From: thepipeline_xyz
Bold Leonidas, a prominent content creator in the crypto space, has garnered significant attention over the past year for his daily comic strips. His journey highlights the importance of consistency, adaptability, and a unique creative process in maintaining audience engagement and fostering growth [01:49:10].
The Genesis of Daily Comics
Leonidas didn’t experience a singular “aha!” moment when he decided to start creating comics [02:40:05]. He began inconsistently, creating comics “as a got a moment, as a whatever” [03:12:35]. The very first comic he recalled was a drawing of “Did Da Koku” (Gabriel Leydon) who bought a Super Bowl ad, with the caption “A Non?” [03:22:34]. He later edited it to resemble Pepe, which he found funnier [04:00:23]. A few days later, a comic about a “Vitalic penis picture” (which was actually a rolled-up USB cable) resonated with him, making him feel like “this kind of feels good” [04:17:15].
His commitment to daily creation began on February 19th, after sporadically creating comics since August 2022 [04:47:04]. He decided to hit at least one comic every day, starting a 24-hour mental timer after each completion [05:10:48].
Creative Process and Anti-AI Stance
Leonidas emphasizes creating each comic from a blank slate, never pulling from previous work [05:33:04]. This deliberate choice, which he admits is “a bit stupid” in terms of time, stems from his identity as a traditional artist [05:36:11].
He views his art as the “antithesis of AI,” purposefully leaving in “mistakes and human errors” to prove it’s made by a person [06:27:08]. His goal is to produce timely jokes that AI cannot replicate [06:55:54]. Inspired by the “Funnies” section in old newspapers, he sought to bring life back to a “lifeless” Twitter feed [07:19:16]. This organic starting point allowed him to find his ground and run with it [07:44:31].
The Influence of Beeple and Incremental Improvement
Leonidas acknowledges Beeple as a massive inspiration for his daily creation model [12:35:46]. However, he differentiates his output by creating a minimum of one comic every 24 hours, often producing multiple [12:46:17]. Early on, he would “bang out like 10 a day for like a month” to “speedrun” the refinement process and improve faster [13:16:11]. He even aimed to overtake Beeple in the raw number of “everydays” [13:42:07].
He highlights that a creator’s first work is rarely their best [09:41:07]. Iterating and growing is crucial, and being comfortable with one’s early, less refined work is a “huge thing” for progress [10:07:07]. The quick flip in perception from “everyone else’s art is human” to “Bold is like doing this by hand” because AI is so easy, shows the value of human-made art that “will stand the test of time” [11:03:07].
Finding Inspiration and Overcoming Creative Block
Leonidas’s initial comics focused “almost entirely about the NFT ecosystem” [22:27:07]. He made a conscious decision to pivot to more general crypto and trading concepts when NFT interest declined [23:13:07]. He recognized the “infinite” ways to meme market movements (up, down, sideways) [24:28:39].
To combat writer’s block, he employs a “dumpster dig” strategy: scrolling through pre-existing memes and redrawing them in his unique style, giving him “ownership” over the re-formatted memes [29:21:44].
Creative Strategies:
- Topicality: He aims to pick the same topics as major events in crypto, often aligning with other prominent creators like Beeple [14:41:02].
- Visual Storytelling: He loves when topical jokes are inherently visual and can only work in a comic format, rather than just two characters talking [31:16:04].
- Variation: He actively avoids doing the same type of comic two times in a row or for too long, striving for creativity and inventiveness [31:47:04].
- Self-Competition: He creates with his “own audience” in mind, constantly trying to “improve your quality” and avoid becoming “wallpaper” [32:32:04].
The Journey of Becoming a Content Creator in the Crypto Space
His initial foray into crypto was accidental, buying Ethereum without fully understanding “onchain” concepts or gas fees when trying to list his traditional paintings as NFTs on OpenSea [18:26:07]. The Mike Tyson/Corey Vanish collection was an early draw into digital art [21:05:07].
His dedication is extreme: he once drew 150 memes in under a day for a Discord competition, staying up until 4-5 AM, which he considers a “baptism of fire” that honed his meme-making skills [26:01:07]. He has drawn comics in unusual places, including “sitting on a sink in a public bathroom” because an idea struck him [35:08:07]. He was even recognized while drawing outside the State Library in Melbourne, which he dodged by pretending to be a fan [35:55:07].
His deep connection to the crypto space, fueled by a private group of long-time participants who provide early insights, helps him stay “tapped in” [37:42:07]. This includes being an early supporter of Monad, appreciating its transparency and long-term building approach in contrast to many “anonymous” projects or quick “rugs” [38:25:07].
Advice for New Content Creators: Offer, Don’t Ask
For anyone looking to approach influencers or build in the space, Leonidas’s advice for new content creators is simple: “don’t ask them for something, offer them something” [51:12:07]. He recalls his own embarrassing early attempts to cold-call people and get them to follow him [50:11:07].
Final Alpha:
“If you’re offering nothing and if the thing that you’re offering like let’s be real… is like a whitelist for your crappy NFT project that’s not really offering anything that’s just trying to get promotion… don’t come at these people… with a sort of extractive mindset, come at it with a with an offering mindset and I think the results are better.” [51:21:07]
He illustrates this by noting that once he started offering something (his comics), people came to him [51:51:07]. This could be anything from writing threads or newsletters to hosting movie quizzes in Discord [52:11:07]. The key is to contribute value, which naturally attracts connections and collaborations [52:51:07].