**This was an initial post in the artist “tips-and-tricks” channel. After a couple of lengthy posts, it was decided medium would be more apropos to that end. I have slightly modified it to make sense apart from the discord context. The aforementioned channel will still be available for discussion, comments, questions, & queries.

With the combined experience in the POAPathon discord server, I thought the #tips-and-tricks could serve as a channel to trade resources, methods, tools, tips, & tricks. A sort of “Recipe Swap” channel. To start us off I’ll list a few of my favorites & a few insights I had while watching the NFT.NYC awards.

First up is my favorite & the one I probably use the most.

Sketchbook by Autodesk

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sketchbook/id883738213

I have used this on all my iOS devices for several years. It’s astonishing that it’s free. I’ve done some really creative stuff with just this & an iPhone. Tools are fairly simple to figure out & pretty intuitive. Tip: Play around with layers & the transparency slider of each. You can create really cool effects. No ads, just free.

Next are a couple of Open-Source image editors with a familiar feel. If Photoshop is The “God of Thunder” these two are the other Hemsworth brothers. I prefer Paint.net as it is a little simpler UI than GIMP but that’s just a matter of personal taste. They are both great analogs to the OG adobe product.

https://www.getpaint.net/

https://www.gimp.org/

Next up is Canva. I’ve only recently started using this but I’m finding it indispensable, for text effects especially.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/canva-design-photo-video/id897446215

Now a few things I gleaned from the NFT.NYC award presentation. First of all, the way the slides were done was perfect. Seeing all the submissions followed by the winner made it really fun to watch. If you haven’t seen it I encourage you to watch https://youtu.be/8f2pb31GPuQ There were a couple of things I noticed that gave people an edge in quality. First, Borders. Borders. Borders. Even just a thin, slightly inset border can make a huge difference. The other big one is Contrast. A look at my PFP should make it obvious I’m a sucker for high contrast. There were quite a few entries that were amazing uses of this. It doesn’t have to be as stark as black & yellow. In some cases darkening or lightening contrast or using complementary colors can make a world of difference. The right color or shade can make an image pop in all the right places.

This isn’t everything in my personal arsenal but hopefully, it’s a good start for this event. More to come

End Of Line