I think more people will buy into an unknown artist’s NFT collection as a speculative investment than will buy their prints for the same reason. There is an established secondary market for NFTs in a way that there isn’t really for prints by unknown artists. Digital goods are always easier to buy than physical ones. Also NFTs do have an advantage for the artist that they can guarantee themselves a portion of future resale value.

I’m not entirely convinced it’s sustainable either, but I can absolutely see why right now some artists are able to make massively more from NFTs than they could from prints.

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. The thing is, when folks typically buy art it's either because they connect with the artist, the piece, or the time and place. This doesn't happen very often, even for great artists. With NFTs, there are collectors that are looking at this stuff through a different lens. They are incentivized to collect for various reasons, usually because of the tie-in with investing, etc.

I'm a great example - I've been doing art for almost 20 years and have made a few hundred bucks here and there selling prints, paintings, having art shows, etc.

In 2021, I made about 2x what I make from my tech job selling NFTs. I consider myself lucky, but at the same time, there are thousands like me.

It may not be sustainable long term, but as it's currently a fad it's a nice way to kick start some income. NFTs also have the benefit of being browsable on sites like hitenunc, so instead of finding the artist on Instagram or Twitter you can come across them on such a site. Lastly, personally for small artists I think of it as a way to send a little money their way, like a PayPal donation or Patreon (i'm a big user of the latter) but by expressing my appreciation for particular peices of art. If they appreciate in value, that's cool too.

PS I'm not exactly rich as a grad student, so I've just spent about $100 so far. No idea if any of what I bought can be re sold, maybe I'll look sometime.

Cryptokitties explored this, and I suppose the answer is that eventually the market evaporates.