Well it's been seven days since I dropped (posted) my first NFT...
"Okse, Why don't you just say a week!"
Okay, brain, it's been a week since I first NFT.
"That's better, Okse."
Thank you, I'm going to carry on now. I dropped my first one, Mechaniskull Cyan at auction at 0.04 Eth. It hasn't sold but to be honest I don't mind I've also done a Magenta, Yellow and Black version and even animated them. I'm pretty pleased how they've turned out, they haven't sold either.
I've also created a Blocktopus... a bio- organic octopus with a belly full of bitcoin and other crypto and the Lion's share a Black and white digital drawing of a lion's head made up of pipes and vents mingled with crypto. if you'd like to see any of these pieces pop here https://opensea.io/collection/the-art-of-okse
So how did I do all this?
First I created a wallet and bought some Crypto ( Etherium ) to play with.
Once I had the wallet I connected it to Opensea this is a place where you can upload your pieces and get them minted, when you mint an image/animation/music file this then attaches data to said medium and puts it to the Block chain , this is like a certificate of authenticity that the piece you have uploaded is a unique piece.
"But Okse, if it's a jpeg, surely that can just be copied and and saved to my hard drive, therefor I own that too."
I covered this in my last Blog using the Mona Lisa analogy, just because I can print Leonardo's piece out ( the artist, not the turtle ) it doesn't mean that I own it. the original is in the Louvre, Paris.
So the answer is, no.
Once you've set your price you can list them either at a buy it now price or you can auction them.
With auctioning if the piece doesn't make the reserve price ( minimum 1.ETH) you don't have to sell it, people can make you offers and if you choose to take them you cover the gas fees (transaction fee) this can be either good or bad depending on the gas price.
When you list your first collection you will have to pay a start up fee and gas fees.
"What!? You have to pay, Okse? it's a scam!!!"
No, it's just a start up fee, in the real world if I was to release a series of prints of my paintings I'd pay for the initial set up, the photography, colour correction, artists proofs etc. I don't see it as money wasted. Plus you're using their platform to sell.
"Okay, fair enough."
Anyway, story time, during lockdown I thought to myself I can either get depressed about the whole state of the world or I could occupy my mind and learn new skills.
I chose the latter.
learned to create Art Toys. modeling them in 3d, printing them, molding them, and casting them in resin.
It kept me sane, my first toy was Boombox Boy and I launched him on the 13th March 2021, each figure is cast in resin and painted by hand, and has magnetic articulation.
Now that I've joined the NFT space I realised that I could make Boombox Boy into NFT collectable, so that's what I did I created a series of BBB's as pixel art. Each NFT comes with a physical art toy on the first sale.
I sold 2!
The transaction was quick as a flash and the money was straight into my wallet. The buyer was a guy called @samjonesart , I've known him since he was 15 and he is an amazing artist so I'm really happy the first two have gone to him. please check him out on Twitter/Instagram the lad has skills.
So as I said I'm all official now.
Onward and upwards
If you're wondering how I learned all this stuff, I learnt it from youtube, twitter and Clubhouse. The folks on there are great, very transparent with their knowledge and giving out so much positive energy .I've seen some amazing artists on there and it's really great, it feels a very refreshing place where artists promote other artists and everyone is happy for each other when work sells.
NFT should really stand for Nice Friendly Times.
Anyway time for bed for me, if you'd like to check out the Boombox boys pop to here. Boombox Boys
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Evil Kenevil was a must for any 80's kid, it came with a what I can only describe as a windy uppy red thing, some what similar to something you'd see on a shopping channel for slicing vegetables. You'd place Evil, I presume that was his real name . Would have liked to have been at that christening " we'd like to name him Evil" followed by gallons of holy water soaking the whole of the Kenevil family.
Anyway the bike and rider were revved up, Evil was then released to shoot/scoot/raz down any hard surface. Usually concrete scattered with ring pulls and White dog poo. (it was the 80s)
A favourite thing I used to like to do was get all my mates to lie on the floor and see how many kids Evil could jump, kids were the equivalent of buses. My mate John was always put on the end as he was a big lad and it always put an air of tension to the event.
