The popularity of NFTs paved the way for the emergence of budding traditional and digital artists turned NFT creators. Together with known artists, they created astounding digital artworks that have wooed NFT buyers around the world. Some NFT artworks were sold for more than millions of dollars. One example of this is “The Merge” by Pak sold for a whopping $91.8 million. Now, let’s jump into the list of our top NFT crypto artists to date.
MuratPak
An anonymous designer who is known for creating the AI “Archillect”, which deploys a network of bots that crawl Tumblr, Flickr, 500px, and other image-heavy sites. He is the founder and lead designer of the studio Undream and the hacker lab Machinu. “Cloud Monument Dark” was the first NFT released by the artist in February 2020 and sold for 3.5E $788 at SuperRare. “The Merge”, the most expensive NFT sold for $91.8M is one of his creations. He uses clean, monochrome, geometric structures, and AI image generation in his NFT works. He also created the concept of the “Open Edition” NFT where NFT releases were not limited by number but by the amount of time they are available for and has since become a standard drop model for all NFT releases. His “Unsold” and “The Title” were also two of his released NFTs. In February 2021, Pak had an auction on SuperRare that broke their all-time record. “Legend” was sold for 96.8 ETH or $175,801. The NFT creator was highly recognized even by Elon Musk for his works, particularly for “Archillect” and follows him on Twitter. “The Fungible” is a collection of artwork created by Pak through a collaboration with Sotheby’s in April 2021. The collection was sold exclusively at Nifty Gateway generating a total sales of $16.8 million in just 3 days. His other works include “Project X” (August 2020), “Terminus “(September 2020), “The Moment” (December 2020) which is a collab with Trevor Jones, and The Collision (March 2021) another collaboration with Trevor Jones, and “The Lost Poets” (September 2021). Pak sold 1,691 artworks and earned $16,880,471.30.
Mike Winklemann a.k.a Beeple
He is an American digital artist, graphic designer, and animator and dubbed as “A visionary digital artist at the forefront of NFTs” by Christie’s auction house. NFT creator Pak has inspired him to join the NFT space in October 2020. His first two NFTs were sold at an auction at ETHDenver. Most of his works were among the most expensive NFTs sold like “Crossroad” which was sold for $6.7M and “Human One” fetched $28,985,000 at Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale. His digital artwork “Everydays: the First 5000 Days”, a monumental digital collage was the second most expensive NFT sold at a whopping $69.3 million. In December 2020, “The Complete MF Collection” was sold for $777,777 in an auction at Nifty Gateway. He sold 845 artworks for $113,544,319.92.
Victor Langlois a.k.a. FEWOCiOUS
The crypto artist grew up with his grandparents after authorities removed him from his father’s abusive family. The 18-year-old artist is the youngest among successful NFT creators. In August 2020, he posted his first NFT on SuperRare. “i Always Think of You,” following a client’s suggestion. The NFT was sold for almost $1,000 and generated roughly $3,000 after he sold two more. In June 2021, his series of unique NFT works, paintings, and ephemera were sold at Christie’s auction house as part of the Pride program. His work “Hello, i’m Victor (FEWOCiOUS) and This Is My Life”, consisting of five coming-of-age portraits bagged $2.16M during the event. The isolation and his desire to live freely as a trans man were depicted in his works. He also collaborated with digital fashion brands RTFKT Studios, Odius, Parrot_ism, and Jonathan Wolfe and generated millions of dollars in sales. In June his new series of unique NFT works, paintings, and ephemera were sold at Christie’s auction house. The teenager NFT creator has already earned more than $10M for his works. His digital artwork “The Everlasting Beautiful” was sold for $550,000. The NFT creator sold 3,104 artworks for $18,175,346.36.
Trevor Jones
A Scotland-based artist and one of the leading artists in the crypto art medium today. He has topped the highest average sales across NFT marketplaces like SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, and MakersPlace. His “Bitcoin Angel” sold for $3.2M has bagged the record for the “most expensive open-edition NFT artwork” in February 2021. In 2017, he entered the crypto space as a trader but unfortunately, that didn’t end well with him. But as a traditional artist, his entry into the space gave him new subjects. He made portraits of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and John McAfee. He also created his stealth AR exhibit at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. David Moore CEO of digital art marketplace KnownOrigin introduced him to NFTs in April 2019. He later collaborated with his friend Alotta Money for the EthGirl which features an animated girl in the shape of the Ethereum symbol. The NFT was sold for 72.1 ETH at SuperRare in December 2019 topping the marketplace’s sales record. EthBoy, his second collaboration with Money was sold for $$141,500 in November 2020. His Picasso’s Bull was sold at Nifty Gateway in July 2021 for $55,555 breaking the platform’s record again.
Jones also made collaboration with another leading crypto artist Pak, “The Moment” in December 2020 and “The Collision” in March 2021. Despite the two collabs, the identity of the NFT creator remained unknown to him though. The digital NFT artist has already sold 5,284 art pieces generating $18,591,061.32 from the sale.
Michah Dowbak a.k.a. Mad Dog Jones
A multidisciplinary Canadian artist with works most deal with cyberpunk, dystopian imagery exploring themes of beauty, nature, and technology. He is also dubbed as the “most expensive living Canadian artist” after his NFT work “Replicator” was sold for a staggering $4.14 million in April 2021. The NFT artwork depicts a photocopier that generates new artwork every 28 days. “A Bag of Oranges” was realized at 212,500 at Christie’s Trespassing, the first online multi-category auction sale in July 2021. “The Boardwork” was sold for $388,888 in February 2021 at Nifty Gateway.
His other known works include “Lost in a Moment”, “THERE IS NO EXIT”, and “Visor”.
Dowbak sold 1,567 digital art pieces and earned $14,548,163.55 from the total sales.
There’s actually a long list of NFT crypto artists that have contributed to the massive sales of NFTs. Their collections have won the hearts of a growing number of NFT collectors. One of them is Antione Mingo who is now making his own name as one of the most sought NFT creators. The “Pudgy Penguins”, a collection of cute 8,888 penguins was his creation. The “Pudgy Penguins” was launched in July and became a big hit after the whole collection was sold out in less than 20 minutes. And due to his reputation, he was recently commissioned by Unbanked to create “The Bankers NFT Collection”. This is Unbanked’s first NFT project and they aim only for the best. With Mingo’s reputation, Unbanked believes that he is best suited for the job.
The “Bankers NFT” is a collection of 10,000 unique and adorable digital artworks built on the Ethereum network. The NFT collection offers real use cases on Unbanked which includes lifetime zero charges for lending/borrowing access on the UNBNK protocol, shared IP rights, and up to 50% rewards through the Unbanked Yield program. The Unbanked “Bankers NFT” drop will be launched on January 31. All unsold “Bankers NFT” on the last day of the auction will be subjected to burning. With a few days left before the drop, will Mingo recreate the success of “Pudgy Penguins” with “Bankers NFT”? With Mingo’s reputation, undoubtedly, the “Bankers NFT” will be another success. The project’s success will be another feather on Mingo’s cap that will elevate him even more to the list of successful crypto artists.
