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Empress's journal and guide to art on and off the blockchain, celebrating creativity in all its wild, unfiltered forms.
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Empress Trash
Hey all ~ Between testing + giving feedback on the new Base App, doing my drop with Betrmint and the media rounds with that like talking on Time Pieces spaces, and my Titles.xyz first ai model dropping I have been extremely busy. So let's dive in:
It's officially NEONCHAIN Summer! I'm so proud and happy to be the artist Betrmint decided to have kick off their NEONCHAIN Summer artist series. Betrmint is a mini-app on Farcaster where 3x a week they host a gameshow style mint which people can mint and win randomly distributed tokens of equal or more value.
For the most part until recently, they have been featuring podcasts and this drop is part of their 10 week series featuring an artist every Friday for their minting event.
This week beyond the excitment of featuring art and my art for the first time, there was an added layer of new token handling to decrease sell pressure on tokens during these events which Toady Hawk explains better than I could here: https://farcaster.xyz/toadyhawk.eth/0x949cd3f6 This system actually broke for a few adding another great performative glitch layer to the whole thing, haha.
The work I created is titled Zero-G Aura. It's Midjourney x Mosh hot babe astronaut. I was thinking about how in 2021 bull run there was so much astronaut art being sold, but I never remembered seeing women astronauts. So I thought to iniate this series doing a hot babe astronaut would just be cool cause there is still so much symbolism behind it all.
It is minted on Blueprints who has onboarded me as a creator also as part of the series. I found the first time using the platform mostly intuitive and I will share more art there moving forward also. The art also happens to be token #0 on Blueprints with the seredipidous name Zero-G Aura. Even though you missed the Betrmint rewards minting round, you can still get yours edition for at least the duration of NEONCHAIN Summer 10 week series, if not longer as a perpetual open edition.
Mint Here:
Explore and collect exclusive content from Blueprint alumni.
I have so much gratitude towards the Betrmint Team (especially Toady Hawk) for wanting to include me and have me launch the series, for Degen Token Base and Clankermon for sponsoring the Betrmint mint, Base for being the most Based blockchain (frr), Blueprints for minting and onboarding me as a creator, and the Betrmint community for minting, hyping the work and all the love.
Titles.xyz I'm so insanely excited about. Titles is an AI art creation and minting platform that helps artists train their own AI models from their work and collaborate with their AI models in the most ethical way I've seen so far all powered by crypto and the blockchain. The best part is anyone can make art from my model on Titles.
A month or two ago Soren Wrenn ~ the CEO and Co-Founder of Titles ~ reached out to me to train a model. We had a meeting and after talking with them, it was an emphatic yes I wanted to work with them. I suggested the concept of Neon Noir based off my Neo Noir AI glitch animation series I did on Makersplace what feels like EONS ago, and he was 100% on board.
However, there was a delay as they happen but for good reasons. They needed to upgrade their training frameworks because they wanted to release my work with the improved systems. It was definitely worth the wait, because the results are BEYOND amazing. After I did a few tests to check the art was good, I cried lol. I felt like for real I was building the future in a profound way that still is hard for me to articulate but I will do my best.
Soren offered to onboard me to Alpha, which I quickly accepted, then I decided to soft release it to the community by just posting about what I'm doing with Titles. In less than a weeks time, as of writing this 57 works total by 25 users (including me) have generated work from the model to overall positive reviews from both artists already on Titles and people who have never used it before.
The huge mechanic about Titles that makes it stand apart from so many other AI systems is the ethical AI training model they embody. As an artist, I need to consent and prepare my work to train a model in addition to all attributions of models used by anyone are onchain with royalties embedded in all mints. This system shouldn't just be a novelty even though it is right now, but in my honest opinion is the baseline start of how AI and Tech Companies in general should operate when it comes to how data and people are reimbursed for their data being collected in general while also setting standards for how high quality data for AI training should also be rewarded.
Another layer is the permisionless collaboration and remixing aspect of how it works. Not everyone can train a model on Titles as for the indeterminate future they will be curating those who can, but anyone can create work from Titles models and mint them to their own contracts. Artists in turn get attribution and royalties from these creations.
For an extra layer of authenticity, while anyone can make work from any model, artists themselves can cosign a work they feel is great raising the overall value of the work, allowing artists to support other artists with just a few clicks and no cost to them bests the pennies for Base gas, and build onchain provenance of works the artist approved of vs not.
Beyond artist to artist collaboration, this also has applications in permissionless brand and business collaborations, competitions, and promotions. I tested this with the model they have currently for the anime Galverse (which I'm going to bing watch this weekend I promise, I've just been busy testing tech!) mixing it with my Neon Noir model and with my Deadfellaz which is on Zora:
Overall, after working with them now for a few, being onboarded to alpha and seeing how they recieve feedback and their vision, I'm so pumped about Titles. I think it's where artist compesation x ai data handling meets peak aesthetics while finding the balance of art democratization vs curation. My biggest takeaway is: It's the future of AI Art, and ethical.
You can view all the works generated and make work with my Neon Noir model yourself here:
https://titles.xyz/model/5BEXJxsLDkHoLMBpXjZ5
Tag me in any work you make and mint!
As Gamma.io Artist Ambassador, I have the priveledge of having Early Access to Signals which is from the same team. Signals is a new way to drop art and release projects that is a gamefied blend of crowdfunding, bidding, hype and round funding that helps artists and projects gain how much support ~ or "signal" ~ they have for a project proposal that helps raise funding or even determine if the project has interest in the first place while it helps collectors and investors discover projects and artists.
Nick Sainato has asked me to do a drop through signals soon as they keep rolling out and testing, so keep an eye out for future in depth writings of that, but for now I just wanted to get Signals on everyones radar
In the meantime, you can learn more about Signals here: https://signals.art/
In the spirit of fresh digital rebellions, this weeks' spotlight for Art on Bitcoin is Paloma the Peacekeeper from Jeannine Penn Art's Joie de Vivre collection, a piece that captures the essence of bold femininity and resolute calm. A limited run of 25 prints on Gamma, this work features a vibrant figure draped in flowing reds, yellows, and patterns, holding a dove as a symbol of strength led peace rather than passive sentiment. Jeannine, a designer with roots in campaigns for HBO and TBWA/Chiat Day, blends vintage couture influences with modern blockchain expression, her exhibitions spanning Paris to Los Angeles.
I chose this piece because I find echoes here of my own transitions from traditional media to glitch art explorations of feminity, where art becomes a conduit for traditional narrative transformations while advocating for a better world through peaceful resolutions. Delving further, Paloma's curvy, empowered form challenges limiting stereotypes, much like my hunches about algorithmic biases that favor sanitized aesthetics over authentic bodies in tools like Midjourney. This Bitcoin inscribed gem shines in the current sociopolitical climate.
Discover more about the artist and inscribe your edition here:
View and purchase a digital print of Paloma - The Peacekeeper by Jeannine Penn Art, plus explore dozens of Prints from other creators on Bitcoin.
Thank you for taking the time to read my words -- <3
Until next time, stay real and curious
Empress Trash 🖤
New to Web3? Here Are Some Guides:
Ethereum Foundation: What is Web3?
A beginner-friendly guide to understanding Web3, its decentralized nature, and why it’s reshaping the internet.
A great starting point for artists, collectors, or institutions exploring the world of crypto art, including wallet setup and minting digital art on Tezos.
Getting Started with Art on Bitcoin
Learn how to create, collect, and explore immutable art on the motherchain, Bitcoin, using Gamma’s easy-to-navigate platform.
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