The 18-Year-Old Who Went From Heart Surgical Treatment to Six-Figure NFT Sales

For the majority of his life, 18-year-old Justin Bodnar, much better understood in Web3 as jstngraphics, had actually wanted to end up being an expert soccer gamer. However as if to set the wheels of fate in movement, prior to he might even reach his teenage years, a hole in his heart (rather physically, that isn’t simply to be poetic) would deter his dreams and successfully alter the trajectory of his life.

” When I was more youthful, I played soccer, basketball, and baseball; however I actually began concentrating on soccer. However when I was ten years old, around 5th grade, I needed to have open heart surgical treatment,” Bodnar stated in an interview with nft now. “Obviously, there was a victory of the walls of my heart, and the blood was all going to one side. So I needed to have surgical treatment for that, which indicated I could not play any soccer for a long time. That’s when I entered into graphic style.”

Art commissions throughout an international pandemic

Laid up from surgical treatment and no longer able to strike the field, Bodnar did what any 5th grader would do, and got actually into computer game. As he progressively improved at Call of Responsibility, he chose to tape-record his matches and make edits of his technique shots. To do so, he initially used Adobe After Impacts, which served as his entry into the world of style. from there, he began making his own thumbnails and recognized he may be able to make some cash off his quickly growing set of abilities.

” I believed, ‘Hey, I might most likely make some cash off this.’ At this time, I was most likely 11 or 12. I chose to make a Twitter account, and from there, I began offering low-cost Twitter headers, thumbnails, actually anything for like $10-15,” stated Bodnar. “After a while, I began charging around $25 to $50 or something like that. That’s simply what I did up till around 2019 when I actually began explore my styles and doing commissions.”

In 2019, although Bodnar was an image of health and continued to take pleasure in soccer leisurely, art had actually unquestionably gotten a hang on his leisure time as his primary pastime. And for excellent factor, considering he was now able to earn money doing commissions. However in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, things altered for everybody, Bodnar consisted of. Throughout the year, he began to actually concentrate on producing his own art, not simply commissions developed out of the concepts of others.

Thankfully for him, his timing could not have actually been more best, and in the fall of that very same year, he was very first exposed to NFTs. First minting a piece on Rarible, Bodnar looked for other artists on Twitter, developing a little network of developers in a group chat. Although he confesses he actually had no concept what he was doing early on, his name began spreading out when he crossed courses with a specific super star DJ.

Charting a course towards sustainability

After being presented to the social audio app Clubhouse, which controlled the very first half of 2021, Bodnar participated in numerous spaces (speaking engagements on the app), with the basic hope of socializing with good friends and possibly getting to discuss his art. Yet, he states he actually didn’t talk much his very first couple of times, that is, up until he wound up in the very same space as DJ and prominent NFT creator/influencer 3LAU.

” I was truthfully going nuts! However lastly, I simply believed I may too do it. So I waited up until there was an amount of time where nobody talking, and I unmuted and simply stated, ‘Hey, I’m Justin. I’m a 16-year-old 3D artist,’ and 3LAU was the very first one to respond,” stated Bodnar. “He resembled, ‘Cool, where can we discover your work?’ I offered him my Instagram and Twitter, and immediately, my Instagram was exploding … 3LAU in fact Tweeted my art out and tagged me and followed me.”

After That, Bodnar and 3LAU linked and talked more beyond Clubhouse, which ultimately culminated in the DJ acquiring among Bodnar’s NFTs in a personal sale. And later, Bodnar got an enjoyable surprise when 3LAU asked if he wishes to develop a piece of cover art for among his upcoming tracks. “It was incredible. Particularly since that art piece chose the very first music drop on his platform Royal. So that was type of cool to be a part of that history.”

Thinking about Bodnar’s ongoing love of brilliant, emotionally-fueled electronic music, being tapped for a 3LAU cooperation was certainly a prospective pail list product marked off. And as his surreal, dreamy landscape NFTs continued to acquire traction, he discovered chances to deal with other popular Web3 names like Josh Pierce and Dave Krugman too. Yet, with his art objectives beginning to be accomplished, Bodnar recognized he had a chance to move his focus and end up being a motivation for other young artists.

” Being a young artist, and entering into the NFT area, it’s difficult. I was fortunate entering into the area and having numerous individuals be very practical. I wish to influence other artists, ideally, more youthful artists too,” stated Bodnar. “That’s type of my primary objective. You understand, besides entering into a museum or something like that (he laughes).”

From accomplishing 6 figures in sales on SuperRare to an upcoming collection set to drop on Nifty Entrance, any place Bodnar undertakings to take his art next, it’s clear that his objective is sound. And comparable to his dynamic landscapes and impossibly lovely worlds, his own prospective appears to be large and unlimited.