Hey everyone. Welcome to the next episode of NorCal and Shill. Today's guest is Grant Riven Yun. You can find him on twitter @grantyun2 his website is www.ribbonriven.com. He is the co-founder of generative art Mystudios.io.
Grant is originally from San Jose California. He's a digitally native artist currently based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With a lifelong passion for art and almost a decade of digital illustration Grant now is focused on exploring the world of web three with his art. His style pays homage to realist in regionalist painters from the 19 hundreds. Yet distinctly stands out through years of perfecting his own unique style. You can find is of one-on-one work on SuperRare and his generative art on OpenSea. Everybody please welcome Grant.
Grant Twitter
Hey everyone. Welcome to the next episode of NorCal and Shill. Today's guest is Grant Riven Yun. You can find him on twitter @grantyun2 his website is www.ribbonriven.com. He is the co-founder of generative art Mystudios.io.
Grant is originally from San Jose California. He's a digitally native artist currently based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With a lifelong passion for art and almost a decade of digital illustration Grant now is focused on exploring the world of web three with his art. His style pays homage to realist in regionalist painters from the 19 hundreds. Yet distinctly stands out through years of perfecting his own unique style. You can find is of one-on-one work on SuperRare and his generative art on OpenSea. Everybody please welcome Grant.
Grant Twitter
Grant Riven Yun
[00:00:00]
[00:00:31] NorCal: Hey everyone. Welcome to the next episode of NorCal and Shill. Today's guest is Grant Riven Yun. You can find him on twitter @grantyun2 his website is WWW dot ribbonriven.com. He is the co-founder of generative art. My studios.io The website for that is my studios.io
[00:01:01] NorCal: Grant is originally from San Jose California. He's a digitally native artist currently based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With a lifelong passion for art and almost a decade of digital illustration Grant now is focused on exploring the world of web three with his art. His style pays homage to realist in regionalist painters from the 19 hundreds. Yet distinctly stands out through years of perfecting his own unique style. You can find is of one-on-one work on SuperRare and his generative art on OpenSea, everybody please welcome Grant.
[00:01:43] NorCal: Hey grant, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?
[00:01:47] Grant: Doing well, how are you?
[00:01:49] NorCal: I'm doing good. Doing good. It's you know, it's warming up, you know, it's maybe mid spring. I don't know. Was it April, April 7th today? It's just nice weather out.
[00:02:02] Grant: Yeah, I mean, uh, given by your handle, I would assume you're from NorCal.
[00:02:07] NorCal: Yeah. Yeah. That's where it, well, that's where I'm based currently. Yes.
[00:02:10] Grant: Okay. Yeah, I mean, in Wisconsin, it's like 30 degrees right now, so
[00:02:14] NorCal: Oh shot. Oh man. That is a yeah. Yeah. Nice and spring weather.
[00:02:22] Grant: it is 30 and raining. So nice ring on there. Yeah.
[00:02:28] NorCal: Oh man. So do you have a hardware wallet?
[00:02:33] Grant: Do I have a hardware wallet? You know, what's funny is that I just got my third ledger and yesterday I got my block plates. Do you know what those are?
[00:02:42] NorCal: Is that like the metal seed phrase storage for fire? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:02:46] Grant: And it's honestly, it was like the funnest thing, like setting it up. It was like, amazing. Um, so, so yeah, I do have a hardware wallet. Um, I have a couple, but you know, I've been going mostly with ledger. I don't even know how to pronounce the other one. Trezor
[00:03:03] NorCal: Yeah. Trezor. Yeah.
[00:03:04] Grant: Trezor. Okay. Yeah. I dunno. I, I was thinking about maybe again, one of those, but I don't know, people always say like, go with leisure.
[00:03:10] Grant: So do you have any ex I don't know. Do you have any experience with the other one?
[00:03:14] NorCal: Yeah. I mean, I got both, I personally like the Trezor better.
[00:03:19] Grant: Oh,
[00:03:19] NorCal: I liked the user interface of it. I don't like with the ledger. If you have like too many coins, you have to like delete a wallet, then add a wallet, you know, to go through them.
[00:03:29] Grant: Yeah.
[00:03:29] NorCal: Um, whereas the treasury, you don't have to do that. Um, uh, I mean they both work fine.
[00:03:37] NorCal: Um, just the Trezor just like seemed more intuitive and I like the touch screen.
[00:03:42] Grant: Oh, there's a touch screen, you know, what's funny is that. I started with a ledger nano S like the smallest cheapest one, and I got my nano X and I was like, I hate this thing. Like, I don't know what it is, but I really love, like, I don't know. I just love the, uh, the small and nano S and I like the buttons and I like the user interface on that.
[00:04:07] Grant: For some reason. I know it's like, basically all the same, but I don't know something about that one hits. So actually got. Another nano S instead of a nano ex.
