Rafael Grassetti, commonly known as Raf Grassetti was born in Brazil in 1988. He presently resides in Los Angeles, where he works as an Art Director for Sony Santa Monica Studios on the God of War franchise, as well as his own art book, exhibition, and gallery work, and crypto art.
Raf is best known for his roles in Sony video games such as Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous 3, The Order 1886. Also most recently, his Art Direction in multiple characters of God of War has made him renowned.
He is one of the best-known digital sculptors in the world and contributed to more than twenty titles during his career, including some of the most successful franchises in the world, winning many awards over the years.
His work is both classical and tragicomic, inspiring awe and wonder in his audience.
Awards include best Art Director, best Digital Sculptor, and Video Game of the year awards. Grassetti launched his career as a traditional sculptor, but he then transitioned to virtual sculpting after discovering the power of immortalizing his subjects in digital stone.
You can find his portfolio on https://www.rgrassetti.com, and he has a YouTube channel for the past 15 years Raf Grassetti – YouTube, where he shares information about creating digital sculptures.
The most expensive NFT ever sold by him was “ [ ] All That Remains” on Sept 2nd for 51 Ethereum, approximately USD $200,000 at the time of auction.
Raf’s Life before he was well-known:
When asked in a personal interview with The Crypto Times what his career goal was as a child, Raf said he doesn’t remember wanting to do anything other than working with something related to art. He first got introduced to flash animation and building websites, which then led him to start using 3D to create things for websites. This then slowly transformed him into creating more complex things in 3D, exploring animation, visual effects, and even a time came when he was not able to leave the computer anymore.
He was always that kid who drew when his brothers were playing. Growing up he was always fascinated by art and thankfully had amazing support from family that helped him to cultivate what he is today.
Him being so down to earth even said that it was really tough in the 90s due to lower accessibility, especially when someone coming from outside the US.
Raf’s Professional Life:
Raf started working for advertising companies when he was 17 years old. He always addressed that as his school. He never had anything that was ready-made. It was his own eagerness to learn and constant tutorials and trying to reach out to people that could help him online. By 19 years old he was already leading big marketing campaigns and executing from animation to rendering.
He gives credit to every work that he came across in these years as a major reason for his growth. The most recent ones that he worked for were the biggest game franchises like “Mass Effect” and “God of War”. It was his dream come true both as an artist and a fan.
He calls his career more a natural progression from everything that he has been through in his professional life. His journey from an artist to an Art Supervisor to having ownership of the entire pipeline as a lead artist and then to a principal artist at Sony, and most recently working as an Art Director for the last 3 years for the God of War franchise was everything that helped him to grow. Raf said that he never planned any of it and everything happened as he got more involved in the industry.
Raf has done cinematic production, game art, TV projects, printed advertisement, statue collection design, and toy design for over 70 projects and 15 different companies.
He worked as a Freelancer Character Artist for Cinematics with Axis entertainment and Plastic wax for games like “Spider-Man: Edge of Times” and “Saints Row 2.”
Raf also worked as a freelancer for various projects like Ubisoft, Marvel Entertainment.
He majorly worked at Hasbro for more than 8 years as a digital sculptor. He worked for many famous projects like Star Wars, Marvel Series, Transformers, and GI Joe.
Currently, he is working at Santa Monica Studios as an Art Director. He has been working here for the past 8 years. One of his major creations at this lab is God of War (2018). It won the “Game Developers Choice Awards” in 2019 along with the “British Academy Games Awards” and many more. It was also nominated and awarded as “Game of the Year.”
He has also created art of various famous characters such as Batman, Joker, Green Ranger, Wolverine, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Symbiote, etc.
The turning point of his life:
He was the senior character artist for the famous Mass Effect 3 for Bioware.
