sim1thehor

Just a guy who spends too much time on the internet, hoping to hit generational wealth sometimes. @spaace_io

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

The reason people value hand drawn art over AI content is emotional satisfaction. If something was created by hand it contains: TIME.
And time equals effort. The artist had to learn the craft, hone it, and then put it to work with intent and passion.
AI on the other hand produces everything in seconds by recycling things which already exist. There's no effort behind it. It doesn't actually --create--.

Let me give you an example. Let's say you'd hand your mother a letter that expresses your gratitude and love for her. How do you think she'd react if you told her AI wrote it. She'd be disappointed, right?
Because even if you gave AI the input and even if AI maybe wrote the letter better than you could have yourself, it lacks the effort. It's simply not real.

And no matter how good AI will get, this void can never be filled. Anyone bullish on AI art or AI movies is completely out of touch with human nature. We do not value things which contain zero effort. Naturally we understand that they are hollow copies of the real thing and hence worthless.

Traditional art has proven the same point a long time ago. You can buy almost perfect replicas of famous paintings. But why are they worth so much less? Because, again, the artist can only give his soul to the artwork once. It cannot be copy pasted by plagiarizing the original.

Humans value time, effort, passion, and a love for the craft. That will never change. Never. In fact, that appreciation will only grow stronger as the world is flooded with slop.

That's why Majin builds on the foundation which Azuki laid. We honor the craft, we respect artistic integrity, and we make sure you can feel the soul in everything we create.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

For our character concepts I focus on creating unique and memorable personalities. Not only with regard to their look, but posture, angles, and expressions are crucial to explore too.
Your PFP is your online identity. That makes creative diversity one of the most important aspects. From my perspective we had enough of the "Stormtrooper collections", where it's pretty much just 10,000 clones with different hairstyles and colors. At this point, the space has matured enough where we can do more and create a much deeper IP.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

Not all monsters are bad.

beach house - space song (slowed + reverb)

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

New PFP ₍^. ̫.^₎

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

For the creation of our logo we relied on hand-brushed calligraphy by a Japanese artist. We went through hundreds of analog iterations before we arrived at the version which you see below.
Even the color is based on 朱色 (shuiro), which means; vermilion, and is a traditional orange-red.
Everything we do is done with purpose, great attention to detail, and respect for Japanese tradition.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

The NFT space has progressed so much over the years that simply “being better” isn’t enough anymore. You have to be different too.
That’s why I pursue novelty in the unique aesthetic of Majin. The more art we create that's interesting to you because you've never seen anything like it before, the more we set ourselves apart from everyone else.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

In the next live streams we'll start diving into the utility and roadmap of Majin. Because behind the pretty packaging, there's an absolute beast of a ponzi, sorry, I mean fully sustainable economic model.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

I want you to carry the spirit of Majin throughout your day. So every now and then I'll drop bangers from our playlist. Dark, badass, underground remixes which you never heard before.

Drake x prtmotherluv - NONSTOP
[guitar cover]

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

The key to exciting a big audience is simplicity. Because no matter how great your product might be, if it's not attractive on a surface level and easy to understand, you'll have a tough timing scaling.

This is why we put a tremendous amount of work into the visuals of Majin. What we want to achieve is that it only takes one short glance to evoke the curiosity of the viewer. And any closer look immediately sparks the thought: "Damn, this looks good!"

If you manage to achieve that, then there's a very good chance for attention and growth to accelerate. It's also the straight path to mass adoption. Not explanations, but visual appeal, and fundamentals + utility to back it up.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

This was an early draft of the fallen angel.

When you click "Show more", you'll get to read part of my vision for this illustration. I believe it's valuable for minters to have context about the depth of the artwork, because it sets a different scale of expectations compared to what they might be used to.