Evil Kenevil was an amazing toy which brought a lot o joy to any young lad. I even bought one for my nephew when they rereleased it. It's amazing how different you see things as a kid, as an adult Evil Kenevil toy is a noisy bastard with a crappy bendy figure with a helmet that doesn't even fit properly!
2/Mouse Trap
Our house hold had this game, I would not be able to tell you how this was played as once it was set up we'd trigger it off then it was time for bed.
The green diver made a great addition to my Star Wars collection
"He's not in Star Wars" the kids would question.
"Yes he is, he's in the cantina scene playing slaps with Chewbaccas!"
3/Big Trak
This toy was usually brought into school on the last day of term a regular tradition in uk primary schools.
Kids (usually rich) would press buttons and navigate the vehicle through tables and chairs. Teachers would always be impressed by Big Trak
In the advert for Big Trak the kid would program BT to take an apple to his dad. Technology eh!
We had something better at home, it was called a dog , why push all those buttons to calculate moves when a simple " here boy, take it to dad" would suffice. Yes, there would be teeth marks, yes, the apple would have a hint of pedigree chum. But it was a whole lot simpler. Could Big Trak wag it's tail? Could Big Trak shake a paw? Would Big Trak move the family to tears when he was taken to the vets to be put down? The answer to all these questions is no.
4/ Girls World
"You never had a Girls World Okse!" I hear you cry.
No I didn't but my sister did. Girls World was a head and shoulders of a blonde girl, yes , you heard right and as you can see from the picture above she looked like the reminiscence of one of Jigsaw's victims. It was a toy for girls to apply make up on.
This was never the case, every Girls World I ever saw did not have make up lovingly applied but would be defaced with biro. Usually cobwebs , like a tattooed lady from a travelling freak show.
This toy stirred up feelings, the kind of feelings I used to get when I used to see Blondie's Debbie Harry on the Tv, you know "I want to kiss the telly but don't know why?" type of thing.
I used to kiss Girls World, was I weird doing so, maybe, but its the closest you get to snogging when you're five!
5/ The Golliwog
The Golliwog, one of the most controversial of toys back in the day made famous by Enid Blyton and Robertsons Jam.
Now for those of you who have never seen one of these its obviously a representation of a black person and that's why people aren't too keen on them, and rightly so, I think that if they'd have brought out Chinkywinky cuddly toys I probably would have felt the same. ( I’m half Chinese)
But I did own one of these, I was very young and he wasn't a representation of a black person , he was my friend.
My sisters used to get "Golly" (I was good at naming stuff) and throw him down the stairs, theyd run down to get him cradle him in their arms and shout up the stairs "Golly's dead!" to which I would belt down the stairs mortified shouting "NOOOooooo!"
How stupid was I? His eyes were always wide open there was no way he could have been dead.
Sisters are cruel!
6/ The Batmobile
This was one of favourite toys ever! it fired rockets, it had a big chopping blade at the front and came with two little figures you could remove , not only that, there was an ace picture of Batman at the bottom.
But as what happened with all of my toys stuff got broken, picture the scene its 1979, I'm there firing rockets, I remove the figures and get them acting out, unfortunately when Batman and Robin conversed they were always in the seating position, but that was cool we made do with what we had. I place Robin on the floor, then all of a sudden a big foot lands on him decapitating him. I was devastated, there was no way we were going to get that head back on, there was no super glue, we just had glue back then, and that was rubbish. I have never forgiven my God Father for that incident and wont until he gets me a new one.
7/ Action Man
Action Man also known as Gi Joe in the states was great , my dad used to tease me and call them Dollies, I used to hate it when he did that but I think it was his way of getting me to go off them so he didnt have to buy the accessories. Action Man was everything, scuba diver, space man , soldier , you name it Action man did it as long as it involved lots of testosterone, I mean you wouldnt catch action man dressed as an accountant or anything like that. if it involved guns and shit, Action man was well up for it! And besides they probably wouldn't hire him as of the big gash on his face he was hardcore.
Early Action man was nekid but later went on to don blue pants. The naked version was pretty weird, now I didn't expect him to have a cock and balls but he did have this crazy big "U" on his crotch, was this meant to represent his peen? I have no clue but I always found it confusing. See below.
