In the past few weeks, the relatively new social media platform Warpcast has witnessed a surge of users; from developers, founders, and degens to artists, curators, and galleries. This flow of users has been largely accelerated thanks to opportunities to earn tokens for being active on the platform (via $DEGEN tips) and Warpcast's onchain crypto-native interactions enabled by Frames.
Rolled out just in January this year, Frames enabled users to turn casts (posts) into interactive apps. From polls, live minting or interactive galleries right in the feed - Frames turned static embeds into interactive experiences. An example below:
A few months ago, I wrote my first impressions on Farcaster (here), where I shared more about $DEGEN, some early art projects and fun experiments. Since then, the art scene has flourished! It feels timely to delve deeper and share some findings here!
In this issue we cover:
Interview with /art channel founder Kugusha 🎥
Selection of great channels for art discussions 🗣
Spotlight of upcoming art collections 🔎
Basement Builders: Chatting with Kugusha about /art
This week, Kaloh and I shared our Basement Builders interview with Aleksandra (Kugusha.eth). Basement Builders is a new talk series we introduced with Kaloh to document "People building cool stuff in web3". The updates are shared in the /basementbuilders channel on Warpcast, and talks are accessible via YouTube and Spotify.
Kugusha is an early adopter of Farcaster who now runs its 12th largest channel: /art! In our episode, she shared her experience building communities and some of the best practices for artists. You can check out the full episode here:
Art channels: a place to share, connect and discuss art
In our BB talk, we touched upon several other channels outside of /art that are catching the eye of art enthusiasts and web3 builders. I picked some highlights, which, imo, are worth keeping an eye on!
Category-specific channels
These are self-explanatory in their substance - and of course, the same work can fit across several (i.e. gen art could be reposted to plotter-art and gif art to crypto art, etc.).
/gen-art
/ai-art
/cryptoart
/gifart
/glitch-art
/photography
/pixelart
/plotter-art
/south-art
/illustrations
/degen-art
/design
Collectors & enthusiasts channels
Discussion channels to share your thoughts, pieces and interesting findings.
/theory
/art-history
/collector-walls
/collectors
/details
/kaloh
/unknowncollector
Work-in-progress channels
A place for creatives to share the process and progress with the community. It can be a great place for feedback and ideation.
When exploring new channels, a good rule is to look at the rules in the description to make sure your posts fit the mission of the hosts. It's also helpful to check out the content being shared and the hosts behind it—these could be good indicators if it's the right place for you.
Spotlight: upcoming collections
There are (so) many incredible pieces shared daily to keep up with. But here are three that i'm keeping an eye on:
Degen Ladies Klub 🎩
This upcoming project is by Cyber Shakti, an early adopter of Warpcast, artist, and Founder and CEO @lenspost. I'm excited about it, as it's nice to see a women-centered pfp collection. Described as "1111 Member only Klub for DegenLadies," the community has been doing ongoing giveaways ahead of the release.
Date: There's a poll on the release date, which may be as soon as April 10th
Channel: /degenladies
swatches by jvmi 🔴
Self-described as an NFT artist and streetwear designer, jvmi is bringing a collection of interactive canvases exploring color and motion to Farcaster. Over the past few weeks, the community has been playing around with the interactive website to explore some of the interesting combinations the collection offers. Through active participation some members were able to snipe mint and presale passes, while others are now anticipating the public release.
Date: 4th April - mint pass and presale; 5th April - public
Channel: /swatches
Mint site: OpenSea
If you're here, you're based and early
Released by ciniz, one of Warpcasts most prominent voices, the collection was a series of open edition free mints with art by Anton Marrast. The "full set" holders (those that own Frame 1-6 + either one of the 7's) were then able to claim for free an "onchain gaia", a ticket that has been surrounded by mystery and teasers of what's to come. Holders of id sub 500 are believed to receive a "pet", an AI entity that has potential to generate extra perks for its holders, as teased by ciniz.
Although some might feel like they missed out, ciniz has mentioned on several occasions that it still might be worthwhile having a full set.
Collection link: OpenSea
Moving forward
Today's post is a small snapshot of all the things brewing on the purple app. I believe in the coming months we will see more exciting things happening for both creators and enthusiasts. As @ciniz says, we're so early!
Links
You can connect with me @aart and follow our channel /basementbuilders for updates on the next episode with @July (teaser: among other things, we talk about flying cars!).
Aleks
