With cryptocurrency becoming mainstream and even browsers getting crypto wallets, the world of Crypto is here to stay. A major part of this world is the NFTs. Almost all popular artists, good or bad alike are creating their own NFT artworks. So, there’s no reason for you to stay behind. We’ll cover how to create NFT for free and easily. Our methods include ways to avoid minting gas charges and using a new blockchain to mint NFTs. We’ll also cover all the terminology in detail so that even beginners can create their first NFT easily. Do keep in mind that this is an educational tutorial only. If you are from countries like India that are trying to regulate cryptocurrencies, you might need to check the legalities of NFTs. With that out, brace yourself, and let’s learn how to create NFT art for free.
Before we jump into the process, we’ll do some preparations like creating your crypto wallet. You don’t have to get overwhelmed by any of it as we’re covering everything in detail. But even before we can start preparing for our NFTs, let’s first understand them a bit. If you already know the basics, please feel free to use the table below and skip ahead.
What is an NFT
Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are individual data units that are stored on blockchains. Blockchains are a collection of digital records or blocks that are locked in with each other using cryptology. You can dive into the depths of what NFTs are using our linked article. But in general terms, it is a permanent data unit that can’t be changed once locked. Committing to the non-fungible in its name, NFTs can’t have an exchange involving equal substitution, unlike cryptocurrencies.
You can use almost any type of unique media file to make an NFT. It can be music, art, memes, videos, photos, 3D objects, GIFs, or even tweets. For this tutorial, we will be using PNG images to create our NFT. If you want to use your NFT as a Twitter profile pic, you should do the same.
What Is a Crypto Wallet
Irrespective of their names, crypto wallets cannot be used to store your NFTs or cryptocurrency. Both of these assests always live on the blockchains. But crypto wallets act as an identity card that is used to claim ownership over blockchain data units and to login into various blockchain-based websites. These wallets can be web apps, extensions, mobile apps, and even physical devices.
There are dozens of wallet providers but we’ll focus on MetaMask which is the most widely accepted crypto wallet.
Once the extension installs, it will open up a new webpage to get you started. Click on the “Get Started” button on this new page.
Then, MetaMask will ask you to log in or sign up for its wallet. Here, choose the option on the right and click on the “Create a Wallet” button.
The first step of creating a wallet is setting a password. On the new page, enter a password in each column before clicking on the “Create” button. Also, don’t forget to check the terms of use box if you agree to them.
Once you have created your password, it’s time to make a recovery phrase. It’s a 12-word phrase that works like a username for your wallet. MetaMask will explain it in detail before you click on the “next” button.
Now, the app will show you your secret recovery phrase. Do not share it with anyone unless you want to risk losing access to your wallet. And make sure to either remember it or download it for safekeeping using the option given. Then click on the Next button. MetaMask will make you enter the security phrase before your wallet is ready.
Finally, MetaMask will take you to the wallet dashboard where you can find all the information regarding the cryptocurrency on it. Now, our wallet is ready to mint its first NFT.
What is Minting
Minting is the process of recording your NFT on the blockchain. It covers your regular media file’s location into a permanent uneditable data unit recorded on the blockchain. Just like real coins, after minting NFTs gain their value and identity. You can then sell or store them. Do keep in mind that the media file doesn’t get stored on the blockchain. It only stores the point or location to where your media file is stored on the internet.
As you might have figured out from our previous description, free NFTs are possible in only two ways. The first involves transferring the gas fees. It means that either the buyer of your NFT or someone else pays for the gas fee that goes into minting. So, technically, the gas fee won’t be removed here but rather transferred to the customer trying to buy your NFT. You will remain the original creator of that NFT but you don’t have to pay for getting it registered on the blockchain.
The popular crypto marketplace Rarible offers a feature called Lazy Minting. It allows users to mint NFT without paying an upfront fee. The gas costs related to the minting are transferred to the customer that buys your NFT from Rarible. It’s a pretty straightforward process. Here’s how to do it.
Create a Rarible Account
Open the Rarible homepage and click on the “Create” button in the top right corner.
Then Rarible will ask you to choose a crypto wallet to login into their website. Click on the MetaMask option and it will prompt MetaMask to ask for your password. When prompted, enter your password and click on the “Unlock” button.
Then the MetaMask pop-up will ask you to confirm your login. Here, you first need to select your account and click on “next“. Then you need to click on the “connect” button to finally login into the website.
Turn Your Art into NFT
After logging in, the website will ask you if you want to create a single NFT or a collection of them. Click on the single option for your first NFT.
Now is the moment to create your NFT for free. Start by clicking on the “choose file” option and uploading the media file you want to make an NFT out of. Then you can either turn off the feature to list it on the marketplace or put the price at which you want to sell your NFT. There are even options to hold an auction and to change the cryptocurrency in which you want to sell.
After entering the marketplace information, scroll down and make sure to turn on the “Free Minting” option by clicking on the toggle next to it. Here you can also enter additional information about your NFT including name, description, royalties you want, and more. Finally, click on the “create item” button to create your NFT.
Finally, to register your NFT, the Rarible marketplace will sign a contract with your wallet. During the time NFT is getting created, a MetaMask pop-up is going to appear twice. Each time the contract pops up, click on the “sign” button on MetaMask to complete the transaction.
Once your NFT is created, Rarible will show you options to create more NFTs, view your NFT, and share it on your social media.
Create NFT for Free Using Polygon Blockchain
While transferring your minting cost to the buyer does seem viable, it doesn’t make your NFT entirely free. To make our NFT completely free and to completely wave off the minting charges we need to use Polygon-Matic blockchain. It’s a comparatively new blockchain that functions similarly to Ethereum blockchain but its users don’t have to pay a transaction fee while registering NFTs on it.
Add Polygon-Matic Network to MetaMask Wallet
By default, our MetaMask wallet works on an Ethereum network. But to mint an NFT on the Polygon blockchain, we need a wallet on that blockchain. Don’t worry about your security key and password as none of that is going to change. Let’s get started.
Then enter your password to open the wallet. Here, you can notice the “Ethereum Mainnet” option on the top right corner of MetaMask. Click on it and then select the “Add Network” option from the menu.
Clicking on the “add network” button will take you to a new tab with the MetaMask dashboard. Here, the extension will ask you to enter the details about your custom network. In each column, carefully enter the following details:
Click on the “Save” button to register the Polygon network.
Your MetaMask wallet is now registered on the Polygon blockchain network. All we need to do now is find an NFT marketplace that supports Polygon and create NFT for free.
OpenSea is the world’s first and largest NFT marketplace where you can find almost every popular NFT. Fortunately, it is also one of the first marketplaces that are accepting Polygon-based NFTs. And the account creation here is as simple as it is on Rarible. Let’s see how.
Now OpenSea will ask you to choose a wallet to sign up with. Click on the MetaMask option. It will prompt the extension to ask for your approval. Click on the “next” button and then the “sign” option to create your account. Do make sure it’s displaying your Matic/Polygon account while logging in instead of the Ethereum account.
If your MetaMask extension is still on the Ethereum on the previous step, you can switch to Polygon easily. To do so, click on the MetaMask extension and then on the “Ethereum Mainnet” option at its top. Here, you will see your newly created custom Polygon network. Click on its name to connect to that network.
Create Free Polygon NFT
Once your account is ready, OpenSea will ask you to upload your media file. Unlike Rarible, you can also upload 3D models here. Click on the empty box under the upload option to upload your media file.
After filling in these details scroll down to the end of the page. Here, under the blockchain section, select Polygon instead of Ethereum by clicking on the drop-down menu. Then click on the “create” button to save your NFT.
Once the NFT is ready, click on the “sell” button in the top right corner to list it in the marketplace. Do keep in mind that you will no longer be able to edit it once it goes on sale.
On the listing dashboard, you can enter the product’s price in Ethereum currency. Due to its massive audience OpenSea, at the moment, only allows you to list it for up to 6 months. You can also set custom quantities if you want to sell multiple copies from your NFT supply. Click on the “Complete Listing” option after completing the rest of the entries.
Finally, OpenSea will ask you to approve a transaction and sign a contract to list the NFT. Both of these will not cost you anything. First, click on the “unlock” button and then on the “approve” button when the MetaMask pop-up comes. Secondly, click on the “sign” button on OpenSea and then on the “sign” button in the MetaMask pop-up window.
Now your NFT will be available for sale on OpenSea for the duration and price you have selected.
What Software can I use to Make NFT Art?
Can People Download My NFT Art Without Paying for It?
First of all, don’t panic. All NFT marketplace have a monthly scheduled maintenance period. You just need to wait out their maintenance process which doesn’t last for more than 1 hour at a time. If the problem persists, you can try switching your blockchain network on the crypto wallet.
