About the Artwork

John the Craftsman

Gluten and I began this journey as a humble artist team. What we lacked in equipment and software, we made up for in determination. With Local's input along the way, we divvied up our tasks, found our groove and made an awesome team.

Determining the size

Using a combination of Procreate and Photoshop—mostly on tablets—it was imperative that we find a realistic balance of size-versus-quality. We concluded that 8000x8000 pixels was a sufficient final size for each Lazy Butt, making the full vertical lion 8000x16000. However, due to some processor issues, we found this size too unwieldy to work on, so we arrived at a new plan:

• We created each piece in 4000x4000 pixels.

• We then used use artificial intelligence to upsample those to 8000x8000. This helped us mitigate interpolation (that blurring of the pixels that you normallly get with a forced upsample).

• From there, final touchups were made before sending the art to the devs.

• The devs then generated test runs in sets of 500, which we'd comb through. We did this repeatedly, until no more errors stood out.

The quality

One would be hard-pressed to find a perfect NFT collection, and we make no promise of perfection in this one. However, we feel that any mistakes will be minor. You may zoom in and find something slightly misaligned. Some edges may be a little rough when enlarged to the max. We expect it. But every pen stroke of this collection was hand-done by Gluten and me. We went to great lengths to capture the style, vibe and charm of the original collection. We hope we have done it proud.

Determining the traits

As for traits, we faced some difficult choices—what does each upper body trait determine? Traits like mane or background colors are easy. But let's say your original lion wears a pirate hat and a police shirt. Which of those two traits determines his pants, shoes or accessories? Will he hold a sword or a nightstick? We pondered and debated amongst ourselves for quite some time. It was imperative that traits not conflict, creating monstrosities. Jumbling up the formula was not an option.

We finally arrived at what we believe was the best compromise:

headgear = hand and foot accessories

bodygear = lower body clothing

Sacrifices had to be made. For example, ranger shirts don't come with a bow (As a ranger owner myself, I assure you this was a painful choice, but I still love my full body ranger). If your ranger is wearing a hat he will have the full ranger outfit, and will be accessorized according to his hat.

The magic

Once the trait decision was settled, the creative process was pure fun. This was one of the most rewarding projects I've ever done, in both the creative process and the camaraderie. I hope you enjoy your butts as much as we enjoyed creating them. Keep an open mind, appreciate the surprises and enjoy the magic!