Bioware’s “Mass Effect 3” was the first project that kicked his career to another level and is also where he stands today. In one of his podcasts when he was asked how he got into Bioware, he answered that initially, he was working for a sci-fi character that Bioware was engaged in at that time and when Bioware saw that, they offered him to work for them. He also suggested that to work in famous studios like Ubisoft and Sony one first must build a good connection with their employees not just to get into the company but also to do something better for the industry. He further added that the art he makes sometimes is for his own fun and hobby.
After Bioware the project that kicked his career to another level was God of War in 2018. GOW gave him a new identity and the success of the game made him famous as he created the main character Kratos. Since then he has been working as an Art Director for Sony Santa Monica Studios. Currently he’s working on God of war Ragnarok which is a sequel to the original game series.
Raf Grassetti’s NFT Journey:
Entrance into NFT:
He began his career as a traditional sculptor, but after discovering the power of immortalizing his subjects in digital stone, he transitioned to virtual sculpting. He made his debut in the crypto industry a few years back and launched a few successful collections, including a recent drop with Christie’s.
Raf Grassetti’s very first NFT was a Beeple bust. He said that he has known Mike (Beeple) since before NFT existed, and watching him break into the industry motivated him to do the same. He didn’t get it at first but it “clicked” after a few of his friends like Bilellis entered the sector.
When asked in an interview with Cryptotimes what dragged him into NFTs he said that he had some crypto from a couple of years back as an investment. But when he understood Ethereum and Smart Contracts everything clicked and he saw the potential of the blockchain and NFTs and that’s when all his perceptions changed.
The idea behind Raf’s NFTs is to communicate with the audience through his art. He has been in the Art industry for more than 15 years now and has plenty of creations. Raf has huge respect for the people who are in this industry and trying to master it. He says that his arts allow a deeper connection with the people who appreciate the craft.
Raf’s NFTs are unique because he thinks all from people’s point of view and the message that it gives to people. Initially, he did a whole lot of experiments but now he has reached to a point that he doesn’t need to do a lot of experimentation to figure out if things are going to work or not.
Raf Grassetti’s favorite NFT artists are Pak, Beeple, Xcopy, ThankYouX, Fewocious, Billelis, NessGraphics, Fvckrender, and other like-minded artists.
Raf grassetti’s NFT collections:
1) The Crypto History Collection:
This collection is Raf Grassetti’s first set of NFT collections that explored the crypto world. It is a collection of 8 NFTs.
The collection consists of digital Sculptures NFTs of famous personalities in the crypto world.
The list of 8 NFTs is below:
- Beeple ($69 million sales at Christie’s) owned by @mondo (Amir)
- Elon Musk (Father of Dogecoin) owned by @mondo (Amir)
- Vitalik Buterin (The creator of Ethereum) owned by @mondo (Amir)
- Presumed Satoshi Nakamoto (Inventor of Bitcoin) owned by @mondo (Amir)
- Victor Langlois (FEWOCiOUS) owned by @mondo (Amir)
- Mark Cuban (Owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks) owned by @mondo (Amir)
- Charles Hoskinson (Co-founder of Cardano) owned by @3fmusic (Farzin)
- Snoop Dogg (American Rapper) owned by @pharaoh (k1ng).
2) The Ali Collection:
“Ali inspired me in my personal and professional life as he did to most of us. It’s an honor and privilege to use my craft and work with new technologies to celebrate his life and create this collection to help us remember the greatest of all time.”— Raf Grassetti stated.
This collection has got 4 major parts:
A) “Wings”
“Wings” was inspired by this famous quote by the legend himself that “The man who has no imagination has no wings.”
Raf Grassetti created this hyper-detailed edition of one as a tribute to Muhammad Ali the heavyweight champion, activist, philanthropist, and global messenger of peace.
The NFT is available in one single edition of a physical pair of boxing gloves signed by the legend himself.
B) “G.O.A.T”
“G.O.A.T” which literally means greatest of all times, shows all the phases of Muhammad Ali’s life.