[00:04:15] NorCal: Uh, yeah. You know, I don't know anyone who uses the Bluetooth on that X.
[00:04:22] Grant: Oh yeah. I don't, I don't know. And I also heard that battery life on that is horrendous, so I never even like, yeah, I don't know. Yeah.
[00:04:30] NorCal: So do Y do you have, like so many you have like backups, are they all like mirrored?
[00:04:36] Grant: Uh, you know, I just, I just don't want to have. All my Eth are all my Bitcoins sitting in just like one wallet. Um, I don't know. I just, like, I think it might be my OCD or something. There's like always something where I'm like, I have to do things in twos where it's like, if I buy, like, like for example, if I buy a nice pair of sneakers, I like am very, has like, I would be thinking about it a lot to get a duplicate pair so that I can re I can ruin one and then I'll just keep that other one. Um, and so, I mean, I just go in with that mentality too, so it's like, uh, I'll have a ledger and maybe I'll use that ledger for most of my like transactions and NFTs, but I'll have another one just, just in case.
[00:05:24] Grant: I don't really know why, but.
[00:05:25] NorCal: No, no, it's fine. I mean, I definitely feel like, you know, it should have like a vault where you keep everything and then something to mint from,
[00:05:35] Grant: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure.
[00:05:38] NorCal: What were your first thoughts when you heard about NFTs?
[00:05:43] Grant: Yeah. So I heard about NFTs. Um, I'm almost certain because of Beeple and I can't remember his name on Twitter. He like makes them YouTube as well. I think his name was like Matty or something. Um, but anyways, he was like talking about some random, like land sales, like flipping land and stuff on YouTube one day.
[00:06:08] Grant: And then of course on Instagram I saw Beeple, um, like selling stuff on nifty and, um, I don't know, for some reason it just made sense to me. I didn't know, like I was in crypto, like I knew about crypto and like, I try to like put in whatever money I had into crypto. So like I knew like blockchain and like smart contracts and different, you know, protocols and layers, but, you know, I was just like, it just made sense because, and I kind of attributed it to maybe like, I just understood like most people who are like in their teens and twenties understand like what video game skins are.
[00:06:47] NorCal: Yeah.
[00:06:47] Grant: And like you, and they're, they're essentially non fungible. So like, I was like, oh yeah, it's just like buying a digital asset. Like, I, I never once questioned, like, why is this unique or anything? I just, I just assumed like, oh yeah, this is a dress that you can buy. And I don't know, for some reason it just clicked for me.
[00:07:03] Grant: So I never really had the, uh, that apifany of like, oh, I see why it's not like you can just screenshot it or right click save it..
[00:07:12] NorCal: Yeah. I mean, it makes sense. Um, I mean, Kind of partly why I started getting in the NFTs, um, was also because I was like, man, this younger generation that's, you know, they care about the skins. They care about the digital look, so,
[00:07:29] Grant: Yeah. Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah. I mean, yeah. What are the, I don't play Fortnite, but you know, like Vbux and stuff. It's like, it's literally like crypto man. It's like, you use this Vbux, you buy these skins. I mean, it's no different. Um, you know, buying a protocol and then using that to buy NFTs, it's just the same thing.
[00:07:49] NorCal: Yeah, it's very similar. I mean, just the, I think it doesn't the company behind it own them though. Technically.
[00:07:57] Grant: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I just meant the concept of like virtual currency. Yeah, yeah,
[00:08:01] NorCal: So what, so it's interesting. Cause uh, was switching topics. What, what brought you to art? Because I know you're in, you're in med school and you're also an artist that's doing well.
[00:08:16] NorCal: What brought you to, I mean, I, I, I'm assuming you've done a little bit of art.
[00:08:21] Grant: yeah, so I remember when I was like really young, um, maybe like four or five or six. I can't remember. I was just using my family camera and I remember I told my dad when I grew up, I wanted to be a photographer. And he just told me, like straight up, like photographers don't make enough money. You need to pick something else you want to do.
[00:08:43] Grant: But, you know, I think somewhere between him, like disapproving of what I wanted to do, um, and like just like actually loving shooting, photo photographs and stuff, um, made me really just want to be an artistic person. But on top of that, my mom has a master's in art and she taught art and sculpture and stuff. And so did my aunt and I grew up a lot with my aunt and my mom.
[00:09:11] Grant: So, um, it was just natural for me to like, just draw and paint and stuff. I never actually took any art courses or lessons, but ever since I was just like ever since I can remember really I've been drawing. I think just like in elementary school and stuff, it was always like a point of pride for me to like, oh yeah, look what I drew or something to my friends.
[00:09:35] Grant: Um, and so, I dunno, I just always had this motivation to continue drawing. Um, it was mostly just pen and pen and paper really. But then, um, how I got into digital art is a little bit different. Um, so in freshman year of college, Uh, we had to do like some random assignment for anthropology and I had to like design some logo.
