NorCal and Shill
A podcast where NFT artists tell stories, hosted by NorCal Guy. https://twitter.com/GuyNorcal
https://twitter.com/norcalandshill
NorCal and Shill
M Branson - Artist
What happens when a firefighter turns into an NFT artist? Join us on NorCal and Shill as we chat with Branson, a dynamic designer and NFT innovator who's taken the digital art world by storm. From her first forays into cryptocurrency in 2018 to her deep dive into NFTs by the end of 2020, Branson shares her journey with honesty and enthusiasm. Learn about her pioneering projects like the HyperSub platform and WKBT, and get a glimpse of her adventurous past, including a quirky love for mashed potatoes developed during her time in Antarctica.
Branson's story is one of resilience and transformation, from balancing education with volunteer firefighting to facing the trials of customer service roles. We explore the impact of her upbringing in Apple Valley, California, and her unique career transitions. This episode also dives into the meaningful connections fostered by Web3, highlighting how it surpasses the superficiality of Web2 social media. Branson's reflections on these topics underscore the potential of Web3 to create more authentic and impactful interactions.
If you're an artist eyeing the NFT space, you won't want to miss Branson's practical advice. We cover everything from securing your digital assets to the importance of taking mental health breaks from social media. Hear about the benefits of personal contracts, supportive communities, and the electrifying atmosphere of blockchain art events like Art Basel in Miami. Branson's insights on artistic freedom and the joy of experimentation will inspire you to push the boundaries of digital art. Tune in for an episode filled with creativity, innovation, and invaluable tips for navigating the NFT world.
https://x.com/mbransn
Who is this? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy, norcal guy. Norcal and chill podcast. So it's chill time. Norcal and chill podcast. What the sh-? What the sh NorCal and Shill Podcast. What the shill? What the shill? Norcal and Shill Podcast. So it's shill time.
M Branson:NorCal and Shill Podcast. What the shill.
NorCal Guy:What the shill. Welcome back to another episode of NorCal and Shill. Today we have the talented, multifaceted Branson as our guest. Branson brings a wealth of experience and insights to our conversation. We'll delve into her passion for both agility of hummingbirds and the majesty of eagles, her love for mashed potatoes developed during her time in Antarctica, and her invaluable advice on maintaining focus and mindset in life, drawing from her cycling endeavors.
NorCal Guy:In this episode, branson sheds light on the importance of experimentation in the NFT art space, encouraging new artists to find joy in their work and avoid external pressures. She shares her innovative projects, including the HyperSub platform and the WKBT project, while also emphasizing the transformational potential of NFTs beyond traditional art forms. Tune in as we explore Branson's unique approach to art and the exciting future she envisions for digital creation. We'll also hear about Branson's experiences working odd jobs, her transition from firefighting and the positive aspects of Web3 that excite her. So get ready to be inspired and informed as we dive into the world of Branson on NorCal and Shill. Hey, branson, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?
M Branson:I am great, hello. Thanks for having me.
NorCal Guy:This is super fun.
M Branson:Not nervous at all to be on the great NorCal and Shill.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, there's no need to be nervous. We've chatted before. I'm a subscriber, or is it called subscriber or super subscriber?
M Branson:I don't even remember I mean, you are definitely the most super subscriber.
NorCal Guy:You're the subscriber of multiple years, but yes, which is a really cool thing on base um, where you can subscribe to an artist and as they produce work, you get like an addition every month type thing, which has been really awesome yeah, hyper said, we'll definitely get into that. I will nerd out all right, I'm sure yeah, so what were your first thoughts when you heard about crypto art nfts?
M Branson:oh man, my first thoughts were what the is going on? Because it's like it's so fascinating to me.
M Branson:I mean, I've been following the crypto space for a long time. You know, like 2015, 2016 I didn't actually jump in until 2018 very like high level. You know like bought some eath, bought some this, bought some that I don't even remember all the weird crap that I bought. I didn't like Ico or anything, I wasn't that. I was still very toe in the water and then everything crashed and I was like cool, this is great, I love this game. And so kind of just like put my wallet in a shoebox not really and like forgot about it for a while, and just kind of. You know, because through work, I'm a designer by trade, like day job in the software space, and so you're just exposed to all the crap that's going on at any given season, all the trends, all the hype.
