Weekly Gems #3

Every week I’m challenged by the same question: who shall I feature in this week’s Weekly Gems? There’s a bewildering amount of talent out there and I can only show a handful of artists in my Daily NFT Show each time. Picking artists as Weekly Gems is, therefore, a tough call. But here we go!

David Ariew (@DavidAriew): A CG Master

David Ariew is a digital artist with quite a track record. He started as a digital artist creating concert visuals whilst working at a music-focused production company. After 3 years, the work started to bore him and he decided to go solo. He’s been active as a freelancer since 2014, working on various projects and creating courses and tutorials regarding motion design.

He joined the NFT space in December 2020, initially as a collector. Only a few months later he decided to mint some of his own work. These were three works that he had made for his ‘School of Motion’ course. These were scooped up by 888 pretty much immediately!

Since then, it’s been a true adventure for David. He’s a rising star and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.

Idil Dursun (@jarvinart): Gorgeous Environments 

If you are into sci-fi or futuristic environments, then you’ve got to meet Idil. She’s a young CGI environment concept artist from Turkey, quickly making a name for herself in the NFT space.

“I’ve always been into art. My parents hoped I was going to be an architect when I was just about 3-4 years old. As a kid, I was already very strict about technicalities when I was drawing, even though I was just creating random stuff. When I was in middle school and high school, I mostly painted landscapes with acrylics. Then, in my third year of college, I decided I wanted to become an environment concept artist.”

Like other artists, she’s inspired by existing work in the NFT space. However, her biggest source of inspiration is ‘scale’ in general. Big buildings, constructions and landscapes.

Idil’s work is going ​​to be part of the Crypt Gallery NYC and the Suspended Souls “Powerful Souls” collection, which includes 30 female NFT artists.

Julie Pacino (@Julie_Pacino): From NFT Photography to Cinematography

Julie Pacino describes herself as a photographer, filmmaker, NFT artist and collector based in Los Angeles. She started her working career as a writer, director and producer in film but, over the past year, her photography career has taken the front seat.

Her NFT Genesis Collection, called “I Live Here Now”, was sparked by a short trip last February. She visited a hotel called Madonna Inn Hotel. As soon as she arrived, she felt inspired. She took her camera out and started snapping pictures all around. Julie says: “My friend Fern (the subject in half of the photos) has a wild wardrobe and somehow her clothes just blended perfectly. Once we started shooting, we just kept going and the story began revealing itself. We were there for 2 nights and I took 2,000 photos. All on film! It was insane.”

Julie goes on: “When I got home, I banged out the script in like 3 weeks, the concept was just growing inside me. I felt like I was pregnant and HAD TO write it.”

The end result? A screenplay for Julie’s first feature-length movie, which will take place entirely at the hotel. It will be shot in early 2022 and the NFTs will be tied into the making of the film.

The movie itself will be a psychological horror film about a woman dealing with an unplanned pregnancy while hiding out at the inn.

If you’d like to discover more talented artists, then make sure to follow @redlion_news and the Daily NFT Show.