[00:09:56] Grant: And so that's kind of where I really started off, um, doing digital art. And that was like maybe seven years ago, seven, eight years ago. I can't really remember at this point. Yeah.
[00:10:05] NorCal: Nice. Well, I mean, you've made a good transition into digital art. I mean, it's, I love it.
[00:10:12] Grant: Thanks man. Thanks.
[00:10:15] NorCal: So what, what jobs have you done other well, I guess other than being an artist and being a med student,
[00:10:25] Grant: Uh, you know, that's, that's funny. Um, basically if it's not related to those two, I basically done no jobs. I mean, because, uh, I mean I'm 26 now, so I'm pretty young and. I basically in college, I didn't work very much besides, um, like medically related, like jobs, you know, like, yeah. Yeah. Because, um, because in undergrad, you know, like you have to spend all four years or, and take a couple of years off and you just have to spend those years.
[00:10:58] Grant: Volunteering and working as like a medical scribe, uh, um, like a nurse assistant, a medical assistant. So those are just the jobs that I've done and trained in. Um, so I've only done medically related occupations and I've done some freelance work.
[00:11:15] NorCal: Okay.
[00:11:16] Grant: Yeah. Just as an artist. Um, because you know, when you work off, when you work as a digital artist, uh, you know, like before NFTs. I mean, like it's really difficult to find work and it's, maybe it's not difficult to find work, but it's difficult to get paid. Um, what you deserve for the amount of work that you put in as a digital artist. And it's, it's pretty bad as like making salary at like, uh, doing concept art and stuff, but it's like even worse doing freelance work really.
[00:11:50] Grant: And it's. Sometimes. Yeah. And then you have to like deal with clients and stuff and like, you know, maybe someone will, someone will pay you. Uh, that's happened before. Um, someone's unhappy with what you've done, you know, like there's just so much stuff that goes on with freelance work. And so I'd really like really, um, admire anyone that does freelance work, whether that's like photography or even outside the realm of art, just any freelance related work where you have be your own kind of like, you know, where you have to be your biggest advocate. I really like admire people who do that. And so, yeah, that's basically the only work I've done. So just some freelance work and uh, just some health care related jobs.
[00:12:32] NorCal: Right. I mean, it makes sense. I mean, that's part of the goal.
[00:12:35] Grant: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's true. Just a resume builder, right?
[00:12:40] NorCal: Right, right, right. I know. I know. And same with, like we have at our office, we'll have like, you know, kids come through even starting in high school, like, Hey, can we do this? Can we do that? Or like,
[00:12:53] Grant: Yeah.
[00:12:53] NorCal: You can, you can volunteer or, you know, the summer, it will give you a summer job and we'll pay you.
[00:12:59] Grant: yeah. Yeah. Um, if you don't mind me asking what, uh, what do you do at the studio? Like what does the studio for?
[00:13:05] NorCal: Oh, sorry. At, uh, at the office. My wife's office.
[00:13:08] Grant: Oh, job's off. I see. I see. I see. Okay. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. That's exactly what it is. I mean, it's just. Free labor and they get a little, they get a little check on their resume and everyone's happy, right?
[00:13:21] NorCal: right. We will. And I know like, um, like with some of the dental assisting schools, they like require like you to intern and do so many hours of free work and in a dental office. So.
[00:13:35] Grant: Yeah. I mean, that's that's yeah. That's exactly what it is. I mean, I think it was like just to even apply to medical school. 40 or like at least like 50 hours of shadowing a doctor. And then it was like a couple hundred hours of volunteering and then like research, like it was just, it was a lot. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:13:54] NorCal: So if you were an animal, what would you be and why?
[00:14:00] Grant: So, you know, I was looking at the, as thinking about this question
[00:14:04] NorCal: Uh huh.
[00:14:06] Grant: and then I listened to like, what other people said about. And I was like, you know, I bet like, especially when this is like an icebreaker or something, um, I feel like a lot of people are like trying to think of some crazy thing, but like, I wouldn't be a dachshund like the Wiener dog.
[00:14:24] Grant: And the only reason is my girlfriend's family has a dachshund and her brother has a dachshund and she has a dachshund and.
[00:14:35] NorCal: Yeah.
[00:14:36] Grant: So it's just like a dachshund and family, the sausage party. Right. And so I just, I don't know. I wonder what they're thinking. They're always so tense and they're always, so like for such a small dog, they have such a huge character and attitude.
[00:14:52] Grant: I really wonder what is going through their minds. And I would want to know what it feels like to have, like the shortest legs, but the longest body.
[00:15:02] NorCal: And your ancestors went after badgers.
[00:15:06] Grant: Yeah, badgers and, uh, and, uh, oh, I've done it. I've done my research on the dachshunds um, I think the bigger ones went after badgers and then the smaller ones, which are the miniatures went after rabbits.
[00:15:19] NorCal: okay.