M Branson:Anyway, and I have, you know, co-workers and colleagues that were more invested and not, and long story short, I personally was more interested in, like, wanting to start up a newsletter, wanting to put my art out there in some capacity digitally, most interested in owning as much of that as possible.
M Branson:And, um, crypto didn't really translate to me still as a use case beyond finance, because there wasn't a ton of literature around it and so, yeah, I was researching more like newsletter subscription type use cases, and then nfts were popping up around the same time end of 2020 and so I was really doing all of that research for a few months before I even like, dabbled in minting any artwork and, of course, the people blow up happened and all of that and I was like this is absolutely nuts.
M Branson:Um, so, yeah, my first thoughts were definitely what, the what, the what, mainly because it was, I think it was like so everything felt so at the same time, even though it was more over multiple months. There was just like so many crazy headlines and so much pre-bull market stuff going on and, yeah, I just went into I'll go into deep dive rabbit holes, yeah, research and learning out on new subjects that intrigue me, that make them curious about, and like my family and friends like lost me for a good four months, just like going into this. You know, like every free moment, every moment I wasn't working especially, essentially it was just reading anything I get my hands on any documentation I think jack butcher was talking about this too is like, yeah, like open c had documentation. I remember doing that same journey. You know you're just like digging into any platform who could tell you anything about what an nft was and what a contract was and how to get involved with it. And yeah, it was a crazy few months.
NorCal Guy:But yeah, still here. It was crazy times. So why did you choose art? What brought you to art?
M Branson:Yeah, I think to be totally cliche. I feel like art chose me. I was not seeking. I was not seeking art by any means. Um, I took a long tail to get to actually making art for myself consistently. I had to go through the whole. Anybody who's a designer knows the trope of like you know, designers become like go to design school to become artists, you know, to finally realize that like people do that gateway it's like reverse gateway and then artists go and become designers to make money because they realize they can't make any money, you know.
M Branson:So like there's just kind of silly back and forth on that. But I am totally that classic trope of like I came to art through design, through studio classes, things like that, nothing formal like super formal, like we're talking community college style art studio classes for drawing and all these things. But I do remember when I was a kid I was always doing something visual. You know, I loved photography first. I always had a camera when I was a kid. I grew up in the the digital camera age where it was like, you know, two megapixel cameras or something and then it was a four megapixel and then it ate, and you know and then just like my my parents were always.
M Branson:I credit my parents a lot because they were always getting they'd love tech and they're always like building their own computers and dabbling in digital cameras and things like that. So I credit photography. It's still a first love, it's something that I dabble with seasonally and, um, yeah, I think drawing though as an adult, drawing became my first gateway back in. So sketching, and I finally just filled a sketchbook, you know, at one point and found, like you just kind of discover I guess, your style I hate, I kind of hate that word and that categorization, but it just found me like I, just through showing up consistently and putting pen to paper, I realized what my language was and that was a really fun thing, you know, just a discovery to make. And so now I just I just really enjoy exploring all the different ways that that language wants to manifest, whether it's in photography, composition or pen and paper sketches or coding or animation, any of that.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, that makes sense. So curious what jobs have you done? Other than being an artist, like those grunge jobs up to you know what you do now you said grunge, yeah, like in high school. I feel like high school jobs are like grunge jobs usually yeah like yeah, I mean, that's funny, I love, I love that.
M Branson:But I definitely have had some grunge job, but they're not like classic. I actually didn't have my first job until I was 18. That's because my parents were like you're in honors classes, you're playing sports, you are full-time Like you don't need to get. You don't need to get a job, like get good grades show up to practice, like, do your thing.
