Section 1.1: Discovering NFTs

Raphaël first learned about contemporary NFTs around November 2020, during the growing discussions about the environmental concerns associated with Proof-of-Work. Influenced by voices like Memo Akten, Kyle McDonald, and Joanie Lemercier, he chose to seek out alternatives. Shortly before hic et nunc launched in March 2021, he received a recommendation from Joanie, prompting him to create a Tezos wallet and mint his inaugural piece.

His first weekend on hic et nunc was a transformative experience. It shifted his perspective on his own creations. Although he had been producing generative art for over a decade, it was the first time he experienced significant financial success from it, and that happened almost instantaneously. He expressed immense gratitude to his collectors and appreciated the supportive community surrounding hic et nunc, which opened doors for many creative coders like himself.

Section 1.2: The Value of Digital Art

This wasn't Raphaël's initial encounter with cryptocurrency or the concept of digital ownership. He had long been intrigued by the criteria for determining art's value, especially in the digital realm where infinite copies were easily produced, often rendering them seemingly valueless. This landscape has dramatically shifted with the advent of NFTs.

In the early 2010s, he investigated this issue through a conceptual piece titled "Pricetag," a physical artwork that displayed its own market price. This piece represented his perhaps naïve protest against the valuation of digital art at that time. While developing "Pricetag," he sought methods for the piece to objectively assess its own market worth, leading him to consider the potential of blockchain.

Section 2.1: The Creative Process

Raphaël's creation process typically begins with a vague concept or inspiration. He avoids rigid planning, favoring the spontaneous nature of creative coding. He dives into coding without a focus on performance or optimization during the exploration phase, often discarding initial prototypes or repurposing their components later.

He prefers breaking large projects into manageable tasks, utilizing the p5.js online editor for a quick start. Once the core components are functional, he integrates them in VSCode, implementing version control and optimization. Sketching on paper is also part of his problem-solving process.

The visuals accompanying this section showcase the development of his 0.20 carat collection, a series of generative gems minted on fxhash in December. This collection, dedicated to his mother, took a month to complete and was inspired by her lifelong passion for precious stones. Raphaël has shared more insights about this process in a Twitter thread. Creating a generative collection requires ensuring each variation is unique while maintaining a cohesive visual family, much like real-world gems where similar cuts reveal subtle differences.

Subsection 2.1.1: Balancing Variations

Section 2.2: Influences and Inspirations

Raphaël admires many generative artists, but a few stand out to him. He is particularly impressed by Iskra Velitchkova's sophisticated texture work, Licia He's remarkable watercolor paintings created with an AxiDraw writing machine, and Yazid's minimalist compositions. He also finds inspiration in Manoloide's humility and artistic vision.