NFT Ksoids Creator: 8 Years in a Box, Sold Out in Almost 4 Days

The founder of the Brooklyn studio Myshli, VFX artist, motion designer, and director Danil Krivoruchko created the NFT collection of 3D Ksoids. These are 1000 vintage generative 3D characters, which were almost completely sold out in just a few days, getting the first place in the OpenSea rating and raising more than $40,000 for charity. Bitnewstoday publishes an interview with the author of Ksoids and lifts the veil of the NFT industry.

BNT: Tell us a little about yourself. Why did you choose this profession? Is there a particular story that inspired you to dive into a new industry?

I have several hobbies: VFX, motion design, directing, and they are all related to creative work and design. Oddly enough, my hobby started with my first job, where I've been making labels for canned fish. I remember this time with joy and irony! Back then I worked in a small advertising agency in the city of Simferopol. After that I went to college and studied as a programmer and then as a graphic designer. After graduation, I moved to Moscow, went through several more studios, grew from a designer to creative director, and 8 years ago I realized that it was time to move on and left for New York. Three years ago I left my job to become a freelancer. My clients include big brands from Apple and Intel to Nike and Boeing. But in parallel with my main work, I continued to create my own projects.
Several times throughout my career I was offered top jobs where I could earn more. Nevertheless, I persistently continued to do things I really wanted to do. So, even after 14 hours of continuous work in the studio, I would still go home happy to work on my projects. In the end I think it paid off, and the launch of the Ksoids NFT project is the proof.

Besides, the constant desire to learn and not be afraid to drastically change something also played a big role. I started as a graphic designer, then went to the web and interactive, then to art and creative, then to 3D and motion, and from there to visual effects. Each shift was insanely stressful when you realize that everyone is much better at this than you are. But this has motivated me to develop new skills and learn faster. Today, I can say with confidence that I manage to combine all the accumulated experience of past years and make projects at the junction of everything I have learned. This has already given me some freedom.

BNT: What led you to crypto and the idea of ​​creating Ksoids NFT? What inspires you the most about this project?

My acquaintance with the world of cryptocurrencies began back in 2017 — about a month before the first massive “to-the-moon”. I first heard about crypto technologies and art from Andy Alekhin, the co-founder of the Snark.art platform, a couple of years ago. At that time, he had already implemented several projects, and needed the help of a motion designer.

Since then, I followed what was happening in this market, but did not get involved until the beginning of this year. At that time, Beeple's artwork was sold in minutes for some crazy prices, and then in Instagram feeds I recognized some designers from New York studios and saw their posts about the sale of their artwork for crypto. I decided to try it too and applied for the KnownOrigin site, waited two weeks and got the status of an artist. I remember how I posted my first work at night, only to wake up in the morning and see that it has been sold. Since then, I have been actively engaged in this area.

BNT: How did you come up with the idea of ​​creating Ksoids?

I invented Ksoids together with my wife back in 2013. That year we just moved to New York from Moscow and it was important for me to be exposed to a new environment, so I did a lot of personal projects. The Ksoids were born out of my love for generative art and my wife’s love for cute creatures. To our delight, the project turned out to be successful — many design blogs wrote about it. I think this project greatly influenced decision makers to hire me for my first New York design studio. I even received an offer from some Chinese factory to start producing real Ksoids toys, but, fortunately, I decided that this was too much of a headache and rejected their offer.

The project was put in a box and waited for 8 years before being turned into NFTs nowadays. From time to time I returned to the Ksoids website, looked at random couples of Ksoids and was happy to find them all of the same cuteness. Recently, Facebook reminded me of my announcement of an eight-year-old project, I reposted the picture, and Andy wrote that it would be great to make an NFT collection out of them. I thought, "Wow, so I created digital collectibles before it became so popular!"

So the process went on. We spent about a month restoring a project from long-forgotten backups (8 years for 3D means already archeology), creating and testing a smart contract that would give buyers a random Ksoid, preparing a website and other materials for launch. On April 22, we launched. In four days we sold more than 80% of the collection and, in terms of volume, ranked first among new collections on the OpenSea platform for a week, becoming the top-10 among all collectibles. We donated more than $40,000 to charities — which is just the beginning — we will donate 20% to the Orangutan Outreach Fund.

BNT: There is a beef between conservative-minded people and digital artists that digital art cannot be compared with real "physical" art. How can you convince the "conservatives"?

Try to imagine our world without digital technologies at all. Can you? That is why there is no reason why digital art should be inferior to “ordinary” in some way. The classical art market is very inept, but sooner or later it will have to adjust to the ever changing market and will continue to change. Even if the NFT hype collapses in the coming months, digital art will still find its way into the world of “big” art. If not now, then in a year or two. We spend a huge amount of time in the digital space, art should become a part of it, just as music, photography and cinema have become.

BNT: What are the most common mistakes new professionals make when they enter the NFT industry? What can be done to avoid them?

Don’t expect too much. Media focuses on big names and sales, and it seems that everyone can instantly sell their works for tens of thousands — that's not true. Do interesting projects, do them regularly and you will get noticed.