Hugamonsters are growing

I’ve been circling around the idea of creating a generative Hugamonster collection since last February. Every time someone asked me if I was thinking about doing one, though, I’d laugh and say no. NO WAY.

(Sometimes I’d half entertain the idea but shut it down when I got overwhelmed by all the details that needed to be sorted out.)

But yes. I was thinking about it. Have been thinking about it.

I’d daydream about what a large Hugamonster collection would look like. Would it be a limited collection of 1/1s? A huge generative project? Something in between? Would it be illustrated or handmade? How would I create a collection like this that was meaningful and further expanded the Hugamonsters’s world? What value would this collection bring to the people who supported what I was creating?

And then I’d carry on making art journals and found poetry and writing and mixed media art and drawing and playing with all the zillions of other ideas that bounced into my brain. I did my best to pretend this BIG WORK — the work I was put on this planet to do — didn’t exist.

I didn’t want to do a Hugamonster collection just for the sake of doing one – anyone can make a large generative project with the right amount of effort and support. And besides, there were smaller, easier things I could do to build their universe – making amigurumi; building a Hugamonster land in the metaverse; creating Hugamonster metaverse wearables; writing comics/books…all of these things seemed so much more reasonable than doing a generative project and building a community based on that.

It took a BIG nudge (coincidentally on the Hugamonsters’s first blockchain birthday) to move me from “no way, not taking on this project” to “ok, maybe I’ll try.” Sometimes it’s only a matter of someone asking you the right question to change your perspective. In my case the question was: Are you scared?

I didn’t answer that question truthfully in the moment because I didn’t know I was scared. I had lots of reasonable explanations why I couldn’t take this project on. That question stuck with me, though, echoing through my brain the rest of the night and creeping into conversations when I started talking about maybe trying.

Of course I’m scared, I’m fucking terrified!

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of the things I’m afraid of:

• If I’m going to do this project I’ll need to set aside everything else I’m working on and just do this one thing. This may upset people.
• I have a lot of interests. Focusing on one thing to the exclusion of all others is scary.
• I can barely keep up with life/work/NFTs as things are. What makes me think I can do a big project like this? (THIS is the one that keeps me up at night.)
• just another cash grab criticism.
• I don’t know everything I need to know.
• I’m not a coder.
• I hate Discord. How am I ever going to grow a community on this level without Discord when this is an expectation/standard feature for generative projects?
• I’ll get bored/frustrated/overwhelmed and give up. This would be embarrassing.
• I’ll need to find and hire help. I don’t know how to do this.
• I’m afraid I’ll irreparably fuck things up along the way.
• I’m afraid I’ll fail.
• I’m afraid other people will go out of their way to help and support me and I’ll let them down if I don’t succeed.
• I’m afraid I’ll succeed and not be able to figure out how to move forward.

I’m sure there are other things that terrify me but you get the idea. It’s scary.

Maybe when you embark on an adventure on this scale you should be a little bit scared because it means you care about the outcome…as long as you don’t stay stuck in fear and do the damn thing anyway.

I’ve decided to share my process, start to finish, as I go. I’m literally starting at zero with a project on this scale but I’m confident in my vision for how I’d like Hugamonsters to grow. It’s just a matter of doing the work and learning what I need to learn to keep moving forward.

By sharing my process I hope to:

• Demonstrate my commitment to openness and transparency, in contrast with many other projects on this scale in the NFT space;
• Share Hugamonster values which are the cornerstone of this project;
• Educate;
• Create opportunities to connect with people who are interested in this project either as a community member or a team member.

Hugamonsters are what I was put on this planet to do from the moment the first one magically appeared on my crochet hook in 2017. They’ve spread so much joy in the universe over the past five years and they’re finally ready to grow.

I’m beyond excited to see what the Hugamonsters would like to teach me.