M Branson:So I was really well taken care of in that regard and don't take that lightly. I know a lot of people don't have that experience, you know, um, but yeah. So when I was 18, I left home a couple weeks after high school graduation. I grew up in Apple Valley, california, so Mojave Desert between LA and Vegas, joshua Tree land and um. My mom and I drove up to Oregon and I landed at a very small little firehouse in western Oregon and went to school full-time at a community college in Salem and what I did was I studied firefighting at the firehouse and through the community volunteer program and then I went to school full-time to eventually get a paramedic certification, and so that was like a good three years of like. My first job was being a firefighter, but I lived in the firehouse and they have these really cool resident volunteer programs in small communities in the Northwest and, I think, in other pockets of the U? S where you, you like, live in a dorm style environment in the fire department. They help subsidize your education, they put you through all of the community certification processes and you end up with everything you need to be full-time firefighter, paramedic and the benefit for them in doing that is like they can only afford. These are small communities, have a lot of money, they can only afford. Um, so many full-time firefighters right, but when they have live-in volunteers, when the first paid crew goes out, if there's another call, there's, there's volunteers in the firehouse, we would you get up and go. So it might be my day off, my non-shift, but at 2 am the call goes out. You're still getting up, you're going to work, right, and then you get off that call and you go to class at 8 am. You like drive 40 minutes, go to class and then come back and try and get some sleep before your shift the next day, type of deal.
M Branson:But yeah, it was a. It was a wild experience, but yeah, so that was my first job and it was grungy, it was very dirty, I saw a lot of weird, weird stuff. Um, but yeah, other than that job, I, when I decided to transition cause obviously I don't do that anymore when I decided to transition because obviously I don't do that anymore I worked at Office Max. I stocked shelves at Safeway for a week and I hated it. The smell of milk made me so nauseous I couldn't do it. I lasted a week. I was just trying to work a couple of summer jobs before I went back. I was doing contract firefighting at that time. So long story short, before I went back and did more contract stuff, I did a lot of odd jobs in the off season and those are like two of the top two of the standouts. Yeah.
M Branson:I love it, it's like the longest answer, sorry.
NorCal Guy:No, it's great. I worked in a grocery store, for I worked as a bag boy for a little bit and then I got promoted to like box ripper is what they called it as a bag boy for a little bit and then I got promoted to like box ripper is what they called it where you like the stalkers would go through and stalk and just leave the trash on the floor and you had to like gather it up and then bail it, and but that was like at like 3 am I'd have to get there and I tried it. I was like doing that for like a month and I was like this is too hard. I can't do it Cause I'm I'm a, I'm a young kid and I'm like wanting to play, do things during the day and then not sleeping enough. Yeah, it was hard, it was not good.
M Branson:No, I feel you. No. It's like working in grocery stores is not easy and any service job, like people are just mean. So yeah, I guess that's the other thing. I work customer service. So when I put myself through design school, I worked part-time and took phone calls and answered emails and worked, worked the uh, worked the phones and man people are not cool yeah, yeah, can imagine.
NorCal Guy:That yeah?
M Branson:yeah, those are my, my grunge trips.
NorCal Guy:So what are the best things about web three today?
M Branson:I mean, the fact that I can even have a conversation with you is a great example and perfect manifestation of the best things about it. It's the connection with other people, the way that it's allowing us to go beyond that initial Web 2 wall of people broadcasting out things but not necessarily having a conversation about those things, and in web three we get to have a reciprocal conversation, I think in a way that is much more realistic and less polished, and that, for me, was so invigorating when I happened upon it, because I was really burnt out on, like web 2, instagram, social media. I had left facebook, I had left all of that. Probably it was around 2016, maybe fully in 2018, if somebody was going to go, like fact check my dates or something, but like I officially, I like canceled my accounts, I like got off of there, you know, because I was really burnt out, yeah, and I was really trepidatious. That's part of the reason it took me a while to jump in and mint any artwork, because all of this was revolving around Twitter, you know, and I was like, not a fan that's still not a
M Branson:fan, sorry everybody. Yeah, so like getting in there and cuz it just sucks your, sucks your soul, like your attention. You're just like in there, like they. I don't care, you can be the most conscientious, intentional human and you're still just gonna be like a moth to the flame. You're still just like scrolling and getting in there and doing stuff and so. But web3 the beauty of it is that you can find your pockets and your way to transcend that and have different conversations and connect with people and go deeper where you want and stay topical where you want. Um, and I know that's not like the classic like crypto answer for web3, but I think it goes beyond crypto and that's the thing. There's this moment of like web 2 and then crypto, and now I do like the web 3 terminology because it's the next iteration of the internet. You know how we all communicate and connect across the world and I know so many people now across the world and I love that. We're like a global Society and web3 is finally starting to reflect that back.
