NFT PX and DPI

At What Pixel Dimensions Are Most Generative NFT Art Projects Built?

A survey of leading generative NFT graphical sizes from low-res pixels to big ol’ high-def craziness.

Now that I’m starting to help clients with generative art NFT programming, issues have arisen that I’d not paid much attention to earlier in my journey into the NFT metaverse. One that’s come up is: What are my recommendations for the pixel dimensions of a generative NFT art project?

And that’s a great question because out there right now are many thousands of teams planning NFT drops, and their artists need to know this fundamental item.

I have my opinions, of course, but before I make a final recommendation, let’s look at some of the top generative art collections, and see what they did. (The answer is out there. So, why reinvent the wheel, you know?) I’ll pull from a bunch of projects listed on CryptoSlam and Rarity.Tools, plus a few personal faves, organized from small to large.

CryptoPunks: 336 px square

The original, right?! These pixelated ruffians have experienced 306,600 ETH in trading. That’s nearly a billion dollars, as of today. Not bad for 10,000 square graphics at 336px!

Axie Infinty: 512px x 384px

Another nice little project, eh? They have generated 27.5 ETH in volume (as of today that’s $86 million). A typical character is 512px wide x 384px high. Here are a few, from an OpenSea screen grab.

Animetas: 540px square

These 10k+ futuristic, pixelated peeps have generated nearly $20 million in ETH volume. Not bad for 540px squares, eh?!

Bored Ape Yacht Club: 631px square

This is who everyone wants to be. When people write to me for help in generative artwork, about half mention these infamous bored apes. And why not? They’ve generated 67,400 ETH in crypto commerce, or about $211 million in today’s valuation. [Update: That number is now 178k ETH worth $612 million!] Owning an ape is the aspiration of almost everyone in the NFT space.

VeeFriends: 640px x 860px

This is a $40 million project so far(!) (nearly 13k ETH to date traded) from Gary Vaynerchuk. I wanted to include it here for a few reasons. Obviously, it’s an important, huge project. But also, Gary’s been an outspoken proponent of NFTs for a long time and I’m regularly well aligned with his valuable business advice. So, when people ask me why I recommend doing manageable size NFTs (meaning not much larger than my own NFTuxedoCats), I feel like seeing Gary’s at 640px sends a strong message about what matters here. With NFTs, it’s just not necessary to produce 10k graphical NFTs that weigh in at 5mb each. It’s more about the artwork, the community, the engagement, the novelty, the hype, the investment, etc. So, FWIW, my opinion is to keep it as manageable as possible. I can’t speak for GV, but I suspect the 640px sizing here was intentional.

Monas: 745px x 1147px

I’m including these here because they were my first NFT (gained via a promo they did on Reddit), and were my inspiration to get into NFTs. They’re not in the top 10, but they’re creeping up on a half-million in ETH volume. So, not bad at all!

World of Women: 800px square

These 10,000 digital ladies have generated nearly $20 million in trading volume, about 5,800 ETH.

NFTuxedoCats: 1000px x1300px

Ha, well you knew I’d include these, right? Okay, so they’re not a cultural phenomenon. But, they’re similar in size to the Meebits, so I popped them here anyway.

Zed Run: 1024 px square

Gotta admit: I’m not really familiar with this one. It’s some kind of NFT horse racing game, apparently. But they’re popular, with 22.2K ETH in trading as of today (about $70 million).

Meebits: 1024px x 1536 px

Another giant in the NFT space, and a 20k set, too. They’ve generated 41.9 ETH, or about $131 million in trading. Also kind of unusual in their portrait-oriented design at 1024 x 1536.

Cool Cats: 1080px square

A $31 million project so far with 9,999 generative cats.

Galactic Secret Agency: 1200px square

These guys aren’t in the top 10 yet, but they’re growing, and I really love these. They’re at 286 ETH right now, which is almost $1 million in volume!

Bored Ape Kennel Club: 1262 px square

Well, the Bored Ape Yacht Club might be much more than twice as big as the Bored Apr Kennel Club, but in fact the BAKC is precisely 2x bigger when it comes to pixels. For every 631px square Bored Ape, there’s a 1262px square Bored dog. (And btw, the pups here have generated $57 million to date in ETH volume!)

Pudgy Penguins: 2700px square

These guys are hefty for sure. They’ve moved $22 million in ETH, so of course their files are sizeable too at 2700px square each.

Gutter Cat Gang: 4000px square

These are some big cats, accounting for $20 million in ETH volume traded. File-size-wise, they’re hefty, too — a whopping 4,000px square. Now that’s a sizeable cat!

Conclusion, IMHO

Well, I can’t definitively conclude anything here, as the above is merely a selected, representative set. I would say that, while larger graphics (meaning larger than, say, 1200px square) are possible (and potentially useful for various reasons), they’re not mandatory for success in the generative NFT space. In fact, they seem to be almost an exception.

And this is one reason why my personal recommendations for sizing your generative art are what they are within my art specs article, which is what you should read next if you’re planning a generative NFT project:

Or, if you’re ready to get going with your generative art project, this article will also help: