Creator Royalties #030: Get Up Close & Personal with Jack Butcher

August 15, 2023

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🤗 This week's edition of Creator Royalties is about how artist Jack Butcher is using the Internet as a canvas to create one-of-a-kind community-led creations.

Scroll down for our usual rundown of weekly news, artist grants and opportunities, as well as art drops.

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3 Reasons You Should Get to Know Jack Butcher

Over the past year, Jack Butcher has emerged as a visionary force in digital art, reshaping the way we engage with content through his unique blend of creativity and strategic thinking.

But, when Jack Butcher joined us on the Crypto Cafe with Randi Zuckerberg podcast this week, we discovered three unique insights on why every artist should follow and pay attention to the work of Jack Butcher.

Let’s dive in!

Who is Jack Butcher?

Before beginning to experiment with the making of digital art in 2021, Jack spent 10 years working in Fortune 100 advertising in NYC as a designer, writer, strategist and art director for multi-billion dollar brands.

In 2018, he set out on his own to build Visualize Value - a company that helps founders and businesses articulate their messages with striking visuals that resonate deeply through a network of mentors and a media platform of over 700,000 people.

NFTs explained by Visualize Value

I realized what I was doing there was condensing stories and strategies into 10 or 15 visuals and then standing in front of a room of people and trying to explain something that really got to the essence of it.

Jack Butcher

What is important to realize is that Jack’s transition into identifying himself as an artist wasn’t overnight, but a general transition over a long period of time. His wife Celia opens up about his experience in this tweet.

So even though Jack started producing work in Visualize Value in 2018, he didn’t start identifying as an artist until 2021 when the technology infrastructure of NFTs became more mainstream. He then continued to hone his craft and establish himself as one of the leading digital artists of our time.

I had people telling me two or three years earlier that I should be more deliberate about calling myself an artist as I was producing this stuff, but it never felt natural until the infrastructure existed on the digital side natively to really think about what I was doing in that way.

Jack Butcher

Reason #1: Jack’s work is always about placing the audience in the middle of a question

Checks VV Editions

Checks VV started as a commentary on the social impact of the company formerly known as Twitter’s blue checkmarks, but quickly turned into a social movement. In many ways, it captured a moment in time — questioning if no one is verified, everyone is verified. If no one is notable, everyone is notable.

Checks Elements

Precisely 100 days on from the launch of Checks, Butcher launched Checks Elements, a 152-piece generative art collection platformed by Christie’s that offers collectors physical companions to digital assets. Here, Butcher questioned the role of culture by colliding humanity’s analog past (the elements of earth, water, air, and fire) with the temporary digital asking - “What will remain of this cultural moment?”

Opepen

While there are several iterations of Opepen, the most famous one came about as Jack Butcher placed himself in the middle of a question between prominent NFT collector BoredElon and content creator ThreadGuy around the changing of a profile picture. Jack created an Opepen based off the colors of ThreadGuy’s Mutant Ape PFP, with proceeds directed to ThreadGuy acknowledging his contributions to the Web3 ecosystem - spawning a viral sensation in the process.

Infinity Checks

This collection was created in response to volatile NFT trends - asking the question of value and scarcity by providing an infinite supply of each piece, and allowing the collector to burn the piece and redeem their initial investment at any time. The question that is posed is, how does one value art above monetary pursuits?

Reason #2: Jack gives one of the best advice we have heard when it comes to art practice

❝

Make more art. Also, open source as much of your thinking as you can. Find the medium that helps you do that with the least amount of friction.

So, if you’re a great writer, you should write. If you speak well, record a podcast. If you’re great on camera, do a daily video journal.

Force your practice into constraints, so you don’t have to think for a blank page. Put your work out there, and wake up the next day to do it again.

Jack Butcher

Reason #3: Jack treats the entire Internet as his canvas

I’m probably, I don’t know, 50,000 tweets and 5,000 images into my art career. I think we underestimate the amount of repetition it takes, especially as a digitally native practicing artist, how many times you have to put something on the timeline and have your name be associated with the thing that is there.

If you want to be a recognized artist, make more art, especially if you’re doing it on the internet, where you get this nuanced feedback every single time.

Jack Butcher

Do you want to join in on Jack’s practice? Any artist can now propose a set of artwork to participate in an Opepen drop, giving you instant access to 4,000+ unique collectors.

Closing Thoughts

One of the most exciting aspects of Jack’s work is how he places himself in the middle of culture. And while that can highlight the beauty of community - it can also expose the negative aspects as we saw with the recent draining of the Infinity Checks contract.

But, that’s the beauty of art, right? We place ourselves in the middle of what makes us human, revealing the multitudes that exist within us. We at HUG will definitely be paying close attention to the continued work of Jack Butcher as he evolves over time. We hope you do too.

On the Crypto Cafe Podcast with Randi Zuckerberg, each guest is joined by an emerging artist who will get the opportunity to be mentored by them live.

Want to be mentored by Jordan Kantor, Artistic Director of generative art platform ArtBlocks, next week? Submit your interest here.

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In the News

Industry News

Tools and Resources

From artist marketing handbooks to pricing calculator tools and more, HUG has released a number of free downloadable resources for artists and art lovers. Download them now.

  • ChatGPT is expanding custom instructions — a way to give users more control over how ChatGPT responds — to all users, including those on the free tier of the service.

  • Superchief has rolled out SUPERCHIEF ACADEMY - a series of videos to bring Web3 education to underserved communities, all of which can be found on YouTube here.

Notable Creators

Artist Grants and Opportunities

📣 Open Calls have arrived on HUG! Visit thehug.xyz to submit to a variety of Open Call opportunities we are actively sourcing for our artist community.

  • ☕️ Enter the Crypto Cafe with ArtBlocks! Join our conversation with ArtBlocks Artistic Director Jordan Kantor and get the opportunity to ask him for advice and guidance live. Learn more and submit here.

  • 🖼 Celebrate your heritage with Seattle NFT Museum. We are giving you the opportunity to have work inspired by your culture showcased at the world’s first NFT museum in Seattle. Learn more and submit here.

  • 🇵🇭 Calling red, blue, and yellow artwork! Get your work displayed at Philippine Blockchain Week. We are looking for red, yellow, blue artwork to honor the national colors of the Philippines. Learn more and submit here.

  • 💰 HUG is offering $500 USD grants to two artists each month in exchange for unminted artwork to raffle off to our community. Learn more and meet all our HUG Visionaries here.

This Week’s Art Drops

🤗 Have an upcoming art drop you’d like to share? Or an upcoming exhibition or opportunity for your fellow artists? Make use of our Artist Updates feature on HUG, or email [email protected], so we can share it with our readers.

Did you know that these are just 8 of 300+ art drops on HUG? Get a full list of this week’s art drops from HUG here.

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