NorCal Guy:Right, yeah, awesome so where do you see digital art in nfts in five years?
M Branson:it's still. I can't believe it's not been five years I've been involved in it, like I'm just blown away.
M Branson:It's only been, you know, late 2020, early 2021. For me, I wasn't part of the early adopter crowd in like 2017, 2018, sadly, because, man, if I had gotten a crypto punk I would have, just because I love, I love artwork, the concept of the art behind the punks. You know, like I. Just anyway, I think in the next five years we're gonna, we're gonna see like it, go beyond. I know you said art, but if we go beyond art, I'm excited for all the use cases outside of that and that's the reason I'm so intrigued with what is happening with base and with hyper sub on base and also I should say hypersub is not only base, like hypersub is a client, but now they're accepting any cryptocurrency, which is really rad and okay, okay um, their infrastructure is like very smart, so check, check it out people.
M Branson:But and I'm not like the most fluent in communicating about it I'll try to answer any questions.
M Branson:But basically, like, I think we're going to see more models where people go beyond the 2021 version of like, put up a one of one and get 10 ETH for it through an auction on SuperRare.
M Branson:You know it's already moving past that. It already has moved past that, but we're going to see more use cases that are like not classically art, which I'm really excited about, and not necessarily even because I have huge plans, because I don't, I'm a dabbler and I just love to experiment, but I think we're going to see people bringing more performance performance oh my gosh performance aspects into this and like with ai coming in also and like, how is video and mainstream media gonna start to adopt this? And, you know, even like real estate and just classic contractual things, I'm like, can I go the dmv and have it be an easy like crypto based, you know, blockchain based experience, and so we may actually start to see nfts transcend beyond this like crypto thing and become a blockchain thing. Yeah, on, chain is the good branding now the branding of the moment right right, right um maybe we'll move away I think, and at the end of that moment, right, right, right, maybe we'll move away.
M Branson:I think at the end of that five years, we might have a terminology that has nothing to do with cryptocurrency blockchain, on-chain. It'll be like so far removed and people won't even know and they won't care.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, you know because it'll be that easy. For sure.
M Branson:That would be so fun. I look forward to that. Let's see.
NorCal Guy:What would sure that would be so fun, I look forward to that.
M Branson:But see, what would you like to see more of in this crypto art space? Yeah, on the art side of it, I want to see um more celebration of experiment and going off book, like that's how we got here to start with you know, know I'm. I'm actually like I'm not a super fan of the. Uh, how do I say things? I'm not trying to sound like an asshole. I have a mouth too, so I'm watching myself. I could.
M Branson:I almost dropped so many horrible words in the last. Like 10 minutes, Um no, I want to see more celebration of people experimenting and doing the things that got us here in the first place.
M Branson:There's this constant human need to like organize in this cultish way around one way to do things and like to label it this thing and to make it a norm, and I just I'm not into it. It like I like to dabble and bounce around and be an early experimenter with many things and because of that I have some extraneous contracts over here and like I've played on that chain over there and it's kind of messy and I think that's kind of fun.
M Branson:You know, like it doesn't need to be perfectly like all ethereum one of ones. It's like there's a time and place for that. I think there's like cool moments to leverage that tool, but there's also so much more we can do where it can be super cheap and super new chain or like layer two layer three even you know.
M Branson:Like what is layer three gonna bring? I don't even know. It's crazy that that I'm not even there yet. But I want to see more people experimenting with that, like minting their artwork on layer threes and like pushing that boundary. Um, I think that's why people like x copy are so lauded, because they're one of the people early on who always went off book and still goes off book and does whatever the fuck they want, and they just experiment all over and they bounce around. Um, there is a method to their madness, I think you know, but that's the. That's the quality that keeps people engaged. So can you have a through line but still have freedom? And I want to see more artists feeling empowered to do that. You don't have to follow a script, you know, or an expectation. If you're an artist, go have your time.
NorCal Guy:For sure. So that kind of leads to the next couple of questions Does one ETH equal one ETH?
M Branson:I ended up mute because I was drinking water, but I definitely chuckled. I knew this question was coming. I don't have an answer, man, I just. It's like so polarizing, I feel like some people are so and I think I've waffled. I've listened to this podcast since its inception. Also, I'm like a proud contributor to the opening. I hear my physical health in there saying I remember when you asked us total sidebar. I remember when you asked some of us to contribute our voices and to record those like.
