<aside> 💡 This is the original Blitmap artist primer from 2021. Some of the information (e.g. minting price, compensation split) changed during testing from artist feedback and is now inaccurate. That said, most things and the spirit are still correct.
</aside>
Blitmap is a first-of-its-kind NFT art project that centers around 32x32 pixel art.
Unlike most NFTs which store artwork on metadata on IPFS or HTTP, blitmaps and their metadata are stored and processed entirely on the Ethereum blockchain itself.
In practice, this means that blitmaps will be around and easily renderable in their entirety for as long as Ethereum itself is around (hopefully forever!)
Most NFTs store their data off-chain because gas costs associated with on-chain storage are so expensive. Blitmap uses this limitation as a forcing function and uses a tightly packed data format that allows us to fit 32x32 images with up to 4 colors inside 268 bytes of data. This keeps gas costs around the same as they would be minting on a more "standard" NFT platform.
Because the image data is on-chain, we can do interesting things with the contract itself.
Custom image formats are a pain in the ass and no one is going to want to implement one for this type of project. So we built a gas free SVG transcoder into the contract. This makes it trivial to convert the data for any blitmap into something browsers, exchanges, and other apps can (and do) easily render.
We've added the ability to mint a variation of a blitmap using the color palette of another blitmap. Like everything else in Blitmap, this happens completely on-chain. This feature is so fun it acts as the basis for the main functionality for most collectors who will interact with the project.
This quote from the site does a good job explaining how this all works to the average collector:
Blitmaps are first-of-their-kind 32x32 collectible artworks that are stored permanently and processed entirely on the Ethereum blockchain.
There are two types of blitmaps: originals and siblings.
Originals Originals are created by a curated roster of artists around the world. Up to #TBD originals can be created. Originals are initially held by their creators and are only acquirable on the secondary market.
Siblings An original can be mixed with another original to create to a sibling, which is a new blitmap looks like its base but inherits the color palette of the original it was mixed with. Anyone can claim a sibling (even if they don't own the originals) by paying a 0.2 ETH minting fee. Each original can have up to 8 siblings.
Once all originals and their siblings are created, the project is complete and all blitmaps will only be acquirable on the secondary market.