This article was authored by Michael Hirsch, co-founder of Facet and Indelible Labs, and the views expressed herein are solely his personal opinions.
In November 2021, I bought my first NFT: a Chain Runner. My friend Rob Pando told me about the project, and I bought one shortly after its launch. At that time, I had no idea that this decision would completely change my creative and professional career.
The initial curiosity eventually evolved into obsession; it was not just curiosity about NFTs but a fascination with the significance of something being fully on-chain. That Chain Runner was not just a JPEG image, but a piece of generative art that exists permanently on Ethereum, with no IPFS links, no centralized servers, only the raw pixelated identity embedded in the blockchain itself.
This was my entry point into blockchain technology, on-chain art, and the emerging ideas of open, permissionless creation; it all began with Chain Runners.
Chain Runners: More than just pixels
Chain Runners is not just a PFP project; it is a blueprint, fully open-source, with its artworks released under CC0 (Creative Commons Zero), meaning anyone can reuse, remix, and create based on it without needing permission. More importantly, it is entirely on-chain, with all digital content and metadata stored directly in Ethereum contracts.
The combination of CC0 art, open code, and on-chain permanence makes Chain Runners unique. It is not just a collectible; it is infrastructure, a toolkit for other artists, creators, and internet experimenters.
For many of us, it has become the foundation for building ideas.
My first work: OnChainKevin
In the following months, I dove deep into Solidity tutorials, reading smart contracts line by line, and asking questions on the Chain Runners Discord, where the community provided immense support. Core developers knav, mid, and dozer were quick to respond and articulate, genuinely pleased to see others reinterpret their work.
In March 2022, I launched my first on-chain NFT series - OnChainKevin, a parody derivative that merged the infamous 'Kevin' from the Pixelmon disaster with the style and tech stack of Chain Runners.
While this is a joke, it is also my first real technical contribution to the on-chain art movement.
During the process of building this collection, I encountered a major challenge: how to run layered feature images on-chain without bloating the contract or causing rendering issues. I started experimenting with embedding PNG images within SVG containers. Some previous collections had tried this, but it had not been widely adopted. Rendering issues on browsers like Safari made this approach very unreliable.
Eventually, I found a way to overlay PNG images as background images on SVG images instead of using image tags. This allowed me to apply pixel-level rendering styles and nest multiple layers without distortion. I sent this idea to knav, who replied, "If this can be achieved, it would be a fantastic discovery; it's a complete revolution for on-chain PNG images."
It really works, and it opens the door to greater things.
From hackers to platforms
After OnChainKevin launched, I realized I had stumbled upon something powerful. At the time, creating fully on-chain NFTs was not only technically challenging but also very costly. Artists wishing to launch on-chain portfolios typically had to hire Solidity developers, commission custom contracts, and spend thousands of dollars to get started.
There were no tools specifically designed for them, no simple interfaces to upload features, no easy ways to build layers, preview outputs, and handle all on-chain storage and contract deployment in one place.
At the time, I was running a software company with my friend Rob Pando, who was also the first to introduce me to Chain Runners. We were both fascinated by the idea of on-chain art, and after seeing the potential of OnChainKevin, we decided to create a more ambitious project, thus co-founding Indelible Labs to enable everyone to engage in on-chain creation.
Indelible is a no-code platform where creators can drag and drop PNG elements, organize them into layers, and publish a fully on-chain NFT collection with just a few clicks. What once took thousands of dollars and weeks of coordination can now be completed in minutes, at a fraction of the cost.
Its underlying technology uses the image layering technique I developed for OnChainKevin, but for users, the experience is seamless; they don't need to understand any Solidity or image coding knowledge, just their own artwork.
With Indelible, functionalities once limited to a handful of developers are now available to any visionary artist.
Why CC0 and open-source matter
None of this would have happened without the CC0 license; the decision to forgo copyright on art pieces initiated a creative chain reaction.
In traditional art and media, the legal constraints around derivative works are very complex and often strictly limited. However, CC0 has overturned this status quo, transforming artworks into building blocks, encouraging remix culture, allowing new artists to express themselves through a shared visual language, and creating something new in the process.
Chain Runners chose open-source and CC0, pioneering a permissionless art movement where people not only collect artwork but also use it to create.
We see this concept reflected in other projects that have helped define the on-chain art movement. Collections such as Blitmap, Nouns, and Terraforms have made CC0 and composability core values, demonstrating that open-source, permissionless creation can bring about entirely new forms of narrative and collaboration.
These projects not only view the blockchain as a place to store artworks but also as a medium for building culture, which anyone can extend.
The movement continues to evolve
Today, thanks to the help of Indelible Labs, over 300 fully on-chain NFT series have officially launched, many of whose creators have never even written Solidity before. These series encompass original generative projects, cultural derivatives, and experimental works that push the boundaries of what is possible on-chain.
The most notable is (1337 Skulls), a series initially launched by Indelible and continuously evolving within the (Chain Runners) universe, drawing from the original's art and story while expanding the world with unique characters, backgrounds, and technical creativity.
Projects like (1337 Skulls) demonstrate that CC0 and on-chain tools serve roles far beyond mere replication; they are catalysts for storytelling, remixing, and creating entirely new cultural layers.
Even as the ecosystem evolves, many of these projects can still be traced back to a common starting point: Chain Runners.
This collection proves that open-source can drive innovation, CC0 can inspire creativity rather than restrict it, and blockchain is not just a ledger but a platform for building worlds, sharing ideas, and telling eternal stories.
Next steps
We are still in the early stages of the on-chain art movement; storage costs are decreasing, and tools are becoming more refined. Platforms like Indelible are eliminating barriers that once made on-chain NFTs seem unattainable.
But as we move forward, we must not forget the starting point of it all: a community of developers, an open-source project library, a pixelated cyberpunk aesthetic, and the belief that art should endure on-chain.
Chain Runners did not just create a series; they sparked a movement.
Today, I continue to work full-time at Facet, dedicated to advancing on-chain infrastructure. Facet is an unstoppable Layer 2 platform, fully decentralized and durable. If the chain itself could disappear next week, then on-chain development is not enough.
This is why we are building Facet, aiming to create a truly eternal platform for on-chain NFTs and applications. The mission we initially established with Chain Runners has never ceased; it has only evolved.
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