CodedCarbs Website -> https://codedcarbs.com/
Eno | The Lost Collection -> https://opensea.io/collection/enothelost
Squid Ink. Collection -> https://opensea.io/collection/squidink
Where are you from?
I've lived in the desert of Arizona basically my whole life. All I do is dream about living in a place where its GREEN.
How did you first get into crypto/NFTs?
I'm one of those people who cry about not buying BAYC after mint when they cost .2 ETH. At that time NFT's weren't really that 'big' and there was no way I was going to tell my wife I dipped into our savings to buy a JPG. All I could think about was how I wanted to create my own collection, but I had no idea how, and I didn't know any devs who might want to mess around with me.
Then a few months later YouTube recommended the Hashlips channel and I was hooked! By this time BAYC and PUNKS were racking up hundreds of ETH traded and like everyone I wanted a piece of the pie.
I decided to go about things differently though. All the cool collections were already the price of a home's down payments and way out of my budget (and I assumed many others). On top of that people were already dropping money hungry rug pull collections and I didn't want any part of that. I wanted a collection that didn’t cost an arm and a leg to mint, and if all went well, the royalties would be my reward.
So I decided to follow in the footsteps of PUNKS and dropped my 1st collection Squid Ink. for free as a giveaway. The reception I got was unbelievable! To this day I still have people telling me that I was their first taste of the NFT space. This is such an honor to me, and I cherish these moments.
There's another 10 pages about how I pretty much threw away $120,000 in Squid Ink. NFTs and the origin story on the Eno, but that's for another time.
What platform did you choose and why?
ETH is where all the big kids play, and I've always wanted to play with the big kids but Polygon is where my journey began for two reasons.
1. At the time ETH was still on proof of work and gas fees would often cost 2x the price of minting! That's just crazy. Polygon to the rescue in creating the project and for holders trading their Squid.
2. The effect Proof of Work on the environment of ETH also played a big role. At the time scams & spammers were around of course, but NOTHING like they are now. However, the number one criticism then was the carbon footprint cost of mining, and rightfully so. Polygon to the rescue again with a 99% smaller carbon footprint.
What are the most important things in your life?
My wife, my family, and not f@#king people over.
Please do not ape into any of my projects with the hope of getting rich or with money you cannot afford to lose. I cannot guarantee returns, do not chase floor prices, and make decisions based on what interests me as an artist.
What do you enjoy when not creating art?
It's a common joke with people who know me IRL. They say that "I don't like to have freetime." ...and to be honest I think the discord is starting to realize it too. I have issue sitting still and I just need to be creating something, or learning something new.
From NFT collections, 3D modeling, woodworking, house renovation... basically anything that can keep my mind entertained sounds like a fun afternoon to me. Except doing the dishes. That still sucks.
Tell us about your project.
Squid Ink. was supposed to be a collection of 8,888 Squid that I was going to give away for free. In the contract however I did not put a maximum wallet limit, and this was a project that I wanted as many people as possible to be able to participate in. So instead I turned minting off and airdropped every Squid by hand. We had 1,000 people join the Discord in less than a week. The atmosphere was ‘lit’ and we were ‘vibing’. I couldn't handle everything by myself and people stepped up to organize / facilitate newcomers while I was at work or sleeping. This was really my 1st taste of what a community can do.
Until I F@#KED EVERYTHING UP. We were at 2,646/8,888 Squid given away when I accidentally called the "Renounce Ownership" function. Basically this meant the contract was ownerless and that I no longer could call only owner, and the public mint function was turned off. — no more Squid mints. Ever.
The remaining 6,242 would forever be lost and unmintable. It took several minutes to realize why my transactions were not going through and why the metamask was stuck. When realization struck, I started living the whole “knees weak, arms heavy, mom’s spaghetti” thing and I didn't know what to do.
I figured I would 1st talk with the people I had promoted to mods. People who dedicated themselves to helping me, a complete stranger with my collection drop. They said not to worry and just tell everyone in the discord. I copy/pasted my message into #announcements chat and hovered my finger over the return key. My stomach was turning and I told my wife that I needed her to hold me. I was a wreck, so she hit return for me and I waited for the verbal attacks to begin.
Instead, the message began getting fire emojis, 100's, and rockets. People were excited that the supply was cut by nearly 60% and that I was so honest with them. We begin brainstorming new collections, and there was an idea that everyone LOVED!
What if the Squid that were lost cam back from the "Lost Sea" as mutated ghost squid? What?! Are you kidding me? What an awesome idea! Then Mr. Beast announced his 2021 project #TEAMSEAS. Eno would go on to raise and donate $900 to the cause.
What makes it unique?
I love that the NFT boom has sparked a creative fire under so many people. There are so many collections with brilliantly beautiful art. Especially during a time when artist were forced to make art for the social algorithms and not pieces that they love.
One of the biggest complaints of generated projects however, is that so many pieces look alike or are copycats of Blue Chip collections. I wanted to turn this on it's head with an EXTREMELY ambitious collection.
Eno | The Lost is a NFT collection of 6,242 Humanoid Squid set to exact revenge on mankind. They consist of 9 different classes with each race having a different rarity in the collection. Each class has a unique design posed in either a front view or a side view. Then on top of that, each class has a male and female variation.
So where most 10k generated collections have between 200-500 layers that are used to created their collection. Upwards of 1,800 individually hand drawn images were created to use for the collection generation. It was a living nightmare, but I am so proud of the collection and am excited to share it with the world.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I daydream A LOT. While at work, while driving, while taking a shower, and I play through ideas in my head. I usually come up with too many ideas, that I don't don't have time for.
When I'm stuck though, I like to ask for help. Wether its ideas from discord or references and history from google. There's always a spark out there somewhere to ignite your creativity
What motivates you/your work?
Hmmm this is a good question. I have a short attention span, and so as long as I can keep myself interested in a project, I'm in it 100% and really can't focus on anything else.
So on the surface I would say, it's focus that motivates me. But on a deeper level, I think it's just the drive to create that pushes me ever forward.
How has your style evolved over the years?
To tell you the truth, I think that I'm one of those people that is still searching for their style. I know what I like when looking at other's art, but I had issues adapting or working with their styles. For example, Eno was meant to heavily lean towards the art style of @Ghxsts as he is one of my favorite artists in the space.. and well it turned out nothing like his work I think.
What’s next for you/your project?
Eno has really become a passion project for me. I've built this world and I love living in it (in my head), but I want to get it out on paper.
Ideally, the project attracts millions of people and the royalties begin flooding in so that I could hire a team of people to help me bring this vision to life. Until then however, I'm a one man band creating art to donate to charities and building a legacy for the Eno on my free time.
But to answer the question, I have two fleshed out ideas for new collections in the Eno universe and a spark of an idea for another two. These are years down the road. I would like to spend my time creating animations so people can begin learn more about the world we're creating.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
1st choice hands down @Ghxsts
2nd choice because I'm dumb for not choosing them 1st: @yugalabs
3rd choice because he's already met the Eno in real life: @elonmusk