The makers of Action man decided to up the stakes , how could they make the number one toy better, karate action, new accessories? "Nah, lets give him eyes that move left and right by moving a switch"
Yes, it made him look dodgy, but we loved it, I think subconsciously it helped us cross the roads "Look left and right, of course, Action Man does that"
His hands were great for chewing on too.
Action man was cool, though I never liked bearded Action Man, he always reminded me of one of my dads a scary mates.
8/The Space Hopper
Most kids had one of these they have come back and have been branded "Retro", the design confused me. What is it? is it a lion ?
My sister bought me one of these for Christmas but unfortunately someone else bought me some pencils, my Space Hopper didn't even make it outside. My sister was gutted as she hadn't bought just for me she wanted a go too.
Space Hopper RIP
9/Stretch Armstrong
Stretch Armstrong was not only a cool toy but it allowed you to exercise your arms, if you watched the advert you'd see how the kids would get him and stretch him straight away with ease, this was a lie! They forgot to miss out the bit where you had to sit him in hot water for ten minutes to let the ooze within him soften up, but once this was done you were away!...Woohoo stretchy, stretchy.
Then what?
He came with a set of blue pants ( I think him and Action Man Shop at the same place) so you could probably remove them for a giggle.
Then what?
That's about it, stretching and removing underwear was all this toy could do.
Me, I had an Incredible Hulk version.
What did that do? Well you could stretch him, then remove his purple trousers.
I got The Hulk on my birthday, I also got some pencils. I don't need to say anymore on this.
10/Mr Frosty
Mr Frosty was amazing, you placed the ice in the top of his head, you turned the handle gently and piles of ice would fall into the cup , then you would add your favourite flavouring (applied with Percy Penguin) to the ice, you'd pass the cups to your friends and they would laugh and joke as they were refreshed by Mr Frosty on a hot summers day.
Rubbish! That's what were led to believe according to the advert. I never had one of these and never had the intention of buying one, if I wanted a slush puppy I'd pop to Martins News Agent in Stourbridge and probably pick u[p some Return of The Jedi stickers while I was there.
Joes Mum had always wanted one of these as a little girl but for some reason her mum never got round to buying one, so being the good boyfriend I was, I bought her one. kind of like a romantic gesture, but with me secretly wanting to chow down on that icy goodness.
Ice cubes, check, Percy Penguin, check. cups, check, we were ready to go! Joes mum put the cubes in, now all I would need to do was to turn the handle. I did, nothing happened! I turned it again nothing, "Ah, I just need to apply a bit of pressure to his hat. that'll work.
I turn the handle again, nothing. I look into the cup to see a few drips of water and a couple of shavings of ice in the cup. I look to see how this is supposed to work, basically it's just a metal tube with some cheese grater holes!
We call in Joes Mums sister, now we have two people pushing down, while I crank the handle on this mofo , we're all getting hot and flustered, this isnt a drinks maker it's and exercise machine all we needed was to bring Stretch Armstrong in and we've have our very own toy gym for a full body work out, we did this for about ten minutes and you know what we got at the end?
Water!
Joes mum was like "What about Percy Penguin?" I was like "F**k Percy Penguin!
Well there you go ten toys in no particular order. Please feel free to comment below, what was your favourite toy?
Okse
https://theartofokse.com/
https://twitter.com/okse
https://instagram.com/okse
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Now I don't know how Banksy works nowadays , is he still a single person walking round town pretending to be drunk with pizza boxes with stencils on the underside to avoid police intervention, or has he got minions a la Damien Hurst putting ideas forward? Maybe this could have happened.
I've tried to contact him by email three times with all my concerns but have heard nothing back, you could say I've been blanksied.
Here's the email I sent:
" Dear Banksy,
Hello you, hope you're keeping well.
My name is Chris Oxenbury aka Okse (pronounced Oxy, used to spell it O-x-y until they brought out that spot cream...then discovered "Okse" means "vomit" in Estonia )
Anyway I'm a Black Country artist based in Leamington Spa and I'd like to let you know I recently saw a piece you'd done in Dover and it is very much like mine that I did 24th June 2016 the day the referendum results came in.