[00:15:20] Grant: yeah, but I also want to know why dogs sleep so much. I mean, sometimes I think there's something wrong with our dogs.
[00:15:26] Grant: Cause they're like sleeping like 20 hours a day, but that's because that's what they do.
[00:15:32] NorCal: I guess. So the guy, you know, reserve that energy for that, for chasing that rabbit.
[00:15:38] Grant: Yeah. I mean, I was just thinking if there's supposed to be a predator, like, how are you doing anything if you're just sleeping all day, but I guess if you come complacent as they've kind of adopted to human canned.
[00:15:52] NorCal: We we've, uh, domesticated them even more.
[00:15:55] Grant: yeah, yeah. For sure.
[00:15:58] NorCal: So what, what's your favorite food?
[00:16:02] Grant: What's my favorite. Oh my God. Um, this is going to sound like I'm 10 years old, but if this is kind of just like a running joke between some of my close friends and my girlfriend, but my favorite food is goldfish. like the,
[00:16:19] NorCal: Yeah. Yeah, I know.
[00:16:21] Grant: like the Pepperidge farms, goldfish. Um,
[00:16:23] NorCal: daughter's lunch every day.
[00:16:25] Grant: yeah.
[00:16:26] NorCal: I snack on them in the afternoon.
[00:16:29] Grant: They're so good. I like it. I've tried every flavor, but for sure, my favorite is just the original goldfish. I'm like, I think, I don't know. I, I mean, as a medical student and a future doctor, I probably should have a better diet, um, or health regimen, but then I, like, I am like king of like junk food. Right.
[00:16:52] Grant: And I think at the top of that would be goldfish, but. You know, just, yeah. Um, but like in terms of cuisines, like, I really like Japanese food. It's probably my favorite. Um, and I don't know. I just, like, I give into my cravings a lot. So probably a lot of fast food is my favorite. I mean, sorry, not maybe fast food, but food that might not necessarily be good for you.
[00:17:18] Grant: Like pizza. I love pizza. Um, and oh, you know, what's funny actually, my favorite food, I have it is New Haven style pizza from new Haven, Connecticut. Um, and I don't know if you know this, but it's actually considered the pizza capital of the world.
[00:17:33] NorCal: I did not know
[00:17:34] Grant: Um, they have a Wii and they have, uh, their most famous places called Pepe's, is just funny.
[00:17:42] Grant: It's called Frank Pepe's and it's like world, world renowned pizza. And it's like, uh, it's actually a really unique style pizza. It's a brick oven. It's a really thin brick oven pizza. I don't know, there's some like traveling. So I lived in Connecticut for a year because my girlfriend goes to Yale. So I was like living up there, tried some pizza on the east coast.
[00:18:04] Grant: And then of course living here in Wisconsin, I tried some pizza here and I'll tell you the pizza here besides Chicago, Chicago deep dish is good, but like in Wisconsin, like the Wisconsin classic is like Mac and cheese pizza. And. I don't know how I feel about it. I really don't know how I feel about that.
[00:18:20] Grant: I mean, it's literally, it's literally like a Velveeta on top of a cheese pizza. Um, I don't know, like California, like pretty good pizza, I guess. Like, I feel like California, especially like if you live in the bay or like in LA, like everyone's trying to go gourmet and stuff. So it's like, yeah. Um, but yeah, no. Like when I, whenever I'm visiting my girlfriend in new Haven, it's like pizza every day. And it's like, every place is like amazing. Um, and yeah, I mean, I would definitely try it out. Um, like, like if you have it, because it's like a really unique style of pizza, it's like really crisp. It's really thin. Um, but I don't know.
[00:19:02] Grant: There's something about it. Yeah. Pepe's is the best place.
[00:19:06] NorCal: Oh man. I love it. Um, uh, that's awesome. What's your favorite fast food joint?
[00:19:14] Grant: My favorite fast food joint. Oh, it's in and out. I mean, that's no question. Um, yeah. And you know, like I'm like the biggest advocate for in and out, like I will in and out is like ride or die for me, but, or I, I, sorry, I am ride or die but, um, You know, I never pushed that on people that are not from California, because it's definitely a nostalgia thing,
[00:19:42] Grant: right.
[00:19:42] Grant: Like, well, from, for me, it is, I mean, growing up in the bay, like it's like, you don't really go to any other fast food places besides in and out. Um, because it's, you know, it's so cheap and, um, the quality is the same every time every in and out, basically it looks the same inside. It's like, it's just like the staple, but, you know, I think that's definitely a nostalgia playing on me and like, if people hate on it, um, who aren't from, you know, the west coast, like, it doesn't really bother me.
[00:20:11] Grant: I think they have their own kind of like nostalgic places like out here in, um, oh, here in Wisconsin, it's called Culvers. And you know, like, yeah, Culver's Culver's is pretty good. They have, uh, I've never had, um, deep fried cheese curds before I came out to Wisconsin. I really liked those, but yeah, so probably probably in and out and then probably McDonald's I love McDonald's McDonald's breakfast, man.
