cryptoBross🦈 ▚▘▚▘▚▘

It has been very interesting to me to study the creative process of @cloncast, who is the artist behind @coolcats. Especially the exploration of different character concepts and the pursuit of simplicity, before eventually developing the iconic blue cat that launched such a popular and fun IP.

I want to bring anime on-chain because it influenced me heavily throughout my childhood. But you can’t build a business on romanticizing reality. The numbers also have to make sense. And they do. In fact, they highlight even more strongly why anime and Japan in particular have such a creative influence on the rest of the world.

My idea is to give our collection attitude. My new PFP should give you a feel for what I mean. And I mean "feel" in the literal sense, because my ambition is for you to genuinely feel something when you look at our art. That's why our PFPs will express a variety of attitudes, to ensure everyone with their own unique personality finds the right piece that moves them. I always wanted to create something provocative, defying, rebellious, peculiar and beautiful. But it was a mystery to me how to do that without appearing try hard or cringe. So I started with the goal of giving our art soul, and with soul comes life, and with life comes the attitude of your being. That attitude might be introverted or extroverted. It might be polarizing or inconspicuous. But it's there. It's your soul, your being... it's: you. I want to give you art in which you see part of you. A good part. Something which gives you hope, ambition or peace. Maybe something that reminds you of a quality you thought you had lost. Or it will give you a piece of yourself back which you once valued. Or maybe it will add a new piece to your identity which makes you whole. Whatever it may be - spiritual comfort or creative inspiration - my purpose is to make you feel something extraordinary.

The early concepts of BAYC reveal an important secret: it's not only the traits which made them iconic, but the expressions which gave each character its own personality. It's very interesting to see how @allseeingseneca found the visual identity of the apes and created one of the most important contributions to digital collectibles with @BoredApeYC. Still to this day I have not seen any IP do it better when it comes to quality, variety and diversity, and to making each PFP feel alive.

An original IP needs a coherent world, but great artists also require creative freedom to fully realize their talent. In this clip I explain how I balance both while building Majin.

Big things are ahead.

For our original IP to achieve mainstream adoption, it's important that we strategically develop the right character archetypes. Below you see a concept of a personality which is bubbly, warm and cheerful. In Japan this archetype is often described as 元気っ子 (genkikko). This character's enthusiasm brings energy and forward movement to the cast. This in return makes Majin more colorful and approachable. Good examples of similar identity types are Carrot (One Piece), Pan (Dragon Ball) and Sakura (Naruto).