What attracted you to Darkflex?

Dark pixels ! I'm a metalhead, a sucker for dark art and there's no better dark pixel projects out there. Also surprisingly I found The Darkflex's Lore (at the time) so close to my style and I was sure I can add something to the project.

What is your favourite piece you ever created?

"Past Tense" I created past tense during Iran's 2022 protests when the Internet access was fully shut down. It's a symbolic artwork of what we went through, In that piece, Warriors are facing a tyrant, while the city is getting burned by dragons. I experienced intense emotion creating that piece.

What is your background? How did you start with pixel art?

I started my artistic journey with physical paintings, at the age of 14 I got my first art degree through a course that took 1 year to complete, I mastered many physical painting techniques using pencils, pastels, acrylics and ink. I studied architecture in the university because of the intersection of art and math in that major. As an architect student I very soon got involved with 3D design, That was my first interaction with digital art. It Was around 2020 when i heard about NFTs and I wanted to start being a creator as a 3D artist but my equipment did not allow me to bring in my high-poly imaginations, so instead I simply looked around in the NFTs space, saw pixel art is trending, and to me , pixel art was much easier and faster to create than fine line art, so I gave it a try, spent some time doing easy pixel art , took me few weeks to feel confident for an NFT drop in 2021. I can say I owe a big part of my artistic journey to NFTs technology.

You art goes from portraits to architecture to PFPs, what’s your favourite subject to draw?

I like to tell stories with my art, sometimes a lonely building can say enough. But what I prefer is to have some character in a marvelous scene, a character that the audience and myself can relate to.

What is a change you’d like to see in web3?

I think people's taste and mind will grow by exposure to better art. That growth is needed in the society. So I just want the artists to never hold their art back and the collectors to see the value of handmade art beyond coins.

In the end, Art will remain, When we are far gone.

"Euphoria" | 4 editions | artcarolinabf - 2023

Not everyday you'd find an artist using "long-exposure photography, combined with steel wool on fire in pitch darkness" as a medium of choice for their artworks— Carolina is one of the few who used it. For me personally, "Euphoria XLIX" speaks for itself. The abstract artwork embodied the jubilee of joy, in which, could only truly be wholeheartedly felt when one knows the meaning of sorrow. Sorrow, in which, depicted on the art piece as the darker shade part area.

"Insight" | 19 editions | Tom_Bombadil - 2023

"Insight" is an older piece from Bombadil— but in my eyes, the piece marks a point of no return. Bombadil has been known by his notorious colour palette of choice along with his trademarked yellow skeleton as the main subject early on his journey. But "Insight" changed something in him. A clear sharp increase of technical aptness both in composition and detail, branded the piece in my head, knowing that Bombadil will evolve like wildfire. And he certainly did!

"Riverside" | 20 editions | Element Lee - 2023

Element Lee is one of the pixel artists that inspired me to create a pixel art piece way outside of its usual genre. To be closer to traditional/fine art/outsider art, rather than its currently (very) strong gaming and pop-culture-esque tonality. Riverside is just a minor glimpse of what the peculiar and very unique style he had cultivate throughout his pixelart journey. A compass of unapologetic visual corridor for some people, and a bastion of originality for many more!

What is your background? When did you start making art?

I'm one of those "outsider artists": no education background in art nor design, not sponsored by any art institute nor gallery/museum, etc. But we make things that make you smile/cry at 2 a.m. alone in the dark where everyone else is partying upstairs. I have some degrees in biology, and GIS, and worked in both fields, but I enjoy making art and writing much more than those works. I started drawing dungeons and skeletons when I was maybe 8. Tried pixel art around 2010, and then again from 2018 on I started to make some GIF art, and here I am now making works containing both illustration and coding.

What did inspired you in creating your artworks?

Mainly movies, computer games and other artists' works. I'm into sci-fi and fantasy stuff, dark and gothic and weird things.

What is your favourite piece you ever created?

Difficult to tell. I make many different works, telling different stories in them. Currently I'm in love with Edenfall and Sanitarium series, though there is not a single piece that stands out much than the others.

What are your favorite artists right now?

Fornax Void and Anna Malina were two artists that inspired me a lot when I was taking a pausing at making art in the mid 2010s. I was writing for pop culture media a lot back then and interviewed quite a bunch artists from all over the world, and they two were the ones standing out to me. And I met both of them again a few of years later on Hicetnunc without planning, how wonderful was that!

What is a change you hope to see in the future of web3?

I'm hoping for better infrastructures both software-wise and hardware-wise, things here are still very difficult to use and/or too abstract to understand for most people. Considering the average digital literacy in population is going down, we need extra good builders to make things go smooth. Besides that I feel that we need something new, an ice-breaking killer app(s) that can aggregate all the good resources and products already existing in web3, and make smart services upon them, to bring the whole ship further into better waters. Maybe some AR/VR stuff? Not sure, but I do think we need powers from the web2 world to materialise that.

I have been a fan of Bombadil for some time, and collected many of his pieces on the Tezos blockchain, so it was about time I picked a majestic 1/1 “Ray of Hope”, this time on Ethereum. The work of Bomba (for friends) that I enjoy the most is where he is able, via elegant but complex animations, to tell a story. It really looks like you are in that reality for a moment, and this is real art. And Ray of Hope is definitely one of those pieces. The bold color palette is definitely a Bombadil Signature too.

Sidenote: “Ramen” was the piece of Bomba that made me fall in love with his art and animations, go check it out on tezos.

Ray of Hope, 2023 / Bombadilus / 1/1

I am an estimator of both Gogolitus, (with his beautiful electronic & at time psychedelics animations, where everything works in symbiosis with the rest within a big architected machine) and Armilk88 (with his nostalgic landscapes and architecture in his peculiar style).
But I believe the combination of the two working together in “Electric Mansion”, is something really worth of note.  Difficult to say if it is the colors, the electric circuit animation or what else, but fact is that I can stay very long time (and I did) watching at this piece in awe. I had to snipe it on secondary, no matter the price.

While Ethereum chain was my initiation for NFTs, first for the finer art and then for the NFT collections, and Tezos where I am getting to know personally some extraordinary artist… my first love is and will forever be Bitcoin!
Ordinals are now bringing my two loves together, Bitcoin (and all what it represents) and Art. We finally have NFTs on Bitcoin.
While I am on a couple of Ordinal projects, my recent entry in the Bitcoin Frogs community has been crazy: What a community! What a vibe! I know I want to be part of this movement.
And on top of that, look at how cool this toad is, with his 3D glasses, hoodie and bubble gum. !Ribbit

Special Mention: Genuine Undead

Honorable mention to GenuineUndead, my first big love in Pixel Art NFT, of which I have collected a couple of additional pieces in the last weeks. It is not every day you can come across a Full Soldier set (hat and top) JAW trait, cherry on top, he is all green, swamp background included. If this isn’t a Grail, I don’t know what is.