The UNTOLD Story: Licensing Art for Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods & Muhammad Ali with Justyn Farano

The true one of ones, like if you talk about scarcity and rarity and not being a facsimile of something already done, true art like what you do is the true scaricest, electable on earth. I want people to feel this is a painting and art that you're looking at, not just the technical side. You want something creative that really wows and hits the collector a special one. Welcome to the Trading Cards and Collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network. From Jason Grails, the Colin Bluffs, going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford. Hello and welcome to Trading Cards and Collectibles here on the Radcast Network. We are your number three sports show on the planet on Apple podcast. We appreciate you already here in our first 20 episodes hitting the tops of the charts and sports. We're coming for you, Kelsey Brothers. Okay. Okay. You swift this. Justin Ferraro is here with us today. I'm going to tell a little story. It's with the boys at my first national back in the hobby and the sports cards so much. And I'm walking around cards and cards and cards. I'm kind of like, all right. I'm going to see something different. Then being an art guy, being a marketing guy, being a brand guy. I'm like, who is this stumbled upon a badass artist talented mo foe. I'm telling you, Justin Ferraro is it. What's up, Justin? How's it going? Hey, man, love your stuff. I'm a big fan already. I see Michael Jordan behind you. Well, I appreciate the art of my homes, but he's not my, he's not my favorite player, but all I do know is you're one hell of an artist. Thank you, sir. How did you go come? So damn talented. Well, I mean, as a kid, it was kind of noticed really early on. Just, you know, dry. I was always in the sports baseball. It was my thing, but I still drew tons of athletes growing up. And it was, you know, in school, just jotting, you know, they're doing a little sketch and kids kind of swarming around and kind of just wowed by what I could do at a real early age. And just the, I mean, I've been doing this and I started a company in 2005 and has really evolved and grown over the years. So. So your talent was just that obvious. I mean, you just natural drawer, natural like you just, once you put pen the paper like with a, it's something that you see in your head. I'm always curious like with artists like yourself. Do you, is it okay? Are you one of those? Okay, if I see this picture here, I can recreate it in my artistic style. Or is it just vision of recreation? I'll answer two ways from a technical, you know, standpoint where you're just drawing the figure. Yes, but then there's, especially as you see in, you know, more of what I've created. Most of the pieces are more telling a story about, and there's more creativity than just, hey, this is a, you know, some artists are so good that you, you know, can't tell the difference between a photo and, and the painting. I tried not to be, I tried to be that with the figure to a degree, but I want people to feel this is a painting and art that you're looking at, not just the technical side. You want something creative that really wows and, and hits the collector a special way. It does. And I'll tell you, you know, I'm a Josh Allen fan and I saw your Josh Allen painting. At the national. And so it drew me in. That's what caught my eye. And it drew me in because of exactly what you said. It's so funny. I, you know, my eye was, and I didn't know his intentional. But again, I'm someone that appreciates art, like, and so I do notice detail in this. And I was like, to your exact point, some art you look at it, and they're so good, you wouldn't know if it was a painting or a photograph. But there was this subtlety to where it was unmistakably Josh Allen. But there was clear markings, art, creativity, motion, fluidity that made it artistic. And that to hear you say that, I didn't know that. But I was like, I liked that because again, yeah, if I could take a picture, I could take a picture, you know, man, take a picture of Josh Allen or get a picture of Josh Allen, you know, but those subtle art things, creativity, things that go whether it's the brush, you know, like pattern or whatever it is that makes it art was not lost on me. And I'd not to shift this, but even like everything you're seeing with AI right now, there's this fine line of not losing the artist's side to things, right? Yeah. There's going to be, it's already started, I mean, years ago when you saw this NFT, you know, right, lush at everything where there was so much stuff and it wasn't really art. I mean, I didn't buy into it what it was at the time. And you're going to see, if AI coming into so many things, I do think there's going to be a lot of things that are just going to fall because there's so much of it. And then you're going to have like the top tier that's going to kind of push that market even higher because of what it is an appreciation. I mean, art's been around forever and values of things have drastically gone up when they're in that pinnacle, you know, elite, you know, rare item. But, Cheryl, if you're a true collector, and again, I mean, you know, Justin's off is at the top of the game. I mean, certain, but there's, but there's entry points, especially from a price standpoint, you can, there's different sizes, different things that Justin does. I know you do. You can talk about that in a bit, Justin, but like the true one of ones, like if you talk about scarcity and rarity and not being a facsimile of something already done, true art, like what you do is the true scaricest commodity like, like, electable on earth. Because you're hanging one part. There's a original, I know what my prices were when I first started and have gradually every year, like we've gone up. And there's certain values and price integrity that I keep behind everything and why that's grown, you know, the vast majority of my collectors really, you know, they love it. There's instances somebody has to sell something, but you don't see my art really on the secondary market much, because people have a genuine connection to it. And they also, you know, most artists don't reach not an arrogant way, but they don't reach an accomplishment till they're older, you know, passed away or whatever. And, you know, we've been hitting that stride up. And I think people also realize, you know, I'm going to be turning 46 in a month, they're like, people are realizing like there's still a long way to go and do see it as a long-term investment with my work. Limited edition sign and numbered prints. I mean, what were you always just into sports? Like, what drew you to the sports side of art? As a kid, you know, not to sound data, but like, I lived watching, you know, ESPN and highlights. I love, you know, playing baseball was my thing. I, you know, played all the way into college, but, you know, that's what drew me. And, but still, like, watching Michael Jordan on TV, like, if that was on WGN, I was clicking, watching over the modern shots, Saturday mornings. I love watching those programs and seeing the highlights, and what some of these athletes could do was just incredible. And then trying to, you know, put it on paper, like in a drawing or painting of kind of, it was just so cool to me and inspirational. And so, baseball was definitely something I lived in, and I loved creating art at the same time, so those were my two passions as a kid. Hey, and then you made it your career. But, I mean, you know, you got to be talented enough to do it, connect the dots. And like you said, you had learning lessons of different things. I mean, it's- It is, but I would say, you know, there's a lot of talent at artists out here. The challenging thing in this genre is, you know, not sports. I'm also, like, breaking in with entertainers and music and things right now, we're just starting into that, but it's the licensing behind this. And getting the rights, making the deals, like, you know, I've been fortunate enough to work with some of the biggest athletes from Michael Jordan Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali, and his- I mean, I've done a lot of the guys, so as I was able to get some of those big, big names