"In this scene I would like to show an angel that is in the process of falling from heaven (metaphorically and literally). The main notable details would be that the halo of the angel is shattered and turning from gold to black. And that the wings of the angel are falling apart. In the world of Majin, the demons on earth are former angels that fell from heaven. When an angel falls from heaven, it loses its wings and the halo shatters and turns black (they still wear them above their head, but it’s now black and not intact anymore with particles floating around the black broken halo). When fallen angels reach earth, they hit the ground with loud thunder and lightning-type impact and explosion.
This moment of the angel falling would also foreshadow the transformation of the angel into a demon. That being said, I would still very much like for this scene to have a heavenly feeling to it and overall be bright / colorful. Maybe at the bottom there could be an indication of darkness. I would also like that the scene feels weightless. Like in zero gravity. It can also show almost an endless space of infinity.
The point of the illustration would be to show how beautiful heaven is but at the same time convey that the angel slowly realizes desperation / sadness from losing their position and being exiled from heaven — something which is a very dramatic moment."

My full vision combined with the character sheet, scene references and talent of the artist then allows us eventually create the final masterpiece.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

In order for the collection and lore to be congruent it was important to build the world first and not just throw a bunch of PFPs onto the blockchain. I understand this is the way it has been done so far in the NFT space, but that creates a plethora of issues further down the road.
For example, right from the start you’re limited with the depth and authenticity of the lore. Because you have to come up with a story and meaning after the fact. That’s never going to be fully convincing and believable. And it’s one of the main weaknesses most on-chain IPs suffer from.
Another problem is that your future artwork, story, animations etc. is now dictated by randomly generated characters. None of them have an actual personality or justification for their existence. I believe most collectors and holders can feel that whenever a brand tries to go beyond being just a collection. Maybe it’s also the reason why even the biggest successes we have seen are primarily sold as gimmicks or toys, and not something that comes with the same charisma or weight as "real" IPs.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

We'll stream live tomorrow in the @vvvdotnet Discord server.

Tune in for new art, fresh alpha, EXP codes, and chips rewards!

5 pm CET / 8 am PT / 11 am ET

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

The private test run of our version of Squid Game is now live.

Once we verified everything works correctly and cheating is hard / impossible, you'll soon be able to participate to unlock server access, WL spots, and more.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

Looks like we got invaded by @BEANZOfficial over night. Show me your PFPs 👇👀

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

You voted, so we will make it happen.

Get ready for the first livestream outside of the private Majin server!

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

The lifespan of great IP in the NFT world is much longer than you'd expect.
@cryptopunks has been around for 9 years.
This means as a new creator today you need to have a long-term vision. Otherwise you won't achieve the steadfastness of OG bluechips.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

Another Sunday night, scheming and dreaming about world domination.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

One interesting observation I made is that trait rarity not always dictates price.

Meaning certain traits might be more rare on paper but less valued by collectors. And other traits might be slightly more common but highly sought after because of their aesthetics.

That further means, especially early on, be very careful what you buy/sell. Because the market will reprice traits according to taste, and not solely based on rarity numbers.

On the other hand, if you have a good feeling for what people might value visually, you could be able to make some great buys before the prices increase.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

One key aspect I pursue is variety and creative diversity amongst traits and items. I believe this is what makes collections interesting to holders and where you as the creator can showcase your passion for the project.
That's why I go out of my way to avoid conventional traits that have already been (over)done by other collections (for example laser eyes, pirate hat, zombie).

But the real challenge is that you can't get rid of "boring" traits per se. Because the less desirable traits are those which differentiate floor NFTs from more expensive ones. That means you kind of have to make some characters less cool or more plain. Otherwise you might dilute the value at the top.
Then, yet again, you do not want floor NFTs to look bad. Otherwise the collection is not attractive to new buyers or you potentially hurt the quality of the brand.

So I'm working very carefully on making floor NFTs look great, but grails phenomenal... while at the same time balancing a clear visual differentiation between rarities.

[Majin 魔人 @majinbysoto]

This is one of the earliest concepts for the worldbuilding of Majin. The purpose of these illustrations is to visualize ideas for the brand. It’s also a way to test the color palette, get a better feeling for the “vibe”, place items or traits within the world of Majin, and to explore how we can communicate scale through art.
Again, this is just a concept so don’t get too attached to it. But a variation of the "black broken halo" will be one of the many traits in the collection.