[00:20:36] NorCal: Oh yeah. True. D is Culver's is the one with, uh, uh, fruit, uh, man, the ice cream. It's an
[00:20:45] Grant: Oh, uh, the concrete mixer. Oh,
[00:20:49] NorCal: but they.
[00:20:49] Grant: a concrete mixer.
[00:20:51] NorCal: Right, but it is a shoot. It's that type of ice cream. Um,
[00:20:55] Grant: Oh,
[00:20:55] NorCal: there it is.
[00:20:57] Grant: Custard. Yeah. Yeah. Wisconsin is like, Wisconsin is like all custard basically, which is really good. It's like, well, I don't know. I can't tell the difference. Maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough. It just tastes like soft serve to me, to be honest with you.
[00:21:10] NorCal: uh, well, I mean, it's pretty good custard ice cream. It's pretty, pretty jam. It's
[00:21:14] Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Hey, but it doesn't be, oh, at least in my opinion, doesn't be an in and out milk.
[00:21:22] NorCal: Ooh. Those are pretty good too, though.
[00:21:24] Grant: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:21:27] NorCal: Uh, so I'm curious, what is the best piece of advice you have been given?
[00:21:34] Grant: Um, yeah, so right now I'm going through like, so as I'm learning more and more about like the human body, right. And my girlfriend's doing a nurse practitioners degree and she's almost done.
[00:21:49] NorCal: Um,
[00:21:49] Grant: she is almost certified. As we both are kind of navigating, um, healthcare. I think we've slowly come to understand that I probably most definitely have ADHD and
[00:22:05] NorCal: Uh, huh.
[00:22:06] Grant: Def I mean, and you know, like I could tell you the criteria and everything for it, but basically, you know, as a kid, like, and I was like the worst, you know, I had like the worst behavior.
[00:22:18] Grant: Um, I could never fall asleep. I was always running around.
[00:22:21] NorCal: Um,
[00:22:22] Grant: I would always go through the doctors because of my, it wasn't like behavioral issues. I wasn't like being mean or anything. I just like couldn't focus. I just can sit down and I was always running around. Um, and so I always went to the doctor and they would, they, I guess they never picked up on it.
[00:22:34] Grant: They always like that. Like several times they diagnosed me with homeworkitis. Said, I didn't want to do a homework, but over guidance, dude, I remember this. I was like five and they kept saying homeworkitis. I'm like, I want to do my homework, but I can't focus. Cause I, I look at these words and I just think of something else.
[00:22:51] Grant: Even to this day. I, I do that. And I think, you know, honestly, it's kind of helped me with doing art as well. Like, I don't know. I feel like all these flights of ideas have come also from just like, or are these flights of ideas have helped me like with my art career and, you know, figuring out different ideas and perspectives and stuff.
[00:23:11] Grant: But yeah, so, you know, I've always had like these like difficulties concentrating and focusing. And so my mom would always tell me. You have to work or maybe my mom didn't know something. Maybe my parents didn't know something and they just never told me that I was diagnosed with ADHD, but they were like, you have to work twice as hard as any other person does.
[00:23:33] Grant: Um, like you have to work twice as hard as all the kids in your grade basically, or in your class. And of course, like, you know, when you're a kid, you don't really, don't really like, think about it like that. And, um, but I was just. Hammered that that idea was hammered into me from essentially like preschool all the way up until high school.
[00:23:52] Grant: And I think like once I got to college, like I really started to, once I left, like actually became an adult and, you know, had to work and like, you know, had, was able to pursue my passions, um, to, to their fullest extent. I like really took that to heart and. Like, for example, um, as a digital artist, like before NFTs, like, oh, and this is funny because this is how I discovered NFTs, uh, or this is how I applied to NFTs.
[00:24:22] Grant: So like, you know, as digital artists, we really don't have any opportunities, um, are, are a lot of opportunities, so to speak. Um, and so what I would do, what I used to do, I guess I don't do it at pretty much anymore, but what I used to do was every month I would sit down like on a weekend and I would send them. A hundred, 200, 300 emails and like applications and everything like to like any magazine or gallery or exhibit that was willing to like, help me, like, like put me on. And so I just did that like for, for a couple of years. And so that's how I found work and on Reddit. I spam. I, well, not any more, not so much anymore, but I used to spam Reddit, like crazy.
[00:25:07] Grant: Like I would make the same post on like 10 different subreddits, every illustration I used to do. And sometimes that like got me to like, I've been on the homepage of Reddit a couple of times. Um, and I found work that way because people hit me up in the DMS. Um, and. And so, yeah, I just like was grinding, grinding.
