How to Launch a Successful Algorand NFT Collection with Flemish Giants

The NFT market has exploded over the past year, with sales exceeding $24 billion in 2021 according to DappRadar. These are mind boggling numbers when compared to 2020, when the market hit a mere $94.9 million in NFT sales. Artists and collectors alike are eager to get their share of the pie, however, with such a crowded market, it can be challenging to understand where to start. However, Algorand has provided a unique ecosystem for both creators and collectors alike to stand out and be a part of a truly inclusive community.

As a member and advocate of the Algorand ecosystem, CC Token is bringing you a series on NFT projects on our favorite blockchain. Over the next few weeks, we will be speaking with the creative minds behind some of the leading NFT projects on Algorand and sharing the insights here, in our Algorand Room. Whether you are a creator looking to launch a project or a collector eager to dive into the space, Algorand is your ideal starting point.

Flemish Giants

Last week, Flemish Giants topped the charts for Algorand NFT projects with their latest release of Flemish Clones with a 7-day volume of 121.8k ALGO as of May 5 (NFTExplorer.app). Indeed Flemish Giants is one of the recent NFT success stories on Algorand, launching in October 2021 and selling out within seconds. CC Token was lucky enough to sit down with Blockrunner, the creator of Flemish Giants, to learn how they went about starting such a successful project. Join us for a journey into Flemish Giant's Rabbit Hole…

Block is a jack of all trades, a digital artist who has worked across an array of industries as a freelancer for the past ten years. Thanks to some close friends, including Algobama, who took a keen interest in the rise of NFTs last year, Block began to play around in the space. Taking queues from collectible collections on the market, he played around with different animals that had the potential to humanize and provide enough space to include different assets. In fact, the original animal for the project was an emu as Block has 3 emus at home. But as you can guess, he ultimately used Flemish Giants, one of the largest rabbit breeds on the planet, as his animal of choice.

The Releases: V1 and V2

In October 2021 V1 was released. With 100 NFTs in total, 10 were released in each drop with their first selling out within seconds. You may ask, how did they do this? How was the hype built? What marketing did they do? The answer is none. The Flemish Giants team simply created a Twitter and discussed the project idea with friends in the space. Block says it was the quality of the drawings that shone through. For everyone out there keen to launch their own NFT project, he suggests you focus on the art before anything else. Only after the release did they begin to push the project on Twitter, create a start to do weekly giveaways, which, even when the price kept appreciating (and quite substantially) they kept the weekly giveaway no matter what. With V1, there was no rarity, they were unique 1 of 1 editions. To foster the community evolving around the project, the team created a Discord, providing collectors a space to give suggestions for themes.

"After completing the first 10, we didn't expect them to sell out so fast. But when they sold out in seconds, that's when we knew we were on to something"

Fast forward to March 2022 with the release of V2. This was the birth of Flemish Clones, completely different from V1 with the introduction of different assets and rarity. After researching other collections extensively, Block drew the foundation of the Flemmy and then a variety of skins, eyes, snots, mouths…all the unique features that you now see in V2. The next step required bringing in a web developer, so Block brought in his close friend DevFraccas to help create an algorithm that randomizes each Flemmy. Essentially, the system randomizes the different assets, judges which ones would collide with each other to negate collisions and then decides if it's a pleasing, cohesive piece. The system also weighs the number of times the asset appears throughout the collection to determine the rarity of each piece. For those who are interested, the rarest Clone can be yours for 128128 ALGO!

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Algorand & the Community

The demand for Flemish Clones has been unprecedented and has in turn cultivated a strong following. To capitalize on this, the team built a separate chat for V1 called "The 100" exclusive to people who hold a V1 Flemmy. As the wider Flemish Giants community grows, Block and his team are working to identify the longer-term utility of the NFTs as they are currently art centric. Block also loves the idea of partnering with a charity to direct funds there, but is taking his time to find the right one. Supporting the wider Algorand community, Flemish Giants contributed to Al Goanna's tree planting initiative, auctioning off a piece and donating all the proceeds to their project. Al Goanna was supportive of Flemish Giants from the beginning, showing the project love which really helped them gain traction. This is only one example of why the team is passionate about Algorand and the wider community.

 "Al Goanna showed us so much love very early, they were the largest project on Algorand and within the first week they were saying very good things about us"

Algorand has been a key factor in Flemish Giant's success, Block shared. Algorand NFTs were still in their infancy, just getting off the ground when he entered the space last October. Since the community is smaller, there's much less money bouncing around, but it wasn't about that. It was the opportunity to put his artwork out there in a space that wasn't too crowded, where it could be recognized. After years of working in larger design firms and ad agencies, creatives never get the credit they deserved, reflected Block. However, Algorand changed that for him and ultimately was the platform that allowed him to shine.

On the Horizon

Block has a few ideas of where to go next, but as you can imagine, he's keeping them close to his chest. In the meantime, he's focusing on finding a utility for the holders to give them a reason to hold and be a proud owner of one of the Flemish Clones. On the side, he also is constantly helping other NFT artists, mainly through twitter. Block reflected, he didn't have much control over how he got where he is, but the best thing he can suggest for a new artist is to make sure you're happy with your completed work, try as hard as you can to make sure it's polished as that's what makes the biggest impact upon first glance. The Algorand community is known for its camaraderie, and Block is a prime example of it.

"The hardest part is finding what's true to yourself, go with your gut, go with your art"

What Excites Flemish Giants

Looking beyond their own project, Block is eager to see Al Goanna and G-raffe's next collection. He has watched G-raffe improve her art over time, becoming better and better. Lastly, his web developer, Fracctal Monsters, is on the top of his list, with an old school Pokemon feel who Flemish Giants is doing a partnership with for generative Fracctal Tamer PFPs. Keep an eye out for all of these and more as the Algorand NFT ecosystem only continues to grow. 

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