How to Create an NFT Art App

Do you want to make a mark in the NFT (Non-Fungible Token) art market? You need to know how to create an NFT art app. This article will answer the most popular questions about NFT art app development.
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In this article

1. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens): A quick overview
2. How you can create an NFT art app
3. Tips and Traps for Creating NFT Art Apps
4. FAQs on creating NFT art apps

Let’s start by recollecting what bolstered interest in NFTs back in 2021. Beeple, a renowned digital artist, launched a collection of digital artworks in the form of an NFT. This collage is called “Everyday: The First 5000 Days”. It sold for $69 million at Christie’s. After that, the NFT market exploded. According to Fortunly the NFT market is projected to reach the revenue of $2.27 billion in 2024.

We talk about NFTs first, and then we elaborate on creating an NFT art app. Let’s dive deep.

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens): A quick overview

NFTs are cryptographic tokens created on a blockchain network like Ethereum. The concept of NFT has many similarities with the general concept of cryptocurrency. These similarities are as follows:

• Blockchain developers use a blockchain platform like Ethereum to create an NFT. That’s similar to creating another cryptographic token.
• Developers that created cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) had to develop special-purpose computer programs. Programmers creating an NFT need to do that, too.
• You can trade NFTs just as you can trade other cryptographic tokens.
• An NFT is a unique cryptographic token. One Bitcoin costs the same as another Bitcoin. One NFT doesn’t cost the same as another NFT, though.
• NFTs are indivisible, i.e., you can’t divide them into smaller parts. You can divide Ethereum or Bitcoin into smaller parts, though.

Developing an NFT application requires a deep understanding of blockchain technology, non-fungible tokens, smart contract development, cryptographic algorithms, etc.

If you don’t have a professional team with this relevant expertise to take on the task, then submit a request for a complimentary discovery call, and one of our tech account managers who managed similar projects will contact you shortly.

How you can create an NFT art app

Follow these steps to build your NFT art application:

1. Form a small team to plan your own NFT art app development project

Create a small team to plan the project. A competent project manager (PM) with experience in managing blockchain development projects should lead this team.

You need a software architect with blockchain experience. Furthermore, you need a team of business analysts (BAs).

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At this stage, this team should do the following:

• BAs need to gather and document the functional requirements.
• The architect should help to decide the non-functional requirements (NFRs) like scalability, performance, maintainability, etc.
• The PM should establish the requirements management and change management processes.
• The architect should create technical solutions. This should include the development approach. The architect should choose a blockchain platform and development tools.
• The PM should create a comprehensive project plan.

2. Decide the software development approach: Using tools to create NFTs vs development from scratch

You have two options, namely:

• Developing the entire app from scratch;
• Using tools to create NFTs and developing an NFT art app;

2A. Developing the entire NFT art app from scratch

You can choose to develop an NFT art app and new NFTs from scratch. This option requires you to create a decentralized application (DApp). DApps are web apps with the following characteristics:

• You can use any technology to create the front end, however, DApps must execute blockchain smart contracts in the back end.
• DApps are open-source.
• These apps need to store their data on a decentralized blockchain.
• DApps must have their own cryptographic tokens.
• No one entity can own the majority of the cryptographic tokens.
• DApps must follow established cryptographic standards to store data.
• The developer of a DApp can modify it only if there’s a consensus in the user community.

Note: Smart contracts are pieces of code with many use cases. They have the following characteristics:

• They are open-source pieces of code with “If-Else” statements.
• Based on predetermined conditions, smart contracts transfer cryptographic digital assets from one crypto wallet address to another.
• Smart contracts execute autonomously and store the outputs on a blockchain network.
• You can’t modify smart contracts after deploying them since they are stored on a blockchain network.
• You can’t reverse the execution of a smart contract.

Ethereum is a popular public blockchain platform to develop smart contracts and DApps. It requires “gas fees” in the form of ETH to execute smart contracts.

2B. Developing non-fungible tokens using a tool and developing an NFT art DApp

You can develop NFTs using tools. Subsequently, you can develop the proposed NFT art app from scratch. Check out the following tools to develop NFTs:

• Nifty Ink: You can create digital artwork using the drawing tool offered by Nifty Ink. It offers a marketplace. You can create NFT art and sell your artwork without gas fees. You can mint it as an NFT on the Ethereum network. This requires gas fees, and you can access marketplaces like OpenSea.

• Pixelchain: This Ethereum DApp allows you to paint on a board, and it allows you to upload a palette of your choice. It creates a new NFT or a digital asset using the ERC-721 standard. Pixelchain offers a marketplace too to buy and sell NFTs.

• Mintable: Creators of digital artworks can use this app to create and mint NFT digital art.

3. Plan the project to create your own NFT art app

After finalizing the requirements and the development approach, you now need to plan the project. Do the following:

• Choose a public blockchain platform. We recommend you use the Ethereum blockchain platform to create NFTs and DApp.

• Decide the development tools to use.

• Plan the phases and tasks.

• Plan for hiring a software development team.

• Estimate your project following our blockchain project planning guide.

4. Hire a software development team

You need to hire the following roles:

• UI designers;

• Blockchain developers with Ethereum and Solidity skills;

• Testers.

You might think of hiring freelancers from a popular freelance platform. Note that these platforms don’t offer any project management support.

Some freelancers might have read blockchain development tutorials; however, they might not have enough experience. You will find it hard to execute your project with them.

