15 Sep 2023/20 min/NeonGlitch86
MLow X NeonGlitch86
A game industry 3D artist explains the Griff District, his XCopy collaboration Vortex, and why he gives most of his crypto work away for free.
MLow meets NeonGlitch86 fresh off hanging out together in the Griff District, the virtual space NeonGlitch86 built with Eclectic Method on OnCyber. The space is the spine of the conversation: not an art gallery with pieces on walls but a hangout with live music, DJ sets, artist tutorials, and hidden rooms, modeled in Blender with Midjourney supplying textures. NeonGlitch86 traces his path from a Mona build-a-thon contest into web3 space building, and reveals that a Mona commission for an unnamed artist turned out to be XCopy's grifter bars, the job that started the friendship behind their Vortex collaboration.
The middle of the conversation is a quiet argument against the hype economy. NeonGlitch86 works in game development (since about 2007), where most of his coworkers are anti-NFT, and he admits no crypto game has shipped that he actually wants to play. His own crypto output is mostly free: VRMs and 3D avatars on GitHub, plus Metaverse Verified, the eight dollar joke mint he made with Eclectic Method whose trailer literally promised no utility, then quietly rewarded holders with free mints, VRMs, and token gated events. He has shifted from minting everything to collecting only friends, above all Bananakin.
The episode is also a key document for the show itself. NeonGlitch86 flips the interview and asks MLow how he got into the space, and MLow lays out his own arc on the record: SuperRare 1/1s, a detour through PFPs, back to 1/1 art, curating the Flow Carbon climate project, and a coming Transient Labs collection. He states the show's mission plainly: uplifting artists who do not get the attention they deserve.
What this episode teaches
- Promise nothing, then over deliver
Metaverse Verified shipped at eight dollars with a trailer stating it had no utility, as a joke on Twitter's subscription. Because nothing was promised, every later holder perk (free mints, VRMs, gated Griff District events) built goodwill, and the token stayed above mint price through the bear.
- Words become obligations
NeonGlitch86's rule on pressure in crypto: if you say something or promise something, people will hold you to it and not forget. Managing expectations up front is the cheapest form of reputation management.
- Teach your process away
He livestreams tutorials in the Griff District showing exactly how he built it, and posts free 3D avatars on GitHub, to show anyone could do it. Openness earned him community and commissions rather than costing him a moat.
- Take the anonymous commission
Mona asked him to build a space for an unnamed artist after his build-a-thon entries. He said yes, the artist turned out to be XCopy, and by his own account working with XCopy put him on the map.
- Keep derivative lines separate
Vortex exists as a sister collection so the 3D, metaverse centric versions of XCopy's characters never interfere with XCopy's main body of work. Spin-off lines protect the canon.
- Remaking work you love builds relationships
He recreated Ripcache's camera in 3D purely as a fan, and Ripcache loved it. Translating 2D pieces he admires into 3D is both his favorite craft challenge and how several of his collaborations started.
- Collect your friends, not the floor
He used to mint every major project; now he only collects work by friends he talks to daily, led by Bananakin, whom he calls a Swiss army knife of skills. Social proximity replaced market signal in his collecting.
- AI is a tool; the artist decides staying power
He embraces AI (Midjourney textures, text to 3D) while opposing prompts that imitate living artists' styles. In his words, the artist behind the machine decides whether you have staying power or disappear.
The conversation, topic by topic
The Griff District
NeonGlitch86's virtual space on OnCyber, built with Eclectic Method: a hangout with events, live music, DJ sets, and artist tutorials rather than a gallery of NFTs on walls. He modeled it in Blender with Midjourney textures, and guests like VR artist Metageist have shared their process there.
Mona as the entry point
He started building web3 spaces through a Mona build-a-thon contest a couple of years earlier, which matched what he already did professionally. Mona was his first virtual space platform; he chose OnCyber for the Griff District for its streaming and screen sharing.
Game industry day job
He has worked in game development since about 2007 doing 3D art for studios. Most coworkers are against NFTs and crypto; he is in the small open minded camp but concedes he has yet to see a crypto game he actually wants to play.
