Create an NFT collection on OpenSea, Part Three

Ever wonder how to create an NFT collection? In part three of this series I’ll wrap things up by showing you how to round out the process. In the first article I covered high level concepts and understandings on coming up with an idea. In the second article I covered the creative process behind it. In this installment I’ll run through getting setup on OpenSea.

First and foremost, context is key. If you know what an NFT is, skip ahead. For those that are new, NFT stands for non-fungible token. Something that is fungible can be replaced by an identical replica. Whereas something that is non-fungible cannot. NFTs are tokens that store unique sets of data and are certified proof of ownership, like a deed.   

A quick recap

To recap, making an NFT is quite simple. All you need is one of the required file formats for a marketplace, a wallet, some ETH and an account on that marketplace. If you’re looking to create an NFT collection then it’s going to take some thought and planning.

Create an NFT, creating a collection

With your newly output art in hand you’re ready to start creating an NFT collection. I’m going to assume that you don’t have an OpenSea account or a wallet. If you do skip ahead to the part about creating the collection. Otherwise I will cover the basics first.

To begin, navigate to OpenSea.io and click on the user icon in the top right. 

From there you’ll be taken to a page that states you’ll need Ethereum to use OpenSea. As mentioned before you’ll need some ETH to make things happen. In order to get Ethereum you’ll need an account on an exchange. I won’t go into how to buy ETH here or how to set up an account. I’ll assume you’ve done that and are simply trying to get going on OpenSea.

If you haven’t, head on over to Coinbase. It’s a popular exchange trusted by many. It’s probably one of the easier one’s to use as well. Once there grab your crypto and head back to OpenSea.

The next thing you’ll have to do in order to get going with OpenSea is connect your wallet. On the screen stating you need ETH you’ll be faced with a list of popular wallets and a call to action that takes you to more. 

Metamask is the most common, trusted and typical wallet most people, including myself, use. 

For brevity I am also not going to show you how to get setup on OpenSea. I will include this YouTube video my friend @MindFuzz recommended to newcomers in our Spooktober Discord Server. It’s a great video on Metamask and it’s usage.

At this point you might be thinking that this is a pain in the ass.  

Honestly it is. I’m not here to critique the user experience. 

If I was a marketplace I might try and make it easier for beginners to NFTs and crypto to get going. But since I’m not and we’re talking about creating a collection I’ll get back to that. 

Now that an account has been setup, ETH has been purchased and a wallet has been created you’ll still need to transfer Ethereum to your wallet from your exchange in order to begin getting setup on OpenSea. 

Let’s recap. 

First things first, you’ll want to have some ETH. However you get it, that’s up to you. That ETH needs to be in a transferable wallet. That wallet needs to be connected to OpenSea in order for OpenSea to conduct a small transaction to confirm the connection. 

Once all of that is done you can get to the fun part, creating an NFT collection.

Moving forward, the rest is going to be much simpler. 

Getting started is a hassle especially if you’re new to crypto. Exchanges, wallets, connections and transactions all feel like scary things. I imagine over time with more adoption things will be less frightening but for now it is what it is.

The last few steps in this journey are creating the collection, minting an item and then listing an item for sale on the marketplace. Which are fairly straight forward concepts. 

You’re literally uploading file types, inputting data, configuring settings and submitting your actions. Let’s look.

Creating a collection is fairly straightforward. 

When you’ve signed into your OpenSea account you’ll need to navigatie back to the user icon we first clicked in the earlier steps. This time you’ll be presented with a dropdown menu. In the dropdown menu click on `My Collections’. This is going to take you to a page with all of your collections. 

If you don’t have any collections created, which you most likely won’t, then this page will be empty. I have been working on different NFT collections therefore the content on the screen reflects that. Each collection is displayed here in your account as a way to organize them but also show off the crypto art you’ve either created or purchased.

Click on `Create a Collection` to get started. 

You’ll be taken to a new form page. This is where you’ll input basic information about your collection. To begin you are faced with three image upload areas. These are images that will appear in your collection and on your collections page. 

Logo image is the avatar for your collection. Featured Image is the image on the card in the My Collections page and Banner Image is the banner behind your profile avatar.

Scrolling down you’ll see sections titled Name, URL, Description, Category and Links. I feel like those are straightforward and don’t require too much explaining. 

If you are unsure then the name is the name of your collection, i.e. Warskullz. The URL sets a custom link for your collection and description is any written text you want to input. The only use case we’ve covered so far with NFTs is the creation of art. However when interacting with the category list you’ll see that there are so many more possibilities. 

Finally to wrap this section up you get some input fields for social media channels. This could come in handy depending on how you market your work. 

The next section is a pretty important part if you want to sell your work and get paid. One of the beautiful things about NFTs is that there are built-in methods to pay artists for their work long after it’s left their hands. It might look confusing but this portion is fairly easy to understand.

OpenSea lets you set a royalty percentage of up to 10% per collection. Meaning that the originator will receive 10% of the revenue each time their item is sold. Pretty cool. Outside of that you’ll need to include your wallet address where you’ll receive the coins and then you’ll want to select a chain to mint on. 

I personally use Polygon because after minting my first collection I learned that it was extremely expensive to list on Ethereum due to fees. If you’re cost conscious, use Polygon. If you’re not, go for Ethereum. Once a blockchain is chosen you can choose from a couple tokens. I alway go with classic Polygon for simplicity. 

Lastly, you’re faced with two more sections, Display Theme and a NSFW toggle. 

The display theme is a setting that adjusts how your artwork is presented in your collections gallery. My personal favorite is padded as it allows for the least obstruction to my artwork. You’ll probably want to check out which one works best for you. Each one presents the image a little differently than the other in the items card on the collection page.  

That’s it. You’ve now created your first NFT collection. No collection is complete without it’s first item in it. 

After you’ve created your collection, assuming you have art ready, minting an item is just as easy as creating a new collection. It’s actually even easier. To get started creating an item you can click on any of the calls to action titled `Create`. They’re littered throughout the app.

I won’t go into full detail on how to create a new object as there are some specific details that take further explanation but as you can see in the diagram provided creating a new item is similar to creating a collection. Provide OpenSea with the final file format you wish to upload, fill out some information regarding the item and hit create. It’s now minted.

In a future article I will discuss more about the properties, levels, stats and unlockable content as these are additional features that can set an NFT apart.

After you’ve minted your new item in your NFT collection and are ready to sell, OpenSea provides a simple and easy to use interface like the one’s prior. In order to do so just click on the main call to action titled `Sell`.

You’ll then be taken to another form where an input field will allow you to set the price, adjust the duration of your listing and even create a private sale for a specific buyer. You’ll be provided with a preview of your item, the total value as well as a breakdown of the fees associated with selling your NFT on OpenSea. 

After you’ve input your price and click `Complete Listing` an overlay will appear asking you to sign the transaction. This is confirming your action and will provide the necessary details to the blockchain regarding your NFT and all it’s specifics.

There you have it. Your first NFT collection on OpenSea plus your first minted and listed piece of crypto art!

Concluding thoughts

In this series of articles we covered a lot of topics. From what it takes to create an NFT collection like being original, unique and having a thought out idea. We also looked at specific creative steps using design thinking and the product design process which allowed us to take the time to explore topics and the market. Rounding it all out by taking things one step further in creating a collection as well as minting and listing them for sale. 

I hope you found this series to be helpful. Have fun, enjoy, always create, share and inspire.