M Branson:NorCal and Sheer show and I was like, what is he doing? Like, what's he going to do with our voices? I'm so creeped out like should I do this anyway? Um, since you, you've always asked this question, right, but, like there are times, there are definitely moments. This is how I'm even like a moth to the flame with, with, like the cultish ways of what, when we get embedded with each other's like rhetoric all the time, right, it's like, yeah, there are times when I'm like, yeah, one eighth is one, and then there's time where it's like, well, no, because one eighth is like four thousand dollars. I don't know, actually, I I mean to go maybe into the like okay, let me put my brain on and stop joking around. Like there's probably use case driven moments where this could be answered more, and it really is. It just depends on what you're, depends on what you're doing with it. You know, like I've had a whole transformation of like being an artist.
M Branson:Ask, it felt awkward to even ask anybody for money for my art and then to watch my art sometimes go for higher, like for me, higher it's not huge, I don't. I don't even know if I've sold anything for an ETH, which is totally fine, but like to watch my art go for hundreds of dollars or a couple thousand dollars when ETH was higher, and I'm like what? This is so crazy, because, like, I'm just having a good time, I'm just making, making what, what is me, you know, in my experience, and sharing it, and now doing HyperSub and sharing work on base, it's like depends on where we're at right now, but it's like 0.01 ETH is what I'm asking per month for that, right, 0.01, you know. And there's some people doing their subscription for like half of that, even much less than that, and like that, I'm actually one of the more expensive subscriptions on there which, if we looked at 2021, that's like 0.01 people would be like, oh my god, you need to ask more money for your art.
M Branson:Like that's, you're throwing it away, you're you're cheapening yourself and I'm like, I don't know, like in this use case, I'm asking for people to participate with me and be with me for as long as they're comfortable. Or if they see a piece they like they can jump in that month and, right, get it, and then not resubscribe or renew until they see something that I'm doing, that they can jump in that month and right, get it, and then not resubscribe or renew until they see something that I'm doing that they're interested in. It's just a different way to experiment with it for sure so long-winded.
M Branson:Oh my goodness. Again, I don't actually think that one eath equals one eath right now ask me again in a year, I might have a different answer fair, fair, so does supply matter?
M Branson:supply is I mean I think I've already alluded to this a little bit right, like I feel like artists should just be able to do whatever the fuck they want, like go have a good time, you know. I think supply matters in the sense that artists should be creating as much as they are called to create in any given moment. There are times when I do not want to make anything and I need to take a break. I'm actually kind of in one of those. I had this artwork that I just put out for subscribers last week because I was on holiday for the beginning of August. Holiday for the beginning of August. Um, but the the piece that I put out for August, I had like an existential crisis, like going into making it, where I was, like, can I even make art anymore? Like we just do that, it's so weird.
M Branson:I'm like, of course you can it's putting pencil or paper or digitally and procreate or writing a line of code.
M Branson:But there's just this like the longer you get away from it, take a break and if you're burnout at all, you have a moment of ah, am I ever going to be able to do that again?
M Branson:And so, in terms of supply, if you over index on supply, it's going to make that conversation even harder to weather. As a creative, you know, as a person with a desire to dabble, I want to know that I can put out as much or as little as I want in any given time. I have the luxury of doing that because I have a full-time job and it's not the way I pay my bills. Like I do that on purpose, like I have never wanted to be a struggling artist, like I just don't have the room for it. But maybe if there are artists who are creating a business for themselves and they're worried about that, maybe I just I still, I don't know I think of like people who've had massive success in this space. I don't know, if people want your art, they're going to buy it, whether there's a thousand pieces or 5 million pieces or one piece.
M Branson:So you just got to create it, for sure, yeah.
NorCal Guy:So changing it up a little bit, if you're an animal, what would you be and why?
M Branson:I really like birds, so I think I would be a bird I don't know which bird I think, if I go between like I'd be a hummingbird.
NorCal Guy:I would love to be a hummingbird.
