You've seen him, tried to avoid him.. The wildly rambling and gesticulating man on the streets. Reeking of sweat and cigarettes. Rambling at anyone who happens to cross his path. Many of them are homeless and have mental health issues. Almost all are men. Some of them get help, but a lot of them refuse help. Recently their numbers have been growing fast, and a lot of the new ones are very young.

This NFT collection is inspired by these characters. Not hip hippos, lethargic apes, chill cats, or dank donkeys. Ramblingmen are not cool or flippant, as you would expect from an NFT character. Ramblingmen are demoralised, depressed, lost, desperate, confused. Some have given up. Some are very very angry.

Each release focuses on one Rambling man in his environment, and his/her rambling message to you. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it's poetic, most of the times it's a bit crazy.

All the characters are inspired by reality in the Netherlands. Which should explain why most of the characters are white men and have silly names like Wouter and Floris.

The environments are inspired by typical neighbourhoods in Dutch cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Haarlem, Utrecht, Arnhem, etc, etc..

WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?

I added some women to this collection, but in reality not many women become Rambling women. I read somewhere that even though women do get the same mental issues, it is usually less severe and women are much less disruptive and aggressive. Not only do women get more help (especially if there are children involved) women also accept help much sooner than men do.

HOBO SYMBOLS

Since the Great Depression, hobos have drawn symbols on trees, fenceposts, bridges, and buildings to warn other hobos of what is to come... Some historians say it might be myth, but -heck- it's a good story and they sure look mysterious so I included these as a layer.

WHAT'S IN THE SAUSAGE

Each Ramblingman NFTs is generated with 9 layers of graphics. Each a random selection of stills and animations. The graphics are a combination of AI generated images, photography and video footage. I spent months of designing and compositing all the possible layers in After Effects, until everything fit and looked just right.

Layers, from bottom to top:

• Layer 1 - Sky / Clouds photo (stills now, might be animation in the future)
• Layer 2 - Streets (Dutch neighbourhoods AI generated)
• Layer 3 - Vignette (darken those edges!)
• Layer 4 - Fog / atmosphere (animation)
• Layer 5 - RAMBLINGMAN character (AI generated)
• Layer 6 - Weather (animation)
• Layer 7 - Hobo Symbol (62x)
• Layer 8 - Photo Frame (Polaroid 50x60)
• Layer 9 - Poetic ramble (text)

RELEASE SCHEDULE

The RAMBLINGMAN collection consists of 52 characters, divided by 4 seasons.

• Season 1: Spring - April-May-June - theme: very rainy, very dark
• Season 2: Summer - July-August-September - theme TBD
• Season 3: Fall - October-November-December - theme TBD
• Season 4: Winter - January-February-March - theme TBD, but expect lots of hail and snow ;)

I will be releasing one new NFT each week, every sunday @ 12:00 CET.

Starting at March 31st 2024, and ending at March 23, 2025.

CUT HERE 8< - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

RAMBLINGMAN CREDITS

Concept & Art

▶ by Plastic Tolstoy a.k.a. Hert Zollner

The hollow man from the low lands, making low NFT art.

-- fx(hash) profile / @TolstoyPlastic / plastictolstoy.tez

Hert Zollner is a motion designer & producer based in the Netherlands. He won't shut up about cryptocurrency and NFT art, as well as the endless possibilities they offer. Hert believes that luck is simply being prepared for opportunities, and he plans his life accordingly, very minimal.

Poetic Rambles

▶ by Randy Gerritse a.k.a. @yonar of Worded Art

As a rock journalist for ‘Metal On Loud Magazine’, Randy watches the world in search of both rhythms and answers. As an author, host of the Twitter poetry prompt tag #vsspoem, and a lyricist for four different bands (Dissector, The Lust, GOOT, and Loudborn), poetry is part of his every day–it even found its way into his (as of yet unpublished) novels. (more)

Made possible with FROSTxHASH

▶ by Matthew Seremet a.k.a. frostbitten on fx(hash).

Matthew Seremet is a new media artist focusing on collaborations, interactive design, animation, & digital tool foundry. He's been featured in Times Square (NYC) and Shibuya City (Tokyo)

FROSTxHASH is al layer-based fxhash project builder, that supports Generative still PNGs and animated GIFs.