Complete Guide to the Doodles Ecosystem

Everything you need to know about the Doodles ecosystem — Space Doodles, Dooplicator, Genesis Box, and Doodles2

7 min read

Who knew that cartoon characters could be worth so much money in 2023? The 10,000-strong generative NFT 'Doodles' collection remains one of the crypto world's most popular and beloved digital assets.

As an eclectic collection of live humans, cats, apes, skeletons, pickles, and other unique creatures, each colorful character features a pastel color palette and one-of-a-kind designs.

But hold your horses… Doodles' popularity is due to much more than design alone.

The collection's creators are some of the most well-known in the early Web3 space. Jordan Castro (known as Poopie) was a product lead on the infamous CryptoKitties project that became famous for congesting the entire Ethereum ecosystem in 2017 due to immense popularity.

There are plenty more reasons why Doodles NFTs and the entire ecosystem remain a favorite for many crypto users. Here's what makes the project stand out from the rest.

Intro to Doodles:

Many regard Doodles as one of the premier examples of how NFTs can be leveraged to cultivate a digital brand.

First minted on October 17th, 2021, Doodles NFTs feature a wide range of colors, sizes, and 265 unique pairs of traits. After a pre-sale, the original release of Doodles NFTs sold out within minutes at a 0.123 ETH floor price. The floor as of mid-February 2022 sits at just over 4.469 ETH (about $7,000).

Doodles stand apart in the NFT world due to the team's several unique moves after launch. It was one of the first to shut down the project Discord after membership hit about 1,000 people.

The move ignited a firestorm. Some argued that closed doors essentially gave whitelist access to a chosen few people. Others claimed the Doodles team was 'FOMO ramping' to drive up the price.

The Doodles team disagreed. Co-founder Evan Keast explained project creators were concerned about speculative NFT drops and wanted to try a different approach that would give confidence the overall roadmap would be completed.

The server re-opened after the entire Doodles supply sold out to secure an initial NFT treasury of 420 ETH.

Many saw the decision by the Doodles team as a prudent move to 'lock-in' a dedicated community.

Once the Discord re-opened, a flood of collectors and eager fans flowed in to get involved with the 'exclusive group' and helped propel Doodles NFTs as one of the crypto world's next potential blue-chip projects.

The project attracted headlines in May 2022 when former Billboard executive Julian Holguin joined the Doodles team to serve as CEO and help with an intellectual property expansion. Famous music artist Pharrell Williams joined a month later as Chief Brand Officer and set off to work on the "Doodles Records: Volume 1" music album.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has also engaged with Doodles. His 776 venture firm led a $54 million fundraising round that helped the entire ecosystem hit a $704 million valuation. Other influencers include DJ Steve Aoki and Pranksy.

All of the rapt attention towards the Doodles ecosystem is not by accident. Instead, it's part of a strategy by the inner circle to find a signature look and build a global community while on the pathway toward becoming a worldwide entertainment brand.

The whimsical NFT collection again surged in price in early February 2023 with the mint of Doodles 2, the next iteration of the popular NFT collection that allows for customization opportunities.

The floor price of the Dooplicator, which allows Doodles token holders to mint wearables for their Doodles avatars, had a 0.25 ETH floor price as of mid-February 2023.

Who Created Doodles?

The popular NFT collection is primarily the brainchild of Jordan Castro (Poopie), Evan Keast (Tulip), and Scott Martin (Burnt Toast).

Castor, a blockchain developer since 2013, met Keast while working on CryptoKitties at Dapper Labs. Keast is a well-known NFT consultant, having worked with NBA Top Shot, Flow, and Cheeze Wizards, along with popular ventures from Dapper Labs.

The duo started to hash out plans for an NFT project with a DAO in early 2021 to ensure the community would be in control of the endeavor.

But when Kearst met illustrator Scott Martin, he soon became enamored with the latter's work and invited him to work on what would become the Doodles NFT project. Martin brought past experience working with global companies like Dropbox, Facebook, and Google to the team and is well-known as a muralist, designer, and artist.

The trio partnered with WestCoastNFT to build the original Doodles collection in preparation for the Fall 2021 initial launch.

How Doodles Built Its Strong Community

The experienced co-founders behind the Doodles NFT project and their willingness to innovate helped cultivate an immensely popular following.

All three realized they needed to stand apart from the typical hype that plagued other NFT launches and focused on the creativity of Doodles NFTs to stand out in the market.

Community members who were around for the initial mint immediately realized the 0.123 ETH price was much higher than other initial launches, especially since Ether was expensive at the time. However, the move helped cultivate a strong community as crypto fans noticed the founders were willing to make Doodles a viable NFT brand and valued their creations.

Doodles team members also placed an immediate focus on community empowerment. The existence of the DoodleDAO treasury ensures users have one vote for every Doodle they hold.

Community members have been able to vote on team scaling, the details for live events, and funding for specialized projects.

A percentage of primary and secondary sales revenue flows into the DAO Treasury to ensure community members can vote on allocating funds to support the project's growth.

The cohesiveness of the Doodles community is also enhanced by the team's focus on getting ahead of potential scams and copycat projects. Instead of fighting an endless war against fraudsters, the Doodles team instead incentivized developers to submit proposals to create Doodles-inspired endeavors for members to vote on.

The fruit encouraged a strong and creative community that led to projects like Noodles and Pukenza.

Propelling Doodles Growth Through Innovation

Several of the most innovative offerings from the Doodles ecosystem helped push the projects to new heights.

Back after the original Doodles launch, the price of the NFTs largely hovered between 1-1.5 ETH. However, team members started to tease a new endeavor at the end of 2021 that led to some massive Doodles NFT sales.

The end result was Space Doodles.

Launched in February 2022, the collection featured playful characters in psychedelic space-centered scenes. As of February 2023, the average sale price of a Space Doodles NFT is just about $8,000. The launch attracted acclaim from some who believed their non-dilutive model was advantageous to help Doodles rebrand as needed without compromising the original NFT.

In June 2022, Doodles introduced its Genesis Box, which featured a collection of NFT wearables for the then-upcoming Doodles 2 NFT launch.

Out of the original total supply of 24,000 boxes, 4,000 Doodles holders picked up their digital boxes during NFT.NYC. Shopify users could buy Genesis Boxes for $123 with a 'minting machine.'

The other 20,000 boxes were auctioned off for a 0.508 ETH price per box. The Genesis Box helped attract attention for the Doodles 2 NFT launch and served as another example of the dynamic and innovative nature of the Doodles team.

Why Doodles Remain at the NFT Forefront

With an experienced team and willingness to focus on a community-first model, the Doodles NFT ecosystem remains one of the most popular digital asset collections in the crypto world.

NFT holders maintain the unique opportunity to shape the future prospects of the entire project through a democratic voting process, and holders can also monetize their assets through merchandising — adding to the allure of Doodles' massive potential as a global entertainment and artistic brand.