To the average person, the idea of a digital art piece going for millions of dollars might sound ridiculous. However, crypto enthusiasts understand that, amidst the growing NFT boom in the blockchain arena, top-dollar items are more common than ever.

Art Blocks is currently one of the biggest algorithmic art projects, with its total sales volume surpassing $1.2B as of April 2022. But what exactly is Art Blocks, and what makes it so popular? Keep reading to find out more about this generative art platform.

What Is Art Blocks?

Art Blocks is a first-of-its-kind project that harnesses blockchain technology to create on-demand non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) for a fee. These generative projects can be a static image, 3D model, or even an interactive experience powered by creative coding. Either way, every single output is totally unique while also being stored on a blockchain record.

But more than just minting the project outputs, Art Blocks hosts each artist’s script on its blockchain platform. That means users can interact with the code before pressing the purchase button.

Three Types Of Artist Projects

• Art Blocks Curated NFTs: As the name suggests, curated projects are chosen by the Art Blocks team. These are generally considered “the best of the best”, with even an average piece earning a high floor price.
• Art Blocks Playground NFTs: Each active playground project is still vetted by the Art Blocks team, but not to the same degree. A well-known generative artist may use this blockchain space for more experimental pieces.
• Art Blocks Factory NFTs: Because Art Blocks is a big name among blockchain gallery sites, it can take up to two years before your piece of art can be listed on their website. To circumvent this thorough artist application process, the Art Blocks team created the Factory section. 

Factory projects only have two requirements: that they work and aren’t a blatant copy of other project outputs. However, users need to note that these art drops aren’t as heavily advertised as collections on other sections, like the Chromie Squiggle or the Fidenze collection by Tyler Hobbs.

How It Works

You know that Art Blocks uses blockchain tech to store each artist’s generative code, but how does this process happen, exactly? 

Minting Individual Pieces

When a user tries to mint individual pieces after setting attributes based on the project’s code, a “seed” or hexadecimal string is generated in a pseudo-random manner. According to the Art Block website, everything from a pair of characters or a single value can influence the outcome of an individual piece. This can be the artwork’s starting color or the dimensions of a specific feature – it all depends on the artist’s vision. 

Because these values determine specific characteristics, some are naturally rarer (and therefore more desirable) than others. This is usually what determines secondary market sales.

Creating Art Blocks Projects

While each Art Blocks project is unique, the vast majority are coded using p5.js, a Javascript library conducive to creative coding. As a result, artists can tweak their scripts and initial states to fit their creative visions and specific styles. 

All initial states (from which all iterations come) need to be deterministic, which means that no single seed can be used more than once. Otherwise, users will end up with two identical pieces as determined by their code. 

Once the code has been settled, artists can upload their projects to the platform and refine their work before users can mint their pieces. Then, they can continue to make slight adjustments until they’re ready to “lock-in” the project, which freezes everything from max iterations to project title to the artist name. 

How To Get Art Blocks NFT Drops

Owning generative art is an exciting concept for many collectors, but how do you purchase a piece for yourself? Here are the two main ways to get a 100% unique artwork from Art Blocks.

Buy At Initial Mint

Whether you just stumbled upon the hottest upcoming drops or have been camping out on the Art Blocks Discord Server, you’ll have to wait until the official minting date before you can purchase. However, once the project is live, you’re free to mint however many pieces the project allows. 

Do note that some artists enforce limits per wallet address.

Purchase From The Secondary Market

If there’s a specific Art Blocks project you’re interested in that’s long past its minting date, you may want to check out secondary markets to snag the NFT of your dreams. However, there is one main drawback to purchasing pieces on the secondary market: the prices.

If the piece you’re trying to purchase has one or more “rare” characteristics, you should expect to shell out more currency than otherwise.

Final Thoughts On Art Blocks

Everyone wants something unique, and that’s why Art Blocks works. Because of its algorithmic art generation, every piece is one-of-a-kind –⁠ and that also means its resale value can be astronomical if the project is successful.

So, whether you’re browsing NFT art for fun or for profit, Art Blocks can be an excellent place to get started.