[00:25:26] Grant: And then, you know, I just found the super rare application after I heard about NFTs and I was, and it was just one of those little applications out of a hundred, 200 that I applied to in December of 20 or November of 2020. And like, I, I just, you know, you send so many applications, you just forget about it.
[00:25:42] Grant: So I didn't even realize like what it was until. Until I got accepted in February. Right. So I was like, oh, okay, cool. But yeah, I mean, that was kind of, that's been my mindset and, you know, like applying to medical school, it's like applied to like 50 places spend, like, I dunno a ridiculous amount of money applying, but like, you kind of just, I've just been kind of like what the mindset of I have to shotgun it and whatever sticks, sticks, and that's kind of how I find opportunities, but, you know, That mindset really?
[00:26:15] Grant: And like working, like just making sure that I'm at least whatever is in my power to like, you know, get ahead of the curve or maybe like stay on track with everyone. That mindset has like, definitely helped me get to where I am today in terms of art and, uh, other things in my life. So that's just, you know, kind of what I've been living.
[00:26:36] NorCal: Damn. Yeah. Impressive. It's awesome that you do
[00:26:40] Grant: I try, man, I try and manage.
[00:26:45] NorCal: So do you have advice for artists joining the NFTs?
[00:26:52] Grant: Um, yeah, I was thinking about this and I think there's a lot to be said, but like, I won't ramble too long. I know. If you're getting to that NFT space. And especially if you're listening to this podcast are probably already on Twitter, you probably already know some of the bigger people like NorCal Guy.
[00:27:11] Grant: Right. Um, um, but like, you know, if you're listening to this, you probably have some idea of like how NFTs work on Twitter and stuff in the community. But I guess the biggest piece of advice I would have is just being self-aware and that kind of is. Um, there's a lot to be said about that. So the first thing is don't give into imposter syndrome and I think, um, like remember, like, do, do, do you remember like the astronaut craze of early 2021, like everyone was making astronauts?
[00:27:49] Grant: I was like, I mean, and, and it was really cool. Like, I really love that type of art and
[00:27:54] NorCal: It was, it was good. It was
[00:27:56] Grant: yeah, it was, it was really good. I just think like, That's what I got in. And so I was like, do I need to do astronaut art like to sell? Like, do I need to like, change, change my whole style? Like, so that, like, this is what sells.
[00:28:11] Grant: And, um, it's funny because if you look at the bottom of my super rare, like the oldest things I've made, um, Discrepancy and styles that I have, and that wasn't really imposter syndrome. That was just kind of, I minted whenever I used, like whatever I illustrated before. And then I don't know if he wants me to say his name, but like I got a message from someone and he was like, a lot of collectors want to get your stuff, but you're minting so inconsistently, they don't really know what to expect next. And so they don't want to buy your stuff. And so the moment he told me, Yeah. So the moment he told me that I was like, okay, I I'm going to pick this style and I'm going to run with it. And so that's the style that you see today. Um, and I mean, obviously it's, it's been, uh, it's, it's played out pretty well for me, but like, like I didn't have that self-awareness of like, oh, I should probably be associated with a particular style.
[00:29:08] Grant: And I think, you know, a lot of artists have humble beginnings, especially digital artists. And so it's like, You know, sometimes you need someone else to tell you, like, you know, this is what you should do, or maybe like, oh yeah, maybe you should be doing this differently. And so I'm always open to like people DM-ing me.
[00:29:28] Grant: Um, and just like listening to what they have to say. So I think the first piece of advice in terms of, or I guess like my biggest piece of advice is self-awareness in that. First, like don't give into imposter syndrome, stick with like what, you know, because if you're going to chase the style, like no one even buys astronaut, not even makes astronaut related art anymore.
[00:29:48] Grant: And that's like, and so if like for, for some reason you minted only astronaut. That wasn't even your style, but you'd like, for some reason, decided to learn how to use blender or cinema 4d, and you just made a bunch of astronaut art. Now you have this whole 20, 21 portfolio. That's like, okay, now what are we going to do in 2022?
[00:30:09] Grant: So that we can sell like, like, are we going to, like, I don't know, you know, like, are we going to start making Pepes, like our anime art? Like, what are we going
[00:30:17] NorCal: We're going to copy grant.
[00:30:19] Grant: yeah. Or, or that mean. I'm well, I'm always open to people like copying myself, like even directly, as long as it's not like they're minting an exact piece.
[00:30:29] Grant: Like I love, like, I dunno. I think a lot of people are salty. Like a lot of artists gets all to when like, um, people copy or like S you know, stuff like that. But I, I love it. Like, because like, for me, like, sure, I'm making some large sales, like, but for me, I'll, I'll never forget, like, like trying to. Do a commission for like $50.
[00:30:54] Grant: Right. And that was only like two years ago. So like, like I'm not even mad. Like people, if people
[00:31:01] Grant: want to copies my stuff, I'm a, I would be happy. Like, it'd be cool to know that like I'm actually making somewhat of an impact on other people. And I'll never like chase people down because they're like trying to make money off of their art.