We recommend you hire blockchain developers from a reputed software development company like DevTeam.Space. These companies have sufficiently experienced developers. They also provide project management support.

5. Install and configure key tools for developing the proposed NFT art app

You can use tools from the rich Ethereum blockchain development ecosystem for your project. Install and configure the following tools by following our Ethereum development guide:

• eth-lightwallet: You need real Ethers to deploy and execute smart contracts, therefore, you need an Ethereum wallet. You can use eth-lightwallet. It’s an easy-to-use Ethereum JavaScript wallet. Create your public and private keys by following the GitHub instructions.

• Ganache: Known as Ganache CLI earlier, it’s a fast and customizable Ethereum simulator. Install and configure it by using the relevant instructions.

• Web3.js: This Ethereum JavaScript API is also a collection of libraries. It allows developers to interact with a local or remote Ethereum node. Use the web3.js documentation to install and configure it.

• Truffle: Truffle is a development environment, testing framework, and asset pipeline for software development using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Install and configure it using the Truffle instructions.

• MetaMask: You need to test smart contracts before you can deploy them. You need to communicate with Ethereum even without a full node. Furthermore, you need dummy Ethers to test your smart contracts. MetaMask, a browser extension, helps you with this. It comes with a MetaMask wallet, too.

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• Open Ganache and run an instance.

• Configure the “aconfig.js” file by following the Ethereum web development guide.

• Connect MetaMask to Ropsten, an Ethereum test network. You need this for testing smart contracts. Follow the Ethereum DApp development guide for this.

6. Develop your DApp and smart contracts

Do the following:

• Design the UI (user interface) of your DApp.

• Code Solidity smart contracts by using Remix, an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for smart contract development.

• You need to code smart contracts to create cryptographic tokens, too. Use the ERC-721 standard to create NFTs. You can use the ERC20 standard to create other cryptographic tokens.

Keep the code as simple as possible, making debugging smart contracts easier. Remember that complex operations in smart contracts require more gas fees. Implement a structured process to review smart contracts.

7. Test and deploy smart contracts

Take the following steps:

• Buy dummy Ethers using MetaMask. Use them to test smart contracts in Ropsten.

• Deploy smart contracts from Remix to Ropsten.

• Test smart contracts in Ropsten.

• Buy real Ethers since you need to deploy smart contracts to the Ethereum main network.

• Navigate to the Truffle directory where you stored the smart contracts.

• Deploy smart contracts by using the “Truffle deploy” command. Follow our Ethereum smart contract deployment guide if you need help.

Congratulations! You just created your first NFT art app.

Tips and Traps for Creating NFT Art Apps

We offer a few tips for creating NFT art apps, and we point out a few errors to avoid. These are as follows:

A. You should hire sufficiently experienced developers when creating NFT software

Tools like Pixel Art and Corel Painter can expedite your project. However, projects to create NFT apps can be complex.

The best NFT software development teams have a judicious mix of senior and mid-level developers. Avoid hiring only mid-level or junior developers when developing NFT creator apps.

B. You need to hire developers with good experience in Ethereum development tools

Developing the digital art-related components in an NFT creator app can be simple. However, the blockchain components in an art app for an NFT artist can be complex.

Ethereum is very popular with organizations and developers that create NFTs. Ethereum blockchain development isn’t straightforward, though. Take the example of Solidity.

NFT artworks are cryptographic tokens, after all. You can choose from various art styles. You have many tools to create art.

Ultimately, you need to create cryptographic tokens to store NFT artworks. You need to create Ethereum smart contracts for that. Programmers use Solidity for that, and it isn’t the easiest language. There’s a learning curve.

Other Ethereum blockchain development tools also have a learning curve. The best NFT development teams need developers with considerable experience in Ethereum development tools. Don’t hire programmers with little or no experience in these tools.

C. Smart contract review and testing are important

When you create NFT art generator apps, an important work stream is blockchain development. Smart contracts are important pieces of this puzzle. You need smart contracts to manage NFT artworks, too, not only to create NFTs.

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Whether you use existing NFT marketplaces or create your own NFT marketplace, smart contracts are needed for transactions.

NFT creators will sell their crypto tokens on NFT marketplaces. Buyers will use these marketplaces to buy NFTs.

Smart contracts help you to record and manage NFT ownership. Several NFT projects involve big money. You can’t afford smart contracts to have bugs. Therefore, the review and testing of smart contracts are important.

Look for developers with relevant skills and experience. Avoid hiring programmers who don’t have smart contracts review and testing experience.

Planning to Create an NFT app?

If you are developing an NFT app and need to scale your team with additional skills and expertise, then take a moment to tell us about your project requirements here.

One of our dedicated tech account managers will be in touch to show you similar projects we have done before and share how we can help you.

DevTeam.Space is an innovative American software development company with over 99% project success rate. DevTeam.Space builds reliable and scalable custom software applications, mobile apps(including NFT Art apps), websites, live-streaming software applications, speech recognition systems, ChatGPT and AI-powered solutions, and IoT solutions and conducts complex software integrations for various industries, including finance, hospitality, healthcare, music, entertainment, gaming, e-commerce, banking, construction, and education software solutions on time and budget.

DevTeam.Space supports its clients with business analysts and dedicated tech account managers who monitor tech innovations and new developments and help our clients design, architect, and develop applications that will be relevant and easily upgradeable in the years to come.

FAQs on creating NFT art apps