Here is a link please check the dates and feel free to have a gander at my other stuff.
https://instagram.com/p/BHB6WOFgo82/
I think it's very cool that you and I have had the same idea and it saddens me that I won't be able to create this piece now on canvas as I will be accused of Banksy plagiarism and then I'd have to be all like having to explain that I did it ages ago.
I was going to create it once we'd left properly.
I won't be able to make anything from it, I'm not doing too bad as an artist but I'm still starving and still trying to get my name out there. I've read that the owners of the building are going to sell it for a million! And I'm finding it hard to pay my council tax! :)
Anyway I'd love to have a chat with you about it, maybe you could give us a bell and you could put a cloth over the mouth piece like they do in the movies.
All the best
Okse "
So there you go , a non confrontational email, keeping it sweet , keeping it friendly.
I've spoke to other artists , some have been like shout it from the rooftops, some have been like, "just leave it". Also I've had "You can't sue him , you've got no money" (that was my mum)
So the internet is powerful and I'm going to use it, I'm not being deluded, I came up with the concept first, and I'm not lying , I've got proof.
So if you're reading this and you want to spread the word for me
Just post the following image on your social networks if you ever see a Banksy article or tweet this article about. I'd really appreciate it and when I get massive I'll doodle on serviettes for you to auction off.
Use the hashtags
#illjustleavethishere #okseb4banksy
Thank you x
if you're press and you'd like to chat further about stuff please drop me a line at info@theartofokse.com
and please feel free to browse my site whilst you're here to see what I'm all about.
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Pps, Eleanor , please pop to The Black Country Museum , you could learn quite a bit...their chips are really good too... oh and the suck.
To read what prompted this open letter please go here.
So I'm going to use this post to tell you what's been going down in Okse Town! (do not try and google maps it,there is no such place)
Now where do I start Art in the Park was good , if you don't know what Art in The Park is, it's a yearly event held in Leamington Spa where many creatives gather together and showcase their works, it's just buzzing with creativity you can smell it and it smells of hot dogs...but saying that it could have been the hotdogs they were selling ...did I not tell you there's food too?
My mate Kate asked me if I'd like to join her at The LSA ( Leamington Studio Artists) tent , she said I would be able to showcase my art, she was like "do some caricatures or something".So I decided to draw Pokemon Trainers and their favourite Pokemon. I thought it'd be quite chilled..it went cra cra (that's how the yoot are speaking )
I ended up doing loads my time management was rubbish so I was glad to have Kate by my side helping us out. Kates got an Art Gallery by the way ,it's very cool She runs it with her business partner Kate , luckily there isn't a third partner called Kate, KKK thats be awkward! ...Anyway here's their site http://www.deasil.co.uk/
Was also great to hang out with Artist Caroline Shotton and her lads.She's a Cow Lady..She paints cows not that she's literally a cow that'd be strange and rude.
Pokemon Trainer drawings are available here on the site https://theartofokse.com/products/pokemon-trainer
Art in The Park 2016 http://www.artinpark.co.uk/
What else has been happening?
Pep and Jose
Middle of August I was asked by BBC Manchester if I'd be up for doing a weekly animation based on the rivalry between Man United and Man City. Pep and Jose.
Now a lot of my friends know that I'm not that big on football I know who Gazza ( he cried ) , Lee Sharp (he went to my school and Emlyn "I know it , I know it , I know it " Hughes ( Question of Sport )are so I jumped at the chance.
I brought my mate Scott Gibson on board who is an editing wizard and we did the business. 9 weeks of getting the script Wednesday night, Thursday morning would be spent creating assets for the visual gags, audio at 12 pm , then to the studio creating all the lip sync and secondary motion, While Scott would put the visual gags together all ready for Friday morning.
Working with our mystery writer was great ( he's like Banksy, though I reckon he's either a Blue or a Red so wants to keep schtumb). The voices were provided by The Mimic Men ..."hang on Okse" I hear you say "I've heard of them" , yes you have they've been on BGT doing The A-Z of Impressions, very funny and great impersonators... "Ooh betty" is about all I can muster. Oh and by the way ,don't worry I couldn't really hear you
It was just a good bit of fun, I learned loads mainly about pies and other Northern food.
oof, Wigen Kebab.. I wont explain.. just google it :)
if you want to see Pep and Jose they can be seen here
That was a very busy time and it lead to more work in collaboration with www.elburydesign.com a great team of professionals based in Cornwall creating an explainer video.
