Art from @ediah: @ediah/vector-art-portrait-2-stellabelle
I originally started Slothicorn as a Creative Commons project which had its primary goal to make cryptocurrency go mainstream through art.
As Slothicorn has grown exponentially over the last month, some talented artists were hesitant to get involved because of the Creative Commons requirement.
As a firm believer in organic growth, based on community and artist feedback, we have decided to allow artists to choose which license they want to use for their artwork. This means that the focus of Slothicorn has shifted more towards the needs and desires of creatives. Now, artists can choose to end their post with either the Creative Commons license or the All Rights Reserved @artistnamehere.
With the growth, so have the amount of low quality posts grown to an unsustainable level. I now see that a more fine-tuned focus and mission of Slothicorn is needed.
So, what the heck is Slothicorn looking for? And what is the purpose of Slothicorn anyway?
Artist: Aldo Ojeda Creative Commons License
Our new mission is artist-centered and we want to attract exceptionally talented visual artists.
Art is 100% subjective, but most people know when they see something amazing. I want to focus on amazing artists for several reasons, and basically ignore and not vote for sub- and low quality artwork.
Slothicorn’s mission still remains the same: to help cryptocurrency go mainstream through art.
But our secondary focus is to find and nurture exceptional artists, teaching them how to navigate in a new crypto economy. Education about new blockchain tech, crypto basics, crypto gaming, collaboration and financial independence for artists is at the heart of Slothicorn.
We have to re-define what we are looking for. We are not looking for a badly drawn Cardano logo with a horn attached to it, that was slapped together in a matter of minutes. We are looking for talent, raw talent.
You know it when you see it.
The end goal is to find crypto solutions to the age old “STARVING ARTIST” problem, and allow creatives to work collaboratively in a way that is decentralized. Slothicorn aims to give artists tools, community and crypto education so that artists can become completely free, without having to slave away in a day job that sucks their soul dry.
Getting free means having multiple steams of income and learning new ways of accessing funding in crypto economies. Slothicorn is also a place where you can find creative weirdos. Much of the crypto world is dominated by programmers, many of whom are not artists. We can be the missing link for these programmers, and work together, marrying tech with the art.
I am increasing my SP delegation to Slothicorn to 70,000 in the next weeks. And our team of curators is only going to be upvoting work that is good (highly subjective). We want to focus on talented artists.
So, people will be asking how to format a post for Slothicorn now that our rules have changed.
We highly recommend that all artists put a QR code for a crypto wallet in their finished art submission. Here’s a website that generates QR codes for your crypto wallets:
https://cwaqrgen.com/
Here’s an example by a talented artist @yusaymon who did exactly this in his latest post:
Notice how he incorporated the QR crypto wallet code into the art itself.
@yusaymon choose to submit his work under a Creative Commons license, but that is his personal choice. Please add a QR code crypto wallet to all the art submitted to Slothicorn for a couple of reasons:
- People can tip you directly if they decide to use your work in their project.
- It helps the cryptocurrency movement gain wider exposure in the art world.
Are you still wanting to know what we are looking for?
Art by @rubenalexander
@rubenalexander created a 100 EOS logo series which is basically one of the most amazing things I have seen, and in fact, he was an inspiration for me to create an artist’s group that focuses on merging crypto with art.
Then people will say, “but Ruben didn’t add a QR code to all his artwork.” Yes, but he created massive value for the EOS community. This one project continues to help cryptocurrency go mainstream. Remember, think about our mission and let that guide your creativity.
Here’s another example of exceptional work by artist @erdavid that fits into our mission:
Art by @erdavid
From this post: @erdavid/hands-and-coins-crypto-art
It takes your breath away right? And he included process shots, showing all the work he did for it.
If you don’t consider yourself to be a creative, and you’re not very skillful, you should post via Dmania, not Slothicorn since they are focused on quickly-made memes and other low-grade stuff.
Slothicorn is no longer going to be upvoting stuff that looks like it took 3 minutes to create.
If you’re new to Slothicorn and no one knows you, you should do the following:
- Create an Introduce Yourself To Slothicorn post in which you show off your previous art, tell us about your work and what makes you tick. This post will be your moment to shine, so we can all get to know you. This will also cut down on the plagiarists and scam artists (hopefully). If you need guidance, please read and model your own ‘slothicornintro’ post after this one by @wildempress: @wildempress/let-me-introduce-myself-to-slothicorn She did an awesome job of introducing herself to the Slothicorn community and providing us with this new idea.
Think deeply about our mission and try to avoid drawing little cartoon slothicorns, (if you can please help it.) I didn’t start this group so that the masses would just only draw slothicorns. If you have a cool vision, and are feeling inspired by some fatty and magical one, then go for it, but if you’re just drawing some random, shoddy cartoon character with a horn on it expecting an upvote, you need to re-think your strategy a bit.
Create your art and include process shots so that we know you didn’t rip off the art from some random place. At the end or in your art itself, add a QR code crypto wallet address. Then add either the Creative Commons license or a All Rights Reserved @yournamehere at the bottom.
Remember, we are an open source project, and if you’re a programmer, there are lots of opportunities for you. If you’re a programmer, data analyst, marketer or pro writer, consider posting via Utopian for rewards as well. If you don’t yet understand how Utopian works, consider spending a few hours to learn how it operates.
A big shoutout to @irwanumpal who has been doing an amazing job of welcoming people, curating and writing posts that I request. Thank you!
Also, in our Discord channel, I want to give shoutouts to @inquiringtimes (the ‘OG’ of Discord), @kubbyelizabeth, @juliakponsford, @albe and everyone else who has been welcoming new users to the crazy world that is Slothicorn. @fabiyamada has been very helpful too, as she worked with a friend to get a bot to import all the @slothicorn posts directly into our Discord channel.
We now have a full team of Slothicorn curators:
@playitforward
@drawingly
@stellabelle
@ghulammujtaba
@playitforward is the director for the Global-Collage project which is coming along nicely. Go into our Discord channel to participate after you introduce yourself and get a role. See this post for info: @playitforward/this-week-in-global-collage-a-steemit-arts-community-collage-powered-by-steem-with-slothicorn
Ruben Alexander is the game director for Shop and Drop RPG, see it here: @rubenalexander/shop-and-drop-rpg-game-on-part-deux
@justatouchfey has returned and is catching up with all the latest happenings in Slothicorn. She runs an account which is all about crypto gaming, so check out her latest here: @gametokenstech/march-2nd-2018-steem-games-news-update-steempunk-housing-updates-huge-slothicorn-updates-new-ork-hulk-game
There are many people involved now in Slothicorn, and it’s time to really ramp things up a notch. I’m sure there will be grey areas because this is an evolving group, and the needs will change, but I feel that these new rules are a more balanced approach, and allows artists more creative freedom. If you’re a talented writer and want to contribute to Slothicorn, send me a DM in Discord, so we can get some more writers on board. I”m @Stella in Discord. There’s also a channel named “Post Requests” where I sometimes put articles that I need written.
What questions do you have for us?
Official Slothicorn Links
GitHub: https://github.com/aslothicorn/welcometoslothicorn
Discord: https://discord.gg/jJaMSYR
Steemit: @slothicorn
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamslothicorn
Giphy: https://giphy.com/channel/slothicorn
All artists whose work I used for this post will receive 2 SBD each for their contributions.
Stay Slothy,
Stellabelle