint And Share Your NFT
You can create an ERC20-compatible NFT and mint it on multiple platforms, but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll focus on how to mint it using Ethereum Wallet.
Simply navigate to Contracts and then select Watch Token.
After you input your token information (for example, its name and symbol), click OK.
It may take a few minutes for your newly minted token (e.g., TokenPuppy) to show up in your wallet; when it does.
However, make sure you share it with as many people as possible! To do so, go to My Tokens and choose Share Token.
There are two ways you can share your token: via text or email. The former is simple—just copy/paste your contract address into a message and hit send—
But if you want to get fancy, try sending tokens via email by creating a custom link through MyEtherWallet.
It directs users to view their tokens by entering their public addresses into an email template.
To create such a link, go to MyEtherWallet, enter your public address into the Contract Address field, and paste it into the Email Link field.
Click the Send Link To Email button and copy/paste the generated link into any email template of your choice.
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Start Selling Your NFT
If you want someone else to handle processing transactions and building a community around your NFT, you’ll need to consider using a marketplace like OpenSea.
The big benefit of using a marketplace is that it takes care of all of these issues for you.
So all you have to do is create an entry that includes your name, description, and sale price in some crypto (to pay for transaction fees). You can even include an image.
Once that’s done, send people straight from your profile page to purchase them on OpenSea.
If they want more information or further assistance with any problems they might encounter while trying to buy tokens.
You can provide support through social media (or directly) while simultaneously making more sales and spreading awareness about what you’re doing.
Just make sure to always be ready to answer questions and resolve issues quickly, as buyers will likely expect quick service.
If they are spending their cryptocurrency on something that doesn’t exist yet.
Now Start Working On Your Actual Project: This could mean anything from launching a website or writing code to finalizing design concepts or taking pictures of prototypes.
In other words, start doing whatever it is you set out to do when you created your initial NFT in the first place!
The nice thing about having your own marketplaces set up is that there will be no shortage of interested buyers who are looking forward to receiving what you offer as soon as possible.
But don’t rush things just because there’s money at stake—be sure everything has been properly tested before releasing anything publicly.
How Can I Get My Tokens Off The Ethereum Blockchain?
There are three main ways to take a token off of an Ethereum blockchain:
- By swapping it out for a token on another platform,
- By distributing an asset-backed token on a sidechain,
- Through an atomic swap.
Swapping tokens for tokens on another platform: If you’re looking to move from one smart contract platform—like Ethereum—to another—like NEO—you can do so by trading your original tokens for native tokens built for that blockchain.
By creating new sidechains and issuing asset-backed tokens: Often referred to as stablecoins, these assets have real value tied directly to them. They’re backed by fiat currency, precious metals, or even other cryptocurrencies.
This means they aren’t subject to market fluctuations like most cryptocurrencies are.
And because they’re issued on a separate blockchain from their backing assets, they can be traded without transferring ownership of those assets.
One way to create such a system would be with Counterparty and a Bitcoin 2x hard fork (more information here).
Through atomic swaps: Atomic swaps allow two parties to exchange different cryptocurrencies without using an intermediary like ShapeShift or Changelly (though these services still exist).
The idea behind atomic swaps is simple: It takes advantage of how both blockchains keep track of balances differently but uses hashes as unique identifiers for transactions.
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What If You Don’t Have Any Experience In Blockchain?
To create a Non-Fungible Token, you’ll need some coding skills.
If you don’t have any experience in blockchain or are looking for a place to start, there are plenty of online tutorials that can walk you through it.
We recommend using Truffle, Solidity, and Remix for development and MetaMask is an Ethereum wallet.
Make sure you have time on your hands before embarking on creating an NFT—it could take some time!
There is no real minimum viable product for an NFT; if you create one with just one or two properties, it will still be useful.
That said, we would advise creating at least three properties: quantity (how many of these tokens exist), timestamp (when they were created), and the owner (who owns them).
This will help ensure it doesn’t get lost when sent to someone else via Ethereum smart contract. When you’re ready to launch your new NFT, visit our marketplace to sell it on OpenSea! Good luck!
How To Create An NFT Marketplace?
Now that you’ve created an NFT, how do you go about creating a marketplace?
There are several platforms available including Ethereum and Qtum that provide tools for building and running a smart contract-powered marketplace.
If you have experience with smart contracts, these platforms may be worth looking into.
However, if you’re new to blockchain development or are not comfortable coding smart contracts yourself, there’s another option. User Interface for Marketplace Creation Platforms.
Several projects have been developed recently that enable users to create decentralized marketplaces without coding any smart contracts themselves.
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