A Guide to Toy Boogers NFT: From Pen and Paper to TV
by Justin Perri
1/20/2022
When you first hear of an NFT project named Toy Boogers, what comes to mind? For me, it’s a balance between childlike innocence and mildly grossed out confusion. Yet, there’s a weird allure from the absurdity of some kind of snot-based plaything that the name implies. As you start to browse through some of the art you start to understand it.
These are the Toy Boogers.
They are funky, but playful, with beast heads on the bodies of other creatures, or a TV head on a doctor’s body riding a snowboard. They’re filled with personality and their composition suspends reality and creates a goofy charm that anyone can connect to.
Toy Boogers NFTs Coming to TV via Time Studios
Perhaps it’s that charm that has led Toy Boogers to land a partnership with Time Studio — the video production arm of Time Magazine — to produce a children’s TV show centered around a potential Booger-verse. (Note: There’s no actual announcement that it would be called the Booger-verse, but you never nose.)
Anyway, the story of this collection is awesome, genuine and only made possible by NFTs. Toy Boogers is now one of three TV shows based on an NFT project that Time will be producing, along with Smilesssvrs and Robotos — a big bet by the production studio on new NFT intellectual property being the future of TV.
I was lucky enough to sit down with Doug, the founder and artist behind Toy Boogers, to ask him about his story and landing the TV deal soon after the Boogers minted out. If you want to catch the full conversation from 60 Mints, you can find it here:
Meet Doug, the Creator of Toy Boogers
Something struck a chord with me when Doug started talking about his drawings. Doug has been putting together the work that would become Toy Boogers long before he knew what an NFT was.
These creations that now define the brand he is building are a product of pure artistic expression. They were organically made and then brought to life through what NFTs make possible, rather than the other way around. This authenticity can be felt in the artwork and also when speaking with Doug about the project, these qualities make for a unique vibe and strong foundation to grow a community from.
How Toy Boogers were Created
Maybe even more impressive, the entire collection of 3,333 NFTs was hand drawn with a pen and paper! In our conversation, Doug jokes about how he should probably get himself an Apple Pencil and start drawing digitally. He pokes fun at himself for it, but it’s nothing short of amazing that the artwork was all done manually, rather than generated randomly through computer code.
This includes doing all the combinations of the various traits by hand. No programs to algorithmically compose the avatars at random, each was individually put together by the artist himself!
That’s very humble beginnings for an NFT project that minted out quickly and soon gave Time President Keith Grossman a reason to reach out about working together.
It’s been less than a year since Doug started working on Toy Boogers with the intention to launch an NFT, and his success goes to show that you can start an NFT project with an idea you’re passionate about and learn along the way. The Boogers are an incredible example of what this new technology can actually bring to creators as well as the value that people get from being able to directly connect with the artist.
What’s Ahead for Toy Boogers
As for what’s to come for Toy Boogers, there’s not too much we really know. The TV show is in early stages of production and Doug himself is going to be an executive producer. The show is going to be geared towards the whole family, balancing being engaging for children and still enjoyable for adults.
The energy of the show is going to draw from that of Adventure Time mixed with a little bit of Rick and Morty. We can probably expect far out adventures that explore the magical world of Toy Boogers.
Be sure to check out Toy Boogers rarity and valuations on MomentRanks and follow Doug from the project’s official Twitter!