M Branson:Just like they're so cute, they buzz around, they can go anywhere. But also we had a major freeze this winter and I'm pretty sure the neighborhood hummingbird population like got wiped out. So I'm like, well, that's kind of sad, I wouldn't want to be the hummingbird. No, I love big birds also, like raptor-style birds. I go kayaking a lot, I bird watch a lot and man, they're so graceful and so cool. I saw an eagle dive down in front of my partner, like five feet away from her.
M Branson:We were on the river oh, wow grab a fish out of the water just above her head I was like when I thought she was getting ready to be like mauled by an eagle, I was like what's coming? For her head, but obviously it doesn't want us, it wants the fish. So, yeah, it would definitely be a bird, but, like, I guess, for longevity it'd probably be more like an eagle or something. Yeah, cause they're so big, top of the food chain style, true, true. Yeah, hummingbirds I have a lot of respect for, they're so.
NorCal Guy:They're really cool, so nimble.
M Branson:They're very cool birds, very yeah, yeah.
NorCal Guy:Do you have a favorite food?
M Branson:mashed potatoes oh all right, those are good. Yeah, I mean like specifically too, I love potatoes, but mashed potatoes are like I could eat them every day and I kind of have. I was contract zoom, contract work in antarctica and the um food is not that great, especially during the winter, and there's like not a lot of fresh produce and there was definitely a stretch of like a month where I would just eat bread and mashed potatoes.
NorCal Guy:Because they have them like every day.
M Branson:So I mean I would still choose the potatoes over the bread anytime, but yeah, mashed potatoes for sure.
NorCal Guy:That's awesome. So what's the best piece of it? What's the best piece of advice you've been given, or do you have like a mantra that you live by?
M Branson:yeah, yeah, I think the one that, um, I actually wrote about this in my newsletter, I think, like in the spring. It's um, look where you want to go. So you know, I kind of came upon this when I was getting back into cycling as an adult. I, you know, have done the thing where you like go head over your handlebars into a ditch full of brambles and like almost roll down a massive embankment and die, and then also like successfully coasted down the hill, and it all has to do with where your mentality is at the moment and are you like looking where you want your wheels to go and your wheels will follow exactly. You know your sight line. So if you're stressed out and you're looking at the thing that you're afraid of, that's's where you're going to go you know, and so when I apply that mentality to everything, it's super helpful, like I just keep remembering.
M Branson:You know, even just like with making art the other day, you know it's like you want to create a piece of art. Who cares if you're scared and you have your own imposter syndrome that you're dealing with? Just like, focus on creating something for yourself and see what happens and yeah Right, always works out.
NorCal Guy:Do you have advice for artists joining the NFT crypto art space?
M Branson:Oh man, yeah, it's probably too much. I'm very opinionated. I think the biggest one would be something I've already said right, like just often, if I'm on social media now and it's, my mental health is so much better Like even though I had my like fear thing that I just went through like I realized I was going through a burnout. You know, because, like for the last three and a half years it's just been constant barrage of like opinions and do this is and the market's this way and this is the hot shit that everybody should be focused on. And when you step away from that, you kind of have I've had like a multi-month experience of just like whoa, just taking a break from it now coming back in, like I wouldn't want that for any new artists coming in. I wouldn't want anybody to feel that way. So it's more about just giving yourself that safe space, insulating yourself a little bit more and experimenting and doing the thing that lights you up. Just have a good time. Easier said than done.
NorCal Guy:Right Great.
M Branson:Do you have any questions for me? Well, I know your favorite beer is sierra nevada, but say that there's like a worldwide shortage of sierra nevada. You know what beer would you be drinking?
NorCal Guy:in that situation you know, um, it might be something from wow, I'm blanking on the name of the brewery, right now it's in santa rosa. Um, they make plenty of the elder, but they also make some other things. But uh, oh yeah, yeah, maybe that one.
M Branson:I'm also blanking on that brewery name, but I don't hear you talking about yeah, I don't know why I'm blanking on it right now anyways, yeah, what's uh? What's your advice to a new artist joining the nfg space?
NorCal Guy:oh well, um, there's a. I mean, you know, definitely secure your wallet, make sure you have a hardware wallet in that you're and potentially you know have a separate minting wallet, like for your own art, and then a wallet for collecting, maybe keep those separate and those would be the main ones and like set up your own contract. Since you can do that, there's no reason to have a shared contract at this point.