Sci-fi aesthetic
His personal work leans sci-fi and hard surface, rooted in a childhood of Blade Runner and sci-fi games. He says he has no deep hidden message: he makes what looks fun, and gets bored recreating real cities.
Pressure, fame, and the free work ethic
Asked how he handles expectations, he says he never wanted to be a big top crypto artist and gives most of his crypto work away free, including VRMs and avatars on GitHub. He has avoided extreme pressure partly by never running a giant paid project.
Metaverse Verified, the eight dollar joke mint
With Eclectic Method he made a blue tick VRM parodying Elon Musk's eight dollar subscription, with a fake trailer ending on no utility. Holders later got free mints, VRMs, and will get token gated Griff District events; it still trades above mint.
The imaginary curated gallery
MLow asks which maestros he would hang in a curated Griff District. Answer: a lot of XCopy, then friends rather than blue chips, especially Bananakin (physical paintings, digital paintings, VR, 3D avatars) and Arthur, who 3D prints sculptures with electronics inside.
XCopy and Vortex
Mona hired him to build XCopy's grifter bars without naming the artist. The job became a friendship, then Vortex: a collection of XCopy characters rebuilt in 3D for metaverse use, kept deliberately separate from XCopy's main collection. New Vortex work is in progress with no set date. MLow calls XCopy one of the reasons he entered the space; NeonGlitch86 calls him super humble, an actual nice person.
MLow tells his own story
NeonGlitch86 turns interviewer, noting MLow is in every Space. MLow says he started in crypto art about two or three years ago with SuperRare pieces, moved to PFPs, then stuck with 1/1 art as the best NFT use case. He curated the Flow Carbon project (an a16z backed company) offsetting carbon with NFTs, alongside Olive Allen, Lindsey Byrnes, Danny Cole, Frankie Nines, and Andre Oshea, and is now curating a dynamic NFT collection with Transient Labs. His stated goal: uplift artists outside the mainstream NFT discourse.
The name NeonGlitch86
There is no juicy tale. He fed synthwave name generators, got outputs like Blah FM 86 and Turbo Razor, mashed pieces together, and added 86. He wishes there were a cooler story.
AI in the creative pipeline
He is a fan and thinks AI is not going anywhere, citing text to 3D tools that output usable models. He objects to generating work in a named artist's style, and notes his game industry peers expect AI to take everyone's jobs while he simply enjoys it. Both agree the bear market weeded out people here for the wrong reasons.
Easter eggs and homages
Hidden spaces are planned for the Griff District, and Eclectic Method has run hide and seek events there. The Vortex bottle recurs across his pieces, and he rebuilt Ripcache's camera in 3D as an homage that Ripcache himself endorsed.
Async Art and Transient Labs
His most recent mint was a dynamic layer piece for Async Art's continuation of The First Supper, his first dynamic artwork. MLow invites him into his unannounced Transient Labs project, explaining how Patrick Amadon's Doppelganger contract curates several artworks onto one token.
Cult of Crypto Art and what is next
He describes the Cult of Crypto Art as a collective started around XCopy and Eclectic Method that grew into multiple group chats, with artists using the logo at shows. Coming up: new 3D avatars, ongoing Vortex work with XCopy, and Griff District events.
In their words
“It's not just an art gallery... it's more like a place where you can hang out and talk to people and have events going on.”
NeonGlitch86“If you say something, or you promised something, people will hold you to that and not forget.”
NeonGlitch86“I've kind of shifted away from that. I just kind of support my friends now, that I talk to every day in the space.”
NeonGlitch86“I feel like now all I see is MLow. You're in every Spaces I see. I don't know if you sleep.”
NeonGlitch86“I saw that I was able to uplift artists just by being myself... one of my goals is to help uplift artists and share their stories.”
MLow“The artist that is behind the machine is really gonna decide whether you have staying power.”
NeonGlitch86Cite this conversation
NeonGlitch86 in conversation with MLow, "MLow X NeonGlitch86," The MLow Show, 15 Sep 2023. https://show.mlow.xyz/e/2023-09-15-mlow-x-neonglitch86.html. Quoted from a machine transcript.
Quotations come from machine transcripts. Check wording against the audio before republishing.