“Women are typically perceived as sweet, but that’s just on a surface level. There’s actually strength hidden within.”
จิรภัทร์ “Jel” ช้างเสวก wants people to perceive women in a new light and she’s hoping to achieve that through her vibrant artwork. As a female NFT creator with a strong message to impart, what’s it like to operate in the male-dominated scene? EQ sit down with her to find out.
Women are not always, nor do they have to be, sweet
“My NFT art is based on who I am. I’m not a girly girl, I’m a tough person,” Jel begins. “I’ve been working as a female-only tattoo artist for almost 8 years now. As a woman, I feel like I understand the female physiology more. I’m simply bringing that character to my artwork.”
Lady Behind Shadow, one of her artwork on Foundation, was selected to show at BKKNFT. The message behind the piece reflects the harsh reality where she feels unseen in the NFT world. There is, of course, a vulnerability, but there are also elements that illustrates her toughness such as a sidekick dog, a gun, graffiti, and even her facial expression.
Taken from the Riot Girls collection, Shadow of Life serves as a sequel to “Lady Behind Shadow.” The theme here is a relaxing space tucked away from the outside world. There’s a frog taking a selfie which reflects the reality in today’s world. Like the previous work, this one also features elements of coolness that contrast with the female subject.
MY RIOT GIRL on Opensea is a collection of beautiful women depicted with their various weapons to show their collective strength.
All your main characters are female, why is that?
“I like drawing women. I tried to draw something else before but it just wasn't me. I must have scrapped dozens of what I drew because I didn’t connect with any of them. After realizing that I love drawing female characters, I feel empowered and inspired to keep creating.”
Did you ever feel discouraged, having to scrap all your hard work?
“A little, but I don’t regret it. It allowed me to improve my skills and learn other things. I’m learning how to do 3D animation at the moment. It’s challenging but enjoyable.”
Can you tell us more about the Japanese-inspired pieces?
“I read manga like One Piece and Death Note, and I get inspired by those stories. Actually, most of the people who follow me are Japanese.
What do you hope to achieve with your NFT art?
“I’m not a person who like to set high expectations for myself. It’s because when I get disappointed, I’ll feel too down to keep going. I guess the reason for creating NFTs for me now is to improve my drawing skills.”
Learning from mistakes
“I made a mistake of expanding to this new platform Paras because I wanted to reach more audience beyond Opensea and Foundation. My followers felt that I was my abandoning my old collections so I had to move all of that work back to Opensea and draw something different and a little more cutesy for Paras. The new collection is called ‘My Little Riot Girls’ and it’ll be done soon.”
“From this experience, I learned that I had to maintain my old community while expanding to a new platform. I lost some collectors who felt that they were being abandoned.”
Never stop learning
“You can’t stop learning once you’re in the NFT world. You have to keep yourself up to date with what’s going on on the scene. Everything changes on a daily basis. The coin’s value goes up and down like a roller coaster so it’s important to know which marketplace your work is best suited to. You also have to put effort in building a community and promoting your work through Facebook, Twitter, and Discord. Just do it all because you everyone on there is your potential collector.”
Don’t follow trends too much
“I used to draw Pepe the frog for a while. Trends come and go so if you follow them too much, your work won’t always be sold. The most important thing is to be yourself. You never know one day your collection could go viral.”
What does it take to be a good NFT creator?
“First of all, you have to enjoy drawing. It doesn’t matter what other people say about your artwork as long as you enjoy doing it. Secondly, make sure to study up on NFT and how to do marketing and promote yourself. Prepare yourself as much as you can to prevent failure.”
Girl power & diversity
“Everyone is unique in their own ability. We live in a diverse society – there’s an NFT creator who’s also a tattoo artist like myself and there’s the LGBTQ+ community. It doesn’t make sense to discriminate someone on the basis of their gender or sexuality.”
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