From being young Cassius Clay to the gold-medal winner, and becoming the World’s Heavyweight Champion and a global humanitarian it depicts all in one.
The conviction, commitment, giving, respect, and spirituality that made him the greatest sports hero of all time—a mythical character known and adored throughout the world—are highlighted in this limited edition.
C) “Sting”
“Sting” shows that Muhammad Ali changed a lot more than the square between the ropes with his boxing gloves. He had an impact on the entire world. Both children and adults are inspired by his legacy to strive for personal growth, integrity, and respect for others.
D) “Float”
“Float” signifies Ali’s quickness, unrivaled footwork, and ability to take a punch were his in-ring talents. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see,” Raf said.
He brought grace and creativity to heavyweight boxing, forever changing the sport and cementing Ali’s status as the greatest boxer of all time.
The ali collection was released on ethernity.io, you can check the original drop by following this link. Wings, G.O.A.T, Sting, Float.
3) Lady Justice at Christie’s:
The sword represents authority and respect in this painting. Although it sits on the accused’s neck, it acts as a sense of clear judgment rather than punishment: elevating the accused’s head offers a fresh way. Our systems’ historical practices of corruption are reflected in the books and snakes.
The dazzling golden eyes display an uncanny capacity to see everything clearly. As her wings give care and protection over this new generation, the youth in her arms and her request for aid signifies a new belief in the system. The most malleable metal, gold, contrast with the stone substance.
It spreads to all it comes into contact with, signifying the gradual birth of an ideal future.
This was his first piece which was auctioned on Christie’s. The NFT was sold at USD $137,500 on Christie’s.
4) The Meme Kingdom:
This set of NFT expresses human behavior through animal emojis. It is like finding human nature in animals.
This collection is an attempt to make people think about how the internet culture evolved over the years and the emoji representation.
This collection of NFT was sold at “dontbuymeme” for 17.777 MEME.
This was also the very first NFT farm project ever launched.
If someone had a bird NFT along with any other NFT on 25th May 2021, he/she was rewarded with a Pepe whose current value is about 1.33 ETH.
5) Niftygateway Drops
“Generations”
Depression, anxiety, fear of missing out, and body image have all been linked to the use of technology. By creating a sense of community and providing a platform for self-expression and self-identity, social media, on the other hand, can enhance positive feelings of well-being.
The goal of this collection is to put the positive and negative aspects of technology’s impact into perspective, as well as to present a new perspective on the Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul concept. It also shows what we must preserve in order to help future generations be happy with who they are and live a fruitful life.
Generations were released on 1st June 2021.
This collection consists of Heart, Body, Mind, and Soul.
The sculptures represents the titles, as you can see heart is a sculpture of a child, Raf’s trying to show that a heart should be like a child, innocent, pure and true to your nature.
The body represents a young person, beautiful, Brave and confident. The soul is like a butterfly, free to it’s nature and unbounded. The mind represents an old caring person, explains one to be wiser, loving and caring.
check the entire drop here. “Generations“
“Fragments”
Most human social contact is built on the perception of the human face and body; a single glance at a person’s face and expression can disclose a plethora of information about them, including their identity and emotional state.
‘Fragments’ was created to deconstruct such expressions and focus on how people perceive faces, bodies, and the stories they tell. His sculptures are showcased in their simplest form thanks to the rough brush strokes and fluidity.
The flow was a rare edition having Ranked auction of 10 editions, with an average bid of $30,000, while Future was gifted to the collectors of The entire “generations” drop. The rest are Limited editions of 30 pieces given by a lucky draw system.
There is a total of 7 NFT pieces in fragments namely Broken, Time, Pressure, Individuality, Spectrum, Future, and Flow.
check the entire drop here. “Fragments“
6) SuperRare Single editions
Generations:
“Old and new make the warp and
woof of every moment. There is no
thread that is not a twist of these two
strands.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
At the time when ‘Generations’ was released on Nifty Gateway, This limited edition of 1 was auctioned on super rare. this NFT has a “Cube” by the Legendary artist Murat Pak.
