AMA session with Shane Fu, 3D artist and motion designer

Host: Shane, we are so thrilled to have you here today. Let's kick off by talking about your background as an artist. How did you get into 3D and motion design?

Shane Fu: I guess it's kind of a long story, but it's, like, pretty simple. I have a film background since I went to a film school in college, and I think after three to four years of studying, I didn’t really see myself making it into the Hollywood. I guess it depends on a lot of luck, even if you have a lot of talent to make it in Hollywood. So in the last year of college, and that was a couple of years back, I was really influenced by a lot of the digital artists back then, either emerging or popular, such as Beeple or stuz0r. I just felt like it was kind of related to film, but it's a whole niche and a brand-new genre that has a lot more potential. I basically self-taught a lot of the stuff and just focused on creating new works and developing my own style. And now here we are.

Host: What made you dive into NFTs? Because you've been in the NFT space for a while now. You've launched several NFT projects on Foundation and SuperRare. What was your first experience with NFT like?

Shane Fu: Yeah, so I got into the NFT space since summer of 2020. So I guess it's pretty early, kind of before the boom in 2021. I got into SuperRare back then, basically. I guess my attitude towards NFTs has always been that it's a great medium and space to present my creation, I think, without focusing on the price and the rarity and all that. It's just generally a great space to let the artists have their own voice, which I find has been really helpful for me as well throughout the years.

Host: What was your first NFT project? Can you just tell us a little bit about it?

Shane Fu: My first NFT project, I think it was in 2020. Right after I got into SuperRare, I minted three pieces that that basically had a theme of iteratively designed and generatively designed abstract item. I think one is like a crystal, a torus, and then an abstract tree that's ever growing and evolving. Yeah, I think either two of them or all of them got collected sometime after I launched it.

Host: Was it difficult for you to learn how to mint your artworks and to figure out how crypto works?

Shane Fu: It wasn't really difficult for the whole process of minting. I think they made it really friendly. Generally, all the platform has been really friendly towards the user. But you also need to understand how NFT works, and I had some prior knowledge of the crypto and blockchain in general.

Host: I also noticed that you do not only create NFTs, but you're a collector yourself, and you own this one artwork called Once Upon a Time by the Australian street photograph Sean Foley. What was special about this piece for you that made you buy it? And can you tell us the story behind it?

Shane Fu: Well, I guess the simple story is, I just had some spare ETH to spend. But I think the photograph really spoke to me just because I'm really enamored by the city of Hong Kong. And his work in general really speaks to me in a sense that it's also related to what Hong Kong as a city has been through for the last couple of years. And as a Chinese by nationality, I think it has a bittersweet moment that was captured around that time.

Host: Do you own any other NFTs besides this artwork?

Shane Fu: I did collect a few more through Opensea. I own or I used to own some other smaller collectibles. And I also had a couple pieces of land from Sandbox before they updated their contract. But yeah, that was really interesting back then, I rode the hype for a bit.

Host: Yeah, the good old days. It means you're not a Diamond holder yet and you still need to get your TON Diamonds NFT! Moving on to talk about your collaboration with TON Blockchain and our marketplace, TON Diamonds, the Solar-powered project you've created I would say it's very different from your previous drops, because the artworks you released before on Foundation and SuperRare, in my view, they're a lot more abstract. And maybe they're not so much united by a common theme. So what's the story behind Solar-powered? What inspired you to create this series of artworks?

Shane Fu: I think the main is I got really inspired by just the Solarpunk movement and the aesthetic it generates. Sometimes I find something inspiring and it makes me want to create some work.

Host: Can you tell us more about what is this movement? What is it about? Where does it originate?

Shane Fu: Yeah. So Solarpunk movement. Let me bring this back to why I made this collection. I’d like to bring it back to that NFT, the photograph piece that I collected. It has really a strong sense of Cyberpunk genre in it, his whole photography work. And I think in general, right now, in the digital art or design landscape, I see, and I'm sure all of you have seen an overwhelming amount of work that's based on the Cyberpunk genre or generally a dystopian aesthetic and the cultural roots of it. And I think the really polar opposite side of things hasn't been really explored that much. So I think this could be a really important chance for me to showcase this. Solarpunk is an artistic and literary movement, based on this notion of seeing a brighter future for our generation and the generation after us. It rejects all the things that I mentioned before, like the Cyberpunk genre or any sort of dystopian genre. And it has a really strong message of addressing the climate change and renewable energy and sustainability. And that's what I'm also trying to showcase in this collection.