[00:31:14] Grant: Um, and, and honestly, like, because of this whole concept of provenance and stuff, If at the end of the day, because the space is so early, um, and this might not be necessarily a good thing. Right. But at the end of the day, because it's basis are early, we like attribute a certain style with the person who popularized it at the beginning.
[00:31:35] Grant: So for example, if you see flow fields like flow fields are just a generative, like, or just like a category of like, um, concepts for generative art. But when we look at a flow. We automatically think that it's Tyler and Hobbes because of how he, how he did Fidenza. And so I think like, similarly until, you know, I see a lot of people talking about wavelengths, being a Fidenza copy when in reality, I know that, I mean, I don't really know if Caleb, you know, decided to copy for Fidenza like, if I were to bet on it, I would say he probably didn't and it's just a flow field that, you know, and flow field it's all kind of look the same because that's what they are.
[00:32:15] Grant: Right. So, um, So, I don't even know where I'm going with this, but I'm just saying, like, I think it's like, we're so early in this space that it's critical, uh, maybe not critical, but it's pretty easy to monopolize on a style. And then the provenance will speak for itself where like, since I'm into this style in 2021 and everyone else is not doing it in 2022, like look who the originator is, and that would bring more Providence, the person who started it or something like that, you know,
[00:32:46] NorCal: That's true.
[00:32:47] Grant: But anyways, that was a huge tangent.
[00:32:49] Grant: Oh, sorry. Did you guys want me to say
[00:32:50] NorCal: now may be like, I guess you could say like glitch art can be attributed to like X copy people. Think of,
[00:32:57] Grant: yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. It's exactly like that. Um, but, but anyway, that's a huge tangent, but, uh, just a final point I wanted to make about like self-awareness besides that imposter syndrome, um, is that, um, so a lot of people in this. And I know this because I've seen a ton of poll's on Twitter about it is like people ask, like, what age demographic are you?
[00:33:18] Grant: Right. And it's like teens, twenties, thirties, forties, sixties, nineties. Right. But, um, it just seems like the majority of people are in their teens or twenties or thirties, right? Like 95% of people in this space are just that age demographic. Um, and if you're an artist, especially if you're in your younger years, I think, um, You know, the likelihood of you having recently started art is higher, right?
[00:33:45] Grant: Just because you're younger, like someone who is 15 probably started recently versus someone who's 45. Right. And so you need to have the self-awareness to realize if, is what I'm going to mint the style. That's going to define my entire career. It's really difficult because a lot of people, because you feel the FOMO, right.
[00:34:08] Grant: A lot of people are missing stuff, making sales, and maybe you only started picking up blender or Photoshop or whatever, like a year ago or two years ago. Well, your style definitely isn't as fleshed out as someone who's been working in cinema 4d for like 10 years. Right. And so I think you have to have that self-awareness of is what I'm going to mint today, going to be representative of what my entire career is going to look like potentially. And I think for people who, you know, are established like Rubin and, you know, just like I could go on and on, um, you know, their styles, you know, they already solidified their styles before NFTs. So, you know, the transition was very easy, but for, you know, younger people and, and I know this because a lot of people hit me up as well, who are younger and it's like, and they asked for advice on like the art, you know, and I just, I just think to myself, like, you know, You just have to have that self-awareness to know, is this something that I want to admit and that's going to represent me to the ability to my best ability.
[00:35:14] Grant: And if not, then maybe you have to, you know, put metal mask down and just go back to, you know, creating more stuff and making your stuff better.
[00:35:23] NorCal: Yeah, just putting in some more time, you know, develop it out.
[00:35:27] Grant: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's hard though, you know, it's, it's really hard when you're see a lot of people who are doing sales and then you try to fall Mo and then you know it, you know how it
[00:35:37] NorCal: Right, right.
[00:35:38] Grant: Yeah.
[00:35:39] NorCal: For sure.
[00:35:40] Grant: Yeah.
[00:35:42] NorCal: If, if you could live or move anywhere, where would you live and why?
[00:35:48] Grant: Uh, guess, guess where I would live.
[00:35:54] NorCal: in California?
[00:35:55] Grant: Where in California.
[00:35:58] NorCal: Probably around the bay somewhere.
[00:36:00] Grant: Yeah. If I had to live anywhere, which honestly I would love to go to residency in any of these places, it would be Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Gatos Saratoga, or south San Jose. So, um, I think my, I think growing up in that era, so like, you know, when you grow up in an area, like, you know, just your child, Um, memories will always stick with you wherever you go.
[00:36:26] Grant: And like, for me, like, you know, you see it in my art a lot. Like I love spent the Spanish colonial style of architecture and I love the colors of California, especially that part of California where some, some, some of the seasons, you know, things can get really green, especially like, you know, kind of. The south bay area.