It was bought by @lot555 at 15.556 ETH on April 23rd, 2021. you can check ‘Generations’ here.
FEARLESS:
Equality- “Be so strong that you can
be gentle” Inspired by Hercules and
his depiction throughout history
Raf released this alongside “Lady justice” It was bought by @silverpoet for 8 ETH on May 22nd, 2021. You can check ‘FEARLESS’ here.
Fragments #00 – Beauty:
Face perception is the foundation for much of human social interaction. A single glance at a person’s face can reveal a lot of information about them, including their identity, emotional state, and attention direction.
“Fragments” is an attempt to break down the elements and push the viewer’s perceptions. The rough brush strokes and flow symbolize the elements that I want to express in their purest form, in the hopes that we can both experience the same thing when gazing at the art; each stroke has meaning.
Like ‘Generations’, even ‘Fragments’ was released at Nifty Gateway. On SuperRare the 1/1 edition was released. It was bought by @nottodaynonono at 22 ETH on 3rd August 2021. you can check ‘Fragments #00 – Beauty’ here.
Core:
This art says listen to your heart and connect with the quiet. There is no transaction record available for this particular piece. But we are assuming that it must have been gifted by Raf to @888thevault. you can check ‘Core’ here.
[ ] All that remains:
“What we refer to as the beginning is frequently the finish.” Making a start is the same as making an end. We begin at the end and work our way to the beginning. This is the message given through this NFT.
It is a 1/1 edition and is owned by Hardik. He bought it on 2nd September 2021 at 51 ETH. This was the most expensive sold NFT by raf. you can check ‘[ ] All that remains’ here.
Remains of the future past:
This NFT gives the message that “we’re going to transform everyone, and they’re going to remember everything.”
In this NFT Raf has tried to create a dystopian future of remains of our civilization that was once ruled by machines. This NFT represents a future after Human extinction where Computers and robots are trying to remember humans and continue our human culture.
This is also a single edition NFT and owned by Hardik. He bought it at 30.26 ETH on September 14th, 2021. you can check ‘Remains of the future past’ here.
7) Fragments: Dreams of Color on Sotheby’s.
This was the first NFT by raf that was auctioned on Sotheby’s auction house, it was sold for 107,100 USD.
Dreams of color is part of Raf’s Frangments Collection. Raf announced that the owner of this NFT will receive additional 5 NFTs representing the different stages of dreams.
you can check ‘Fragments: Dreams of Color’.
Raf Grassetti’s overall view on NFT:
The idea behind his work evolves and he wants to create and inspire more people. He says that he has a master plan about where he wants his artworks to reach. His very own favorite work is the last piece that he has created and keeps on changing every time he creates a new one. He hopes this cycle will never end.
He said NFTs, even being so new, has already changed the industry in many ways. Even big art houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s are changing their traditions by allowing them. He mentioned that earlier this year he had the honor to be a part of both these.
According to him NFTs and games have so much potential in themselves. He says that the day is not far when more people will have exposure to the technology and understand what can be done. It’s just a couple of years away from massive adaption. He said that personally he is not working on anything currently related to games but his friends are and he can’t wait to be a part of it.
His suggestion to new artists in Graphics industry:
He asked to take one step at a time. He suggested taking time and learning fundamentals and practicing them on a regular basis.
Raf said it’s very easy to get overloaded with information. Everything will go smoothly once one will have art knowledge and start getting exposure to all the amazing tools that are available.
The most important thing that he suggested was to have fun and create what one loves to create.
Conclusion:
He has a strong belief that the ones who stand out from the crowd are the ones who are the most hard-working ones. The mantra to be well known for one’s art is to always do best especially when someone is not from the US.
Raf has a wide vision of his future. He always thrives to be the best in the industry. He aims to join the gap between digital and traditional artwork.
