Date: May 9, 2023
By: @TWX MonkeDAO
Welcome back to design updates! The team was delayed a few months, mainly due to the multiple discussion and voting phases required to approve the project details by the MonkeDAO community, but all is now confirmed and we’re back to business. We’ve overseen some pretty significant changes to the project since the last update in late February, some that are more widely known, and some that are just being announced today.
First of all, the biggest change for the team is that the legendary Solana Monkey Business collection is now under new ownership - MonkeDAO! As someone who was on the MonkeDAO board for the large majority of its existence, this has been the essential piece of the puzzle that our organisation has been missing. Now that MonkeDAO finally owns the rights to the collection that our organisation is based on, we not only have a strengthened connection to our Web3 personas, but we’re able build upon the existing IP for the benefit of MonkeDAO and those who work on its behalf.
This has some massive implications for our project. We’re retiring the name ‘OMC’ or ‘Official MonkeDAO Collection’, and are now releasing this collection as a third generation or ‘Gen3’ under the greater SMB Brand (which by the way, is in the early stages of a rebrand with a partner agency). As the new official SMB collection, we can also further align this project with its predecessor in terms of creative direction, which is something we were careful to avoid previously. Expect to see both collections as part of a shared lore universe, and more harmonious visual styling between the Monkes in both collections!
As teased in a tweet a few weeks ago, we’re very lucky to welcome fellow monke Zen0, who joins our team as Art Advisor! Zen0 is one of the true OGs in the Solana art space and I’ve always admired his unique and distinctive visual style. He’s also a fellow UX Designer, so I know he can communicate concepts and solutions effectively, and his specialisation is pixel art. These were the qualities that led to him being at the top of my list when we were considering further additions to the SMB team.
We’ve been working on a number of different areas in the past few weeks, from improving the variety and styling of the backgrounds, to discussing how to achieve some of the more difficult layer effects with special traits. But most importantly, we’ve been finalising elements of the base monke body.
Monke v4 is the final version of our base Monke body. We made some pretty significant changes with the reveal of v3, and v4 is a continuation of our goal of refining ‘good’ into ‘great’. We’re aiming to achieve a balance between a clean and versatile aesthetic that the 150-200 collection traits look great on top of, while ensuring the trait-less Monkes are detailed and charismatic enough to stand entirely on their own.
The new Monke contains common-sense improvements that we’ve identified internally, along with some various improvements suggested by MonkeDAO and the wider Solana community.
Zen0 even created a whole independent report on the body, which was particularly helpful because it provided a fresh perspective on what was working and what needed to be improved.
Facial features
Some minor adjustments have been made to the Monke’s facial features. The nose has been lightened so that it still provides detail, but is less prominent overall. The detail in the ears has also been reduced slightly, which has in turn simplified the shape of the ear and the overall Monke colour palette.
“The inclusion of nostrils provides another element of personality alongside an appropriate level of detail for this particular canvas size.” - TWX.
Colours
The colour palette has been further refined from v3, which has resulted in even cleaner and more vibrant base Monkes. Of particular focus was ensuring that the skin was warmer in saturation and hue, the eye palette is more contrasting, and the outlines are less harsh.