We're going to be adding this as another service The Art of Okse can provide,so if its something your business is interested in please dont hestitate to drop us a line.
from Elbury Design
As well as doing all this cool work there has also been time to have fun , I went to see Tape Face, for those of you haven't seen him he's the Boy With Tape on His Face (literally ) who got through to the final of America's Got Talent, I've known him for years and had painted him many moons ago. So when I saw him I started drawing cartoons of him on Instagram that he reposted and they got a lot of attention.
So I took my friend Neil along to see him, such a funny act, he's a mime artist who does a lot of audience participation. "Okse that sounds hideous audience participation!" No it's brilliant , you won't have seen anything like it and everyone who goes up on stage end up being a mime, it's so clever!
I gave him some framed versions of the art and he was very happy, well it think he was, he had tape on his face.
He's given me a lot of exposure social networking wise and for that I am truly thankful.
Me and Tape Face...or Tape Face and I
I feel like I'm waffling loads but a lot has gone on I've just created a series of emojis for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire , thought it was going to be a small local thing but it's gone world wide.
A lovely lady called Diane Hill was telling the BBC CW That there weren't emojis for her generation so they asked me to come on board and create them , here,s a news clipping with the story
We've been interviewed by loads of people all over the world and I've been on the tele which is quite cool. So if you've come to the site via the news story "hiya"
another thing I've been doing inktober on Instagram , if you search #zoeyandthezombie you'll see what I've been up to.
I think that enough for you, it's been a cool productive couple of months .
I'm taking orders for Christmas so drop us a line,
We've also released a new Sid James print along with others.
These can be purchased here .
https://theartofokse.com/collections/prints
Take care , I'll do another update in couple of months.
L8rz!
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And in the words of Candace O- M - Goodness!
People started liking my page, I've gone from 400 to over 2k!
That is amazing, and I am so grateful to her and all the people who have liked my page as a small business starting out, it's hard to get your name out and about and that one share has changed things.
We're getting orders in for comic strips and we're making people happy.
We've got people sharing stories for competitions, hilarious stories might I add.
It's really good, so once again I say thank you Candace Payne you deserve all the good things that are coming to you!
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Animation by Preston Blair
When I was about 5 my God father, Danny gave me the book Animation by Preston Blair, it's an amazing book that teaches you how to construct characters and it also shows you the fundamentals of animation. Now, as a 6 year old the reading parts did not interest me, I was still kind of learning.
It also taught you about expressions, mouth shapes, hand gestures, it's definitely worth getting hold of a copy.
How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way By Stan Lee and John Buscema.
The next book is How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way . This book shows you how the guys at Marvel does it. It's full of lessons on perspective, character construction, composition , camera angles. John Buscema is a legend in the comic world so you're being guided by one of the best.
it gives you a good list of tools you need to become a comic book artist.
I remember my sister buying this for her then boyfriends little brother for his birthday, he was in the same year as me at school and not being one to spoil a surprise, I told him "I'm not going to tell you what my sister got you for your birthday, but I've read it."
It really helped me learn about anatomy, well the anatomy of a Marvel character.
ive seen it in The Works a few times so if you see it, grab a copy.
Draw Comic Book Action by Lee Garbett
And the final book is " Draw Comic Book Action " by the very talented Lee Garbett. I had the pleasure of working with Lee during my days working in the games industry. He was very good at adapting to any style, one of the best concept artists I've ever met.
Lee's book focuses on the action... hence the title, it's like a modern day HTDCTMW , he shows you what materials to use and also goes down the more technical side too using 'puters , photoshop and that.
He teaches you how to construct characters and shows you great poses and how to put together powerful action shots .
Lee is and always has been great at drawing women too, something that I used to find difficult, so if you find that hard it'll definitely help.
Lee has gathered a nice portfolio working as a comic book artist for Marvel and DC I'm very proud of him, his success is well deserved, proper cool chap.
You can visit Lee's site here http://leegarbett.com/ to see all things Garbett.
I think whenever reading how to guides, take what's on board and try to adapt your own thing , don't try and be a copy of some one else.
So there you go, three cool books that'll help you on your artistic journey.