Hey, I'm Walker or WD 👋
I have been an artist ever since I could hold a pencil, but didn't believe it until web3...
Web2 ME:
I grew up as an adventurous Montana nature boy and thanks to my parents everywhere I went, my sketchbook came with. From remote rafting trips in Alaska to trekking in Patagonia, my art has always been inspired by the wild places I go. In tandem with my adventures, I went to university in my hometown of Bozeman, Montana to study graphic design and work seasonally as a guide on the mountain or the river.
My second year of university I lost a close friend in a car accident who always told me stories about Costa Rica and its epic surf. After he passed, I was inspired to go study abroad there and teach myself how to surf. This set me on a path of surf-travel for the next decade. I was committed to discovering new places all over the world from Central America to SE Asia and beyond. I lived frugally and explored and surfed LOTS, all while continuing to fill my sketchbooks and freelance design on the side.
I met my partner while living in Panama and we continued to travel until we landed in the Gold Coast, Australia for a few years. When we moved back stateside to Seattle I got my first 'real' job as lead designer for a snack company; SkinnyDipped. This opportunity pushed me to grow as a graphic designer, move quickly and better understand how a growing start up operates. I'm grateful that this chapter helped give me the confidence to bet on myself as an artist.
Web3 ME:
I had bought some BTC during the last bull run of 2017 and completely forgot about it. I jumped back in late 2020 when I caught wind of headlines talking about new ATH. NFTs immediately sparked my interest as creative and digital collectables made so much sense to me, and I was hungry to learn more.
I continued learning about NFTs but stayed on the sidelines as ETH NFTs popped off spring/summer 2021. I was disheartened to learn that a single ETH transaction took an insane amount of energy and I couldn't validate a legit enough reason to use a platform that had such a negative impact on the environment. When I learned about Solana as a carbon neutral chain for creating, flipping and minting NFTs, it felt like the right fit.
I started to find my groove in the NFT space after revamping my priorities. Inspired by a mentor of mine, I chose to stop chasing vanity metrics and pivot away from flash tattoo designs (that I was custom creating for my audience of 450K on TikTok) and finally plant a flag as a professional Web3 artist.
Even the words "I'm a professional artist" caught me off guard when I first said them out loud. I never had the confidence to truly believe in myself until the Web3 space gave me a platform and community where I could really show up for the first time, and connect with artists that inspire me. As soon as I switched gears to spend minimum 10hrs on a piece it all started to line up and I'm now making the best art I have ever made. All of my art has built in giveback with 10% of all mint proceeds donated to earth conservation. Check out my work below!