The pace of new drops never slowed down though and has continued into April. And we’ve got some really big, high-quality projects dropping in the coming weeks.

Investing in NFTs is always risky but you can increase your odds of picking good projects by doing your own research and following this framework. That’s also what I’ve used to evaluate the projects below.

Supreme Skulls

Supreme Skulls is a collection of 6,666 high-quality walking 3D characters, a theme that’s become a bit of a trend after the highly successful launch of Invisible Friends.

The skull theme is new in this type of artwork but has always been a popular one in the NFT space (CryptoSkulls, CryptoMories, Tasty Bones, Los Muertos, SkullToons, etc.). It’s getting a lot of love from the community here as well!

The cool artwork comes with short-term plans for merchandise, a new drop of free NFT characters for holders, and exclusive access to other project launches and networking with top figures in the space.

Supreme Skulls’ longer-term plan is to partner with main fashion brands and make it easy for them to enter the metaverse with high-quality animated 3D characters. While the details of this aren’t yet clear, it seems like something that could set the project apart and make it a really interesting one to follow.

Three team members are ID’ed with their names, photos, and past work on Discord. This includes Justin Fleetwood, the artist behind the project, and his co-founders Jackson Rittman and Mark Escano.

Up to 3,333 people will be allowed to mint 2 NFTs in the pre-sale, which goes live on April 14, at 1 pm UTC. This unfortunately means that there most likely won’t be a lot left for the rest of us. I expect them to sell out fast, especially considering the very fair mint price of 0.079 ETH (~$250).

• When? April 14, 7 pm UTC
• How many? 6,666
• How much? 0.079 ETH
• Discord: 34,000 members
• Twitter: 125,000 followers

Moonbirds

Moonbirds is the second big NFT drop by Kevin Rose, an experienced startup founder, VC investor, content producer, and NFT collector. He’s previously launched the PROOF Collective, a private group of 1000 dedicated NFT collectors and artists. One of these membership passes will currently set you back 82 ETH (~$260,000).

The high price point of these NFTs is one of the reasons why Kevin and the team have decided to create Moonbirds. Another is the desire to create a profile picture collection for community members to use on social media.

Each Moonbird functions as your key to the private PROOF Discord where you’ll also get exclusive access to Moonbird-related drops, IRL events, and upcoming PROOF projects. The latter includes Project Highrise, PROOF’s own metaverse initiative.

You’ll even get additional benefits the longer you hold, or “nest”, your bird. As total nested time accumulates, you’ll see your Moonbird achieve new tier levels and upgrade its nest.

Oh, and the artwork is pretty cool as well! Moonbirds is a collection of 10,000 pixel art owls with all kinds of cool and unique traits. I know the team has put a lot of effort into these, so the project isn’t just about utility and the brand.

In addition to Kevin Rose, the PROOF Collective/Moonbirds team consists of Ryan Carson, founder of Treehouse, and Justin Mezzell, an experienced artist, illustrator, and product designer. And they’re continuously expanding the team with the best talent and perfect fits for what they’re building.

With a mint price of 2.5 ETH (~$8,000), this drop certainly isn’t for everyone. In order to mint a Moonbird, you’ll even need to win an allowlist spot through a raffle. This has already closed by the time you read this. I expect Moonbirds to be one of the leaders in the space and a project to follow for years to come.

• When? April 16, 4 pm UTC
• How many? 10,000
• How much? 2.5 ETH
• Discord: Closed (PROOF Collective)
• Twitter: 120,000 followers

VeeFriends Series 2

From one tech guru to the next, Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the leading entrepreneurs, marketers, and early-stage investors. He’s also one of the most outspoken and well-known personalities with a massive following on all the major social media networks.

And just like Kevin Rose, Gary’s first NFT collection, VeeFriends, is without a doubt one of the most successful in the space. The cheapest costs around 15 ETH at the time of this writing, or almost $50,000. And now, he’s launching VeeFriends Series 2.

Series 2 consists of 251 characters, including 236 from Series 1. The Series 1 artwork, hand-drawn by Gary Vee himself, is known for being rather “low quality” — and for teaching people that art doesn’t matter when an NFT provides enough utility and brand value.

Series 2 is different. The art is done by an experienced digital artist who’s transformed Gary’s drawings into high-quality artwork. And while Series 1 comes with a ton of concrete utility, including access to the annual VeeCon conference, Series 2 should be seen more as a collectible and IP ownership.

Series 1 holders will get a free Series 2 NFT while collectors on the Friends List will have a guaranteed mint. These will be able to mint from April 12th. Around 10,000 Series 2 NFTs will be left for the public sale on April 25th with a mint price of $995 in ETH (around 0.3 ETH at current prices).

• When? April 25
• How many? 55,555
• How much? $995 (in ETH)
• Discord: 341,000 members
• Twitter: 220,000 followers

If you want to find drops like these early, check out this guide I wrote👇

How To Find the Best Upcoming NFT Launches Early

SixthRéseau

SixthRéseau is a Web3 fashion company, aiming to pioneer the industry with an innovative hybrid business model. Every season, the company will launch a new clothing line along with a corresponding NFT collection. To buy one of their physical items, you first need to own one of their NFTs.

Season One is a collection of 7,777 3D mannequin-style avatars with futuristic and fashionable clothing and accessories. The sneak peeks we’ve seen so far are highly detailed and very high quality. You can also check out the Genesis collection to get a sense of what to expect.

Most of the team is ID’ed with photos, bios, and social links. The founders come from backgrounds in fashion, design and animation, as well as the NFT space specifically. This is essential for a company like this and I doubt it would have gotten the attention it has if it weren’t for the founders.

SixthRéseau has built up a massive Twitter following of 156,000 and a Discord server with more than 43,000 members. The engagement is rather high as well. If we can trust the numbers, the demand is definitely there.

Whitelisted buyers will be able to buy a SithRéseau NFT for 0.2 ETH. There will be at least 2,777 NFTs left for the public sale, which will be run as a Dutch auction. The starting price will be 0.6 ETH and drop incrementally to 0.25 if it doesn’t sell out before then.

I like the team’s ambitions and that they’re clearly building a company and a brand, not just a “project”. However, it isn’t clear to me exactly what a Season One NFT will get me and for how long it will provide value. Because of this, I won’t participate in the mint but instead follow the project from the sideline.

• When? Late April
• How many? 7,777
• How much? 0.6 to 0.25 ETH (Dutch Auction)
• Discord: 43,000 members
• Twitter: 156,000 followers

Anime Metaverse

Anime Metaverse is a collection of 5,000 female 3D anime avatars. The anime theme has been extremely popular lately and Anime Metaverse seems to be benefiting from that as well with its more than 151,000 Twitter followers.

There’s also a strong team behind the project with varied backgrounds in crypto, entrepreneurship, VC investing, design, film production, retail, and software development.

That being said, it’s really not clear what they will actually do with Anime Metaverse. The project name and a few phrases on their website suggest that it’s about much more than an avatar collection though:

“Our goal is to build the largest decentralized brand – owned by the community, built by the community.”

“Building the Anime Metaverse to launch IRL anime companies to our community.”

The team may have explained their intentions on an AMA that I missed. I hope they have. But I don’t have enough information to recommend or invest in Anime Metaverse as anything other than an anime art collection.

In fact, this feels to me like a project that’s at least a few weeks away from launch. I’ve only included it here because of its massive audience and because its Twitter bio still says to expect a launch in April. I recommend at least keeping it on your radar and staying tuned for further details to come.

• When? April
• How many? 5,000
• How much? 0.25 ETH
• Discord: 28,000 members
• Twitter: 151,000 followers

Project summaries

Supreme Skulls is one of the most promising animated 3D projects right now. With a fair price of 0.079 ETH, a solid team, a large community, and some interesting roadmap items, I expect the 6,666 NFTs to mint out with ease.

Speaking of minting out with ease, Moonbirds will have no problems either. And that’s despite the 2.5 ETH mint price. It’s become one of the most hyped projects ever in just a matter of days and could easily stand the test of time.

Speaking of standing the test of time, Gary Vee’s VeeFriends collection has done so well that most people are priced out. Series 2 gives a much lower price point for new entrants, but also comes without the utility of Series 1.

Speaking of utility, the case for SixthRéseau is pretty clear: Buy one of their NFTs to get their exclusive seasonal clothing lines. That being said, what’s not clear is whether an NFT from their upcoming drop will give you access to more than one season and one piece of clothing.

And lastly, speaking of things not being clear, Anime Metaverse needs to provide some more details about their upcoming drop. The 3D anime avatars and 151k Twitter followers look promising, but we don’t know much beyond that. They still promise to launch in April though, so keep them on your radar.