[00:36:46] Grant: And then, you know, during the summers, everything is just like a nice golden, just like a nice golden grass, burnt grass color. And I just love all of it. And, um, um, yeah, I would, I would totally live in a, hopefully I will, uh, live somewhere in south bay. That's where I grew up. And, um, that's just hopefully where I would want to raise my family.
[00:37:09] NorCal: Yeah.
[00:37:11] Grant: As nice as nice man. I really like it out there, but I mean, I know the cost of living is high and, and you know what not, but just ideally speaking, I would love to go back to California, especially, you know, that part of the California.
[00:37:22] NorCal: Yeah, for sure. Do you have any questions for me?
[00:37:28] Grant: Um, no, I guess maybe you don't even remember. I don't even remember, but how, how did you, how did you find. Or did I find you? I do. I can't even remember at this point.
[00:37:41] NorCal: Um, I mean, I feel, I don't know how well I feel recently it's through the tungsten.
[00:37:52] Grant: That's what I think that's what I've been thinking. There's some, yeah. Yeah. I I'm really happy that I'm in that, in that DAO actually. Um, and honestly I just have to. Thank uh VVD for that, honestly, because he hit me up asking if I would donate one of my pepes to get into the DAO so I feel like my process was fairly streamlined compared to some peoples.
[00:38:20] Grant: So, you know, I'll just be thankful, always thankful for that, but
[00:38:24] NorCal: I mean, you made a fricking awesome Pepe and burned a ton of them.
[00:38:29] Grant: do it. I, I show that so much. Uh, I, I showed that a ton, I guess I show everything a ton, but you know, I think like going back to, you know, what I just said, like, I'm going to be shilling until the day I died because you know, the, the past, maybe, I don't know, maybe like the past, like 10 sales on super rare, not all of them, but like, um, some of the past 10 sales have been because people hit me up because they said they saw my art on Twitter that I. And like you can't honestly, like you can't knock that. Like I like sure. I, I actually, I don't know if people get annoyed with how much I post like my art, but like if that's landing me sales, then that's landing me sales and I can't really go back on that, you
[00:39:16] NorCal: Yeah. I mean, you just had a, an awesome sale from, uh, or that, that, um, membership piece for tungsten dao
[00:39:25] Grant: oh yeah, yeah. That was uh, yeah. I don't know. just, it just felt right to just donate that piece off the tungsten dao. Like it was gonna, it was going to sit in my computer forever. Like I was like, oh, might as well just share it. I actually did think that it would get that high or people would want it that bad.
[00:39:42] NorCal: I mean it was a solid piece. It was awesome.
[00:39:45] Grant: thanks to, yeah, I don't know. I just, yeah, it was nice. Um, but yeah, I mean, I guess we've been going on for quite a while, and I don't want to burden you with any more of your time today. Oh, Hey, what's your favorite fast food joint.
[00:40:02] NorCal: my favorite, um, I mean, I would have to, I feel like it'd be in and out. Like, it's definitely a nostalgic for me as well. Like after. Like some high school event, you know, let's
[00:40:16] Grant: Yeah, exactly.
[00:40:17] NorCal: let's go to in and out. Let's get
[00:40:19] Grant: Yeah, everyone everyone's just waiting right behind the register. Just sitting on those red benches, waiting for the order to get called, like Noah, you cannot recreate that feeling. And then the P oh man, the pink lemonade. I forgot about that.
[00:40:35] NorCal: Uh, yeah,
[00:40:37] Grant: Um, man. Yeah,
[00:40:40] NorCal: animal style fries.
[00:40:42] Grant: gotta go. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't, you know, because when you grow up in California, you just, or I guess for me, like. I just went to in and out with my family. We never went to other fast food restaurants. So I always thought like thousand island is like everywhere, but it's, it's only in and out,
[00:40:59] NorCal: Right,
[00:41:00] Grant: so yeah.
[00:41:02] Grant: But they do it right. They do it right, for sure.
[00:41:04] NorCal: right. For sure. You, do you have any shout outs?
[00:41:09] Grant: Uh, man, if I started, if I start shouting out people, it's just going to be too long. I'll just say. Um, shout out to all my collectors, shout out to all my friends that I regularly talk to on Twitter. Like all my artists or collector friends. Um, and shout out to everyone in the, in the Tungsten DAO.
[00:41:31] NorCal: Tungsten Dao. Nice. Well, man, thanks for, thanks for the show. Thanks for this.
[00:41:40] Grant: Yeah. No, thank you, man. Thank you. And sorry, I went for so long.
[00:41:43] NorCal: Nah. Nah, nah, man. This is what we're all about. It's not too long. It's it's below an hour.
[00:41:50] Grant: Yeah, thanks so much, man.
[00:41:51] NorCal: All right, man. Have a good day.
[00:41:54] Grant: You too.
[00:41:55] NorCal: Bye.
[00:41:55]