In November 2020, I released Novus Moneta Seclorum, my second milestone collection on Nifty Gateway: three animated bitcoin artworks, each set in a different era, each carrying the same message.
A New Currency for the Ages
Novus Moneta Seclorum is a wordplay on the Latin phrase "Novus Ordo Seclorum", the motto printed on the back of every dollar bill. Its intended meaning is to present bitcoin as the New Currency for the Ages. That's the unifying theme for the three pieces, which are each set in different time periods: Citadel Paradiso in the past (the roaring 1920s), Cypherpunk Sanctorium in the future, and Sound Money Stronghold in a gloomy version of our present-day situation.
The fiat empire stamps its new world order on its money. I answered with a new money for the ages, stamped on art.
The series consists of three sci-fi styled images, each using a different visual style: art deco, cyberpunk, and steampunk. The entire series takes inspiration from Fritz Lang's film Metropolis, and its creation was prompted by my desire to revisit the core ideas in my original Cryptopolis print (2018) and create a new milestone series of digital art, challenging both my technical capabilities in illustration and animation, and my discipline in delivering finished art on a hard deadline: the November 9th, 2020 drop.
This was my first release featuring fully rigged characters, an exceptional level of detail, and thoughtfully crafted audio tracks for each piece.
Collector's edition prints for each artwork were released alongside the drop, in 60x60cm and 90x90cm sizes with framed options.
Citadel Paradiso
The first piece is set in a roaring 20s cityscape, taking viewers through "Citadel Cinema 21" to see the main event: the Fed money printer on the fritz, and Satoshi coming in to save the day with his sneaky sidekick Prometheus, who harnesses the fire from the money printer to bring light to Citadel Paradiso.
This was my first animated piece utilizing fully rigged characters, a process I began with the Femme Satoshi character:
And then continued with the rest of the cast, for example the Super Satoshi character,
and even the cancan dancers required some rigging.
The edition version of Citadel Paradiso was sold on Nifty Gateway's primary market in an edition of 21.
Cypherpunk Sanctorium
The second piece is set in a futuristic, cyberpunk-styled metropolis. Cypherpunk Sanctorium explores Bitcoin's role in providing users privacy and censorship resistance.
The animation follows the main character on his journey to freedom of money, and features my newly created Andro Satoshi character as the centerpiece, 21 of my artworks animated on TV screens and plastered on building walls, and a tribute to 6 prominent cypherpunks who developed the technologies that led to Bitcoin's creation.
Cypherpunk Sanctorium is one of the most ambitious artworks I've taken to completion in my career. The vector art alone contains hundreds of elements, layers, details, and design decisions I contemplated over the course of weeks as I prepared both the still and animated artworks. It pushed the limits of my computer setup, forced me to learn a lot, and challenged everything about how I put a piece together. All good things.
Here's the Andro Satoshi character illustration, rigged and prepared for animation:
And our city-dwelling runner:
Even the 6 cypherpunk tribute towers have their own layers for animation, as they rise into place during the climax.
Some more shots showcasing the detail work in this piece:
I remain very pleased with the result. I consider Cypherpunk Sanctorium both one of my best fine art print pieces and possibly the best animation project I'd produced up to that point. Truthfully, the entire series is some of my best work.
Sound Money Stronghold
The third piece is set in a steampunk-styled, retro-futuristic present day. Sound Money Stronghold takes us on an aerial journey to the inflation station, so we can see what our banker buddies have been up to.
A giant Femme Satoshi is erected at the center point of a fortified balloon base, where all Satoshis are safe from the toxic fumes of the out-of-control money printing and the growing debt burden, not to mention the huge explosion when it all comes crashing down. Detailed touches include fully animated letter boards with persuasive statistics, four illustrated steampunk-inspired Satoshi characters, and an industrial-punk audio track with all the sounds you'd imagine come out of an inflation station.
Some of the details showcased in this piece:
The Legacy
Novus Moneta Seclorum set the template for everything that followed. The steampunk language of Sound Money Stronghold evolved directly into Moneta Divina, whose very title answers this collection: from the New Currency for the Ages to Divine Currency.
Explore what's currently available in my collector editions.
Better money, better world.
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