The unique painting style is a creative and organic way for the project to promote the PFP NFT, which not only brings a sense of belonging to the holders' community, but also serves as a hub for the project to communicate with its members through artists and their styles, and to reflect the different identities and personalities of each holder.

According to data from May 26, Goblintown's trading volume increased by about 355% in the first 7 days, and the total trading volume has now tripled comparing to its last peak value of 4.4K ETH before the 26th. Goblintown also topped the OpenSea's 24-hour trading list on the 26th.

Over the past seven days, Goblintown's trading volume peaked on the 25th with a 300% increase comparing to the 24th, with a total of approximately 3,500 sales and purchases being made during this period.

Goblintown NFT launched with free mint on May 21, 2022 on Ethereum. The collection features 9,999 creatures that live in Goblin Town.

Globlintown's popularity is attributable to several traits: 1/1 high recognizability and high transaction price, high topicality, unique website design, compound meme, and ugly plus grotesque drawing style. These features made the project a dark horse in the current bear market in a short period of one week.

1/1 High Recognizability

In addition to the various different magical creatures, Goblintown's 1/1 collection "modifies" several famous characters & celebrities, giving the images a high degree of recognizability. Examples include Pixelmon's Kevin and the Twitter-famous Contrary Indicator Steve Aoki.

It's worth noting that among all the NFTs sold, Goblintown #8995, #7944, and #5948 made the top three highest deals with 69.42 ETH, 30.3 ETH, and 26 ETH respectively. Among the top ten most expensive NFTs of the 1/1 collection, seven were sold for at least 9 ETH and have an average turnover rate of 2.1 times. This shows that the project creators has dedicated much effort to the designs which granted these rare collectibles their own uniqueness.

Meme-Influenced Style Factors

Language Style

Ever since the project was sold out, Goblintown creators have been promoting the Goblin language through social media accounts, Twitter Spaces, and other channels. They even pushed market sentiment on Twitter Spaces to a new high on the 26th in conjunction with the high trading volume. It was observed that the online session on that day lasted for 3.5 hours, with the number of listeners reaching over 1,700 at one point. Holders immersed themselves in the goblin roleplay and shared a good time.

The phrase AUUGHHH! is ALREADY a bonus meme. According to TikTok, short clips tagged with #auughhh have reached a total view of 32.2 million as of today.

Grotesque Style

The peculiar style of the official website, casual dialogues, and the anonymous team add a veil of mystery to Goblintown. The name brings an ironic connotation in itself in that the ugly and grotesque style hint at the current market sentiment where a bearish trend and blue-chip price drop are observed.

Today, more and more project parties hope to create the wave through unique and groundbreaking painting styles. So, how to judge the painting style of a project? "Impression" is very important. And this also can be reflected in the overall artistic style, which leaves a deep impression to audience.

From sky-high profile, subcultures to bizarre painting styles, NFTs have brought surprises to the market again and again. Goblintown is undoubtedly an interesting experiment in painting style. So, what kind of performance and position does the style of painting occupy in the NFT project?

Style is the Carrier and Pivot of NFT Presentation

Ever since CryptoPunks has introduced pixel art to the NFT market with its launch in June 2017, different styles have slowly sprouted along with market development. Recent additions to the market include anime style, mecha style, demotivational culture style, minimalist style, etc. The following is a partial list of NFT projects according to drawing style.

Painting style is not only the cornerstone to jumpstart every NFT project, but also the link to connecting nodes through the progression of the project. One the one hand, it enables the transition of artists from web2 to web3, sustains their style, and builds a solid fan base and aesthetic consensus. On one hand, it can be a carrier to connect and link different community cultures and spread the cross-national and ethnic genes in web3. Under the vast dome of decentralization, artist/project - painting style - culture are interconnected and intertwined.

Aesthetics: A Continuation of Earlier Styles

Take Doodles for example, the framework of its image is derived from the works of illustrator Scott Martin. From Scott's early illustration works, it can be seen that he loves the presentation of thick lines and warm forms, and this style of painting brings a sense of simplicity without sacrificing cuteness. In addition, Scott was an internationally renowned artist before he transitioned to freelance commercial illustration. He has collaborated with numerous publications and events around the world, including Google, Facebook, Dropbox and Red Bull.

From this, we can easily see that Doodles' style had a certain amount of fan base from the very beginning, based on Scott's outstanding portfolio. The aesthetic value of unique drawing style also served as a bridge for Scott's transition from web2 to web3, and to a certain extent, laid the groundwork for his subsequent success. Moreover, it provided an aesthetic guarantee for Doodles as a PFP NFT project.

A similar case is seen on GENE_SIS SENSHI. The project artist Gharly started out as a game artist and had joined Nexon as one of the collaborative artists of Dungeons & Dragons 2. In 2019, Gharly officially became a freelance illustrator and gradually established his apocalyptic style seen on The Girls of Armament collection.

In other words, Gharly has been working on the preparation of GENE_SIS SENSHI for over three years, and has been building up the brand and worldview for the whole project. On the foundation of continuous polishing and improvement of style, the collection is able to achieve greater breakthroughs through NFTs.

Identity and Cultural Integration

Whether it is the inspiration from Japanese animation in Azuki's character, or the carrier of the demotivational culture in mfers and BAYC, the common narrative and purpose behind these styles is connected to the idea of breaking the current centralized structure. They seek to build a de-ethnicized, decentralized, member-owned and managed community in the future metaverse. Once people have integrated into the world of web3 and the metaverse through NFTs, and by removing the labels defined by web2 like nationality, ethnicity, or even gender, they will be able to create their own community. Equality and inclusion will allow every participant to choose their own identity and path. In this sense, PFP NFTs of various themes and styles naturally become a means of personalization on web3.

In terms of artistic composition, Azuki has a very distinctive Japanese feature. By employing the style of Japanese animation and American thick outlines, Azuki's art is a subtle fusion of the two. Meanwhile, Azuki takes advantage of the background of the Japanese animation industry and Western culture, and infuse them into its collection as a way to spread the idea in web3.

Furthermore, PFP NFT projects like mfers and BAYC seek to connect NFTs with the demotivational culture group by presenting their NFTs in an unglamorized and original way. Their artwork reflects the state of today's society and the negative and escapist mentality of people. Also, people who share similar experiences are able to resonate with mfers's minimalist and crude drawing style.

Conclusion

A collection may have a simple style, but the context behind every one of its NFTs is not to be underestimated. With the gradual development and maturity of the NFT market, cultural collision will introduce more independent and outstanding projects to people's eyes. However, the project style will always remain a constant as it brings together artists, partakers, and web3. We believe that only the best styles will withstand the challenges of the market and thus grow according to its own pace. Over time, the NFT market is bound to flourish and evolve to be more diverse and inclusive.

Note: The above information is for informational purposes only. Investing in digital assets such as NFTs and cryptocurrency brings with it a high degree of risk. Please consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. NFTGo does not provide financial advice and is not responsible for any losses incurred as a result of investing in digital assets.