Host: Okay, but I think I'm still a little bit confused on how the Cyberpunk movement plays in here. Is this basically just rejection, as you said, of the Cyberpunk movement?

Shane Fu: Yeah, I guess some part of it is sort of a rejection to that. But I think a main point I want to make is the Solarpunk movement wants us to that we are able to create a brighter future. Sustaining ourselves in a really healthy and dynamic way is possible. I guess most of the digital art has been trying to show is that we're overwhelmingly being directed towards an unsustainable capitalism driven world.

Host: Speaking of the notion of seeing a brighter future for our generation and the future the coming generations and also the ideas of building, of having sustainable development, I think your collection represents those ideas in a really cool way. Because you've created five gadgets and each one is a cornerstone for a self-sufficient or a self-sustainable Solarpunk villa and the gadgets are: Solara, Mistral, Botanica, Ventus and Aquasphere. Really unusual names. So can you tell a little bit more about each gadget and what role each gadget plays in that Solarpunk villa?

Shane Fu: So a lot of the gadgets are based on some of the existing tech that we have in the real world. And some of it I just made it up. I combine my imagination and some of the existing tech that we are still developing that's not being widely used, but people see a lot of potential in it. I combine them both, try to piece together what I imagine will be the best of our future. Some of them are based on existing gadgets. For example, Aquasphere is based on the aquaponics system that we're already using for a lot of the fish farms or independent vegetable farms. And for the piece like Ventus, it's based on the airborne wind turbine that we also have.

Host: Why did you decide to launch your next project on TON Diamonds? Why did you choose TON Diamonds?

Shane Fu: Ellen Sheidlin first brought it up to me — the TON Diamonds platform. And I think I've been a big fan of hers. And I see some of the artists that you guys have been working with are also really aligned with my style and taste in artwork and also think it is kind of unique because I think most of the platforms are ETH-based. I kind of want to try out something new, I guess, blockchain tech like TON rather than stay on the traditional ETH-based platforms.

Host: We're happy that you've chosen TON and TON Diamonds as your next platforms. Do you plan on releasing a larger collection on TON in the future or just these five artworks from the Solar-powered project?

Shane Fu: I think there's definitely more projects to come. I'm just not sure yet because I guess right now, I have also other focus on client works and on my own experimental works. But yeah, maybe in the future. I'd say probably end of this year or next year maybe.

Host: I think we can move on to some general questions about NFT current trends and some personal questions. What's your opinion on the future of NFTs as a technology? What will happen to NFTs in five or ten years? What are your projections?

Shane Fu: I feel like I'm not the one who has the authority to speak on this. I do think I do see a lot of potential in its use cases. Not just in the digital art space, but also, any sort of contract-based matters in our life. NFTs can have a huge impact as long as, I guess we're constantly developing this tech and using it in in the right way and not in a lot of the wrong ways like we’ve seen in the past couple of years. Generally, I do see a lot of potential for this technology.

Host: At the beginning of our AMA, you mentioned that you've gained a lot of inspiration from other digital artists. Who are your favorite artists at the moment? Who do you follow on social media? Who do you look up to?

Shane Fu: Let me see. There's a lot of artists. I guess I don't have really a favorite one just like I don't really have a favorite film or music, but I do have some artists that I really like and I love to work with. I do love a lot of studios work. For example, Future Deluxe and Tendril. Those are two of my favorite studios and think now they are working together as well. Also there’s Edge Plus Creative.

Host: Are they related to the NFT space in any way? Maybe you can mention some projects that they did for some brands or some other projects that might be known?

Shane Fu: Yeah, I think most of have some artists working in the NFT area like Renderfruit. And I also like Ryan Talbot. His work is really great. I think he's really big on SuperRare. Ellen’s work has been always my favorite as well.

Host: You've already collaborated with several global brands yourself. Do you have a dream collab in mind? Any brand or artist you would like to work with?

Shane Fu: Um, I think right now, not specifically. I think Nike has been always a big one and any kind of automotive brand, I'm also really open to it. I think there could be some really great work that can be done similar to my work with BMW.

Host: Shane, thank you so much for finding the time for this AMA and for sharing all these details about your upcoming project. Again, I'm super excited for the artworks to be officially revealed to our audience, and I'm especially looking forward to the Focus Art Fair and seeing your pieces exhibited there as well. Thank you.