M Branson:Yeah.
NorCal Guy:That'd be like the main ones. And then find your tribe or your people that get along with you.
M Branson:Those are all really good ones. Do those People don't do what I said. Those are much more existential. People are saying you'll be like, oh my God, cool, but how do you actually act on any of that? And you're like tactical.
NorCal Guy:I love that, super helpful.
M Branson:Give helpful advice. Markel, good job. Any other questions for NorCal? This is something I find interesting because I feel like this is my last question for you. I don't mean to ask 50, but I could. Like you, I noticed that you go to a lot of the events, which is super cool. You know you've been to a lot of the events, which is super cool. You know you've been to a lot of the events art based blockchain events right, yeah, and I'm curious I guess that's twofold like how has that helped you or hindered your experience overall, just like as a human in the space, whether you're a collector, you also are, are an artist, you know you do both. Like, how has it helped you to go to those? And then, if there was one, you know cause I haven't been to any? For context, and I think I'm going to go, and then, like, I don't for whatever reason. So if there was one out of all of your time going to these events that you would say somebody should go to, what would it be?
NorCal Guy:to these events that you would say somebody should go to. What would it be all right? Well, the first part, I would say getting to know these people, like in person. It's, it's actually been really fun. Um, yeah, like I look forward to the events. Like to hang out with clutch or prav, which is usually like the two that I'm usually hanging out with, and I really enjoy hanging out with them. And ever since, like that first time meeting them, and you're just like, oh man, cause I mean there are nones, so you don't know what they look like, and you're like, oh, what's up? And it's just, it's really fun, yeah, so I've really enjoyed that and I think I like Miami the best. So our Basil, yeah Well, and Marfa. I like Marfa a lot too. It's much smaller and harder to get to, but I like Marfa and Basil.
M Branson:Nice, nice, yeah, good, good notes. Those two kind of they definitely stand out to me as like as an artist. They're the ones that I'm most interested in also. So that's cool, that's good reinforcement, sweet Thanks.
NorCal Guy:Yeah. Do you have any projects or any work you'd like to discuss?
M Branson:Yeah, I mean I've been talking about HyperSub quite a bit Just like a shout out to Johnny and team. There's a couple of people on that team. They run fabric. What's the company and the hyper sub is is a. I don't know if you call it an app platform platform they've put out in the last I think it came out end of last year, end of 2023.
M Branson:I jumped on in the spring of this year and it started as like just, I think, mostly artists jumping in to have subscriptions for their artwork. But, um, there are many other use cases now starting to emerge, like there are people um building apps you know that are you have a subscription to get access to the app, for example. Um, so there's multiple types of subscriptions happening there. But, as an artist, the thing I'm doing there and everybody can set it up however they want you have full license. You don't have to do it the way I've been doing it or other artists have been doing it.
M Branson:But, yeah, for a monthly subscription, you are guaranteed to get an edition of my artwork and the edition size is based on how many people are subscribing to that an edition of my artwork and the edition size is based on how many people are subscribing to that specific month, and norcal's a subscriber shout out thank you, like you know. So we're like I'm gonna subscribe for two years, and I'm like no pressure, I hate this. No, that's awesome. The thing it's done, though, is giving me this sense of like I can take a deep breath and yeah like it's a forcing function to be consistent.
M Branson:You know like I'm always going to show up and create something, but it's also a way for me to reward people who are engaged. So I'm constantly I always have like four or five things going on at any given time for my artwork. I cycle through them. I'm just kind of like a circular creator and so like, for example, my P plane project, which is a generative based, like I did, curated outputs for that drop. It's still open. It didn't sell out. It was the end of last year, it's December, some such. Um, but I have.
M Branson:That was volume one. I'm still working through what I want volume two to fully manifest, as as I'm learning P5.js and upping my chops, my coding chops, and so subscribers, when I'm ready to release that next volume, subscribers are going to get a mint of that. They're going to get a guaranteed mint of that project and any other. You know, I can't say when that one's gonna launch. So it's. I'm not trying to say to people like subscribe and hang on and good luck. It's like you could be like I don't want to subscribe until she announces that that's something that's going to happen. That's totally fine, um, but it's a way for me to reward people in various ways. Like I'm setting up a print shop also, so I like to.
