Antoine Mingo left his position of idea artist for in style Ethereum NFT assortment Pudgy Penguins in early 2023, because of artistic variations with management. Now, he’s main the artwork for a brand new NFT undertaking known as Burrrs on buzzy layer-1 community Berachain, giving him the artistic freedom he’s craved since getting into the business.
The Washington-based artist picked up the Pudgy Penguins job in 2021 through gig-work platform Upwork, again when founder Cole Thereum was on the helm of the gathering. After a short consulting gig, Mingo went on to create 8,888 NFT profile footage for the Ethereum undertaking, proper because the NFT market noticed explosive demand. To his shock, his art work was a smash hit.
Work began to flood in for Mingo, who had beforehand solely labored within the Web2 world however was now being approached by tons of Web3 tasks. He saved on as an artist for Pudgy Penguins, even after Cole Thereum controversially emptied the undertaking’s treasury and was booted from the undertaking in 2022; the IP was later bought by entrepreneur Luca Netz.
However artistic variations quickly bubbled to the floor.
“[My style] simply wasn’t clicking with them. Even the easy issues, just like the flippers,” Mingo advised Decrypt. “Simply little artistic variations like that.”
The artist pitched his personal imaginative and prescient for Pudgy Penguins, eager to take inspiration from Cartoon Community present “The Superb World of Gumball” in the best way the animators combine 2D and 3D. However the brand new management wasn’t , so Mingo left Pudgy Penguins in early 2023.
“I feel you would see it within the artwork, actually. If I used to be to return out with a shirt, and also you take a look at a comparability of what is on the Pudgy web site, or on the Pudgy Twitter, there might be a distinction,” Mingo claimed. “It’s not a really hardcore distinction.”
Since then, the artist has taken on extra gigs in crypto whereas Pudgy Penguins continued to develop right into a wide-ranging client model, even amid the NFT market’s broader decline.
The NFT assortment’s mother or father firm, Igloo Inc., has bought tens of millions of {dollars} price of toys in Walmart and Goal shops throughout the US, launched a Solana meme coin known as PENGU, and even launched an Ethereum layer-2 community known as Summary.
Mingo mentioned that he’s maintained a optimistic relationship with the management at Pudgy Penguins, however will not be receiving any ongoing particular advantages because of his earlier position within the undertaking.
The Washington-based artist mentioned that he’s loved his enterprise into crypto up to now, however has grown annoyed with the shortage of artistic freedom he’s been handed, even at tasks following the preliminary Pudgy Penguins success.
“It creates for higher storytelling,” Mingo advised Decrypt. “If you’re versatile from the leap, and also you permit simply all these artistic juices to return out, you have no regrets—no matter how it’s. You are feeling such as you let every part out.”
That’s why he’s excited to be a founding member and inventive lead for the upcoming Burrrs NFT assortment, releasing on Friday through Magic Eden for 4.2 BERA every ($34). With a way more direct position within the artistic imaginative and prescient, and a group round him keen to be versatile to his concepts, Mingo lastly feels snug to place his identify to the art work—beforehand wishing to stay within the shadows.
One of many upcoming NFTs set to drop on Magic Eden. Picture: Burrrs
“Truthfully, I’m excited to see the response we get,” he mentioned with a smile. “We’re gonna change and roll with nevertheless the folks prefer it. I am not gonna put something on it proper now. I wish to see how folks react.”
In some ways, that is how Pudgy Penguins was so successful. To his personal admission, Mingo didn’t suppose the unique NFT assortment was any good, particularly naming flaws that he hates to today.
Hello Im Burrrs and youre printing on Berachain pic.twitter.com/7RiOkFwlTc
— Burrrs (@Burrrsprint) February 18, 2025
Regardless of its imperfections, the preliminary response was huge—and following some bumps alongside the best way, Pudgy Penguins have develop into larger than ever whereas many different tasks from the NFT increase have light. Being a part of this was a studying expertise for the artist.
“Issues do not must be picture-perfect. You possibly can create a narrative and simply form of roll with the punches,” Mingo defined. “Pudgy is nearly like a chameleon that simply retains altering, it simply retains rolling. It is loopy, and I’m simply studying from it.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward
