“The Presidents” collection, featuring 20,000 portraits of 50 influential leaders in world history, has been almost completely minted by crypto enthusiasts. Only around 1,000 NFTs are left, and the project is approaching its final stage. This month, the community also introduced its new play-to-earn game, dubbed The War of Morale. Alena Fares, the artist behind the project, told us more about the next steps.
Could you tell us more about the collection?
“The Presidents” collection includes state leaders, as well as heavy hitters from cryptocurrency and blockchain-enabled organizations, such as Binance, Ethereum, and TRON. Each NFT from the collection can be minted for 0.3 Binance Coin (BNB), and is one-of-a-kind on any existing blockchain.
All portraits are generated by applying AI algorithms that enrich baseline images, initially created by the artists, with “traits” or special features, such as zombie eyes, bandanas, and leather jackets.
There are eight categories to choose from: World, World Legends, USA, USA Legends, Soviet, Crypto, Secrets, and an individual avatar of Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of the protocol used in blockchains. Once all 20,000 Presidents are minted, the project will reveal the identities of the two secret avatars.
What’s gonna happen as soon as all NFTs are minted?
Collectors who mint Presidents will be placed into cashback pools of 3% (cashback of up to 180 BNB) for 50 Presidents and 7% (cashback of up to 420 BNB) for 150 Presidents. This means that the project gives users 600 BNB in return as a loyalty bonus.
Once all 20,000 Presidents are minted, the online ecosystem will kickstart. Users will be able to bet their Presidents, compete with other collectors, and acquire the platform’s governance token. The more Presidents a user has, the more power they stand to gain in the emerging “Presidents” ecosystem. With the governance token, users can vote and influence decisions on upgrades, partnerships, and more.
Why does “The Presidents community want people to own and play with global leaders?
This is an opportunity to become a part of something vast and ambitious. Every country has a leader, president, or king. This collection features the most famous ones. People have always been attracted to authority figures. Why not let them approach power through NFTs? Presidents have control over their countries, their borders, and to some degree, their citizens. Thanks to our project, people can control their leaders, even if it’s just in a game.
What kinds of games?
We’re planning to release several different ones, but the first game we’re launching is called The War of Morale. It’s set to launch as soon as the mint is over. It’s based on the play-to-earn model, so users will be able to monetize their time just by participating. As a reward, they’ll receive the game’s governance token, which allows them to vote and make decisions on the future of “The Presidents” ecosystem.
To take part in the game, users create teams of “allies,” each headed by at least three NFT Presidents, because we want to inspire the spirit of collaboration. Two users can play together if they have similar Morale levels, which range from 100 to Unlimited. Players win battles by draining their opponents’ Morale and making sure their own Presidents’ Morale stats stay up.
What’s the end goal of this project?
We want to create a community where the owners of “The Presidents” or their NFT avatars can make their own decisions, vote, and collaborate. So, yes, we’re creating our own Metaverse, just like many other communities who don’t want to be dominated by any tech company or social network.
What inspires you as an artist?
People. The greatest inspiration comes from people. Their personalities, their life stories, their creativity, how they look and show up in the world. “The Presidents” project helped me learn more about the leaders in the collection, about their biographies. I love to draw people of different nationalities—explore and study facial features, appearances, and archetypes. And, just like any artist, I study other artists’ work, listen to eclectic music, and travel a lot to expand my vision of the world.
Could you describe your style?
I use a combination of chaotic lines that look like they’ve been randomly drawn. My portfolio mostly consists of black and white work. I also paint in color, experimenting and mixing bright colors. My pictures look unusual, full of contrasts, and they tend to attract attention. Over the last few years I’ve been working with digital art, which lets me refine my signature style and improve my technique.
I specialize in portraits, painting musicians, actors, rappers, creative people and just people who look out of the ordinary. My work features rappers—Lil Jon, BIA, and Raf Camora—and actors like Manny Montan. I focus on famous personalities and, right now, creating portraits in a style that makes each image reflect the model’s character and mood. I want my artwork to make my models look unique and exquisite.
For “The Presidents” project you had to collaborate with AI. What was it like?
I created 50 main portraits of state leaders and crypto pioneers. AI helped us make the project the biggest collection of the global leaders in the world, 20,000 avatars. AI algorithms enriched my images with “traits” or special features, such as zombie eyes, bandanas, and leather jackets.
Seeing my work transformed by AI was fun. I think, as artists, we should experiment with technology, and I’d certainly do this again. Also, participating in “The Presidents” project let me showcase my work to a much wider audience. I’m glad we had such a great team, powered by AI, and I hope this project will help lift people’s spirits and lighten the mood a little.