M Branson:I love physical artwork, like that's. That's something that keeps me happy. Um, sometimes I start with physical and then digitize it. Other times now I'm creating digital additions and then plotting them, so like reverse engineering them back into physicals, and I've been giving away plots, um of some of my addition pieces to my subscribers, just raffling them off. So that's been a fun way to reward subscribers too, and so I just I kind of feel like hyper sub is my.
M Branson:That is my biggest project right now, like just creating this consistent output of artwork in a way that is, it's playful for me. I can dabble around um and reward people and um, while I'm learning things. So, like generative artwork is my biggest pull right now, I think curiosity wise, and so I'd love to get to a point where I can have a random, um, excuse me, a generative project with random outputs, so even one with levers, where collectors could help curate their output, you know, select what they want to mint and then make sure that those outputs are SVG compatible so that they can be plotted and people could, you know, come in and request a plot and you know or like be rewarded with them. So like that's the thing that I'm working toward. It takes a while when you have a full-time job and it's a summer and you're camping and trying to have a life, you know.
M Branson:So it's been slower, I think, um to manifest. But those are the things that I think I'm most excited about is just doing consistent drops, making artwork in my favorite ways and then learning new processes. And then the last one I'll shout out has been on hiatus while I've been taking kind of August off to chill, but coming back in September in a couple weeks I'll bring back my weekly burns. So, on base, I have a contract called M-Base Great naming. I know, called m base great naming.
M Branson:I know um and I, when warpcast created the ability to do minting via frame, I just I threw up an output from a generative project I had been dabbling with, like a grid-based, recursion-based project, and um, it got minted like almost, I think like 700 times just because it was framed, like people can just like click the mint button, right, I think there are people who minted it that don't even know, like who I am or what this project is, which is totally fine, but they um that made mint. I wanted to create a burn mechanism, exploration, and it's all free, you know. So people can take that mint. We keep breaking things. So WKBT it's kind of a play also on like breaking, burning and building, you know there's this whole like on-chain summer and we keep building things and blah, blah blah.
M Branson:So wkbt is the offshoot of that project. It's on the m base contract and every week on wednesday, people who who own any token, hold any token can come and choose to burn for a limited edition each week. It's like sometimes five, five, seven or nine editions and, um, it's creating a curated, generative series just through like shared collaboration with, with my audience, with the people who want to engage with it. And there's some weeks where nobody burns anything Like I'm the only one cause I participate, you know, I'm the only one that burns something. And there's some weeks that just like they'll sell out in an hour and I haven't really figured out what that is like.
M Branson:People are online or they do really like the art or their scarcity, somehow, I have no idea. But it's an experiment and I'm having fun with it. And, yeah, if anybody also got my prohibition daily drop, that happened. I think that was in July, end of Juneuly. I do a separate burn now for that piece because it's an it's of the same algorithm and so any holders of that can also participate in the burn. It's all a manifold it's using their system. If it's down, I'm kind of screwed. I'm not like. I'm not a coding savant, so I I'm not like building my own burn experience online. Yet Maybe someday, who knows? I'm in this for the long haul, so who knows in 10 years what I'll be up to? Well, awesome.
NorCal Guy:I look forward to the future of things and what you develop. It'll be fun.
M Branson:It's super fun to have you as, uh, I feel like you're like a partner in crime. You know, you've just always been around you. You've bought my art since the very beginning yeah, and um, I really appreciate it. You just you're such a support of people in general, just doing what they love, so thanks yeah, thank you.
NorCal Guy:Um, thank you for coming on the show today and thank you for being a great uh member of the community and member of the Island, so uh appreciate that.
M Branson:Shout out, shout out. Island for sure.
NorCal Guy:Awesome. Well, I hope you have a great day and we'll talk soon. Thanks, Marco.
M Branson:awesome, well, I hope you have a great day and we'll talk soon. Thanks, narco, who is this?
NorCal Guy:guy. Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Norco guy. Norco and chill podcast. So it's chill time. Norco and chill podcast. What the chill, what the chill. Norco and chill podcast. So it's chill time. Norco and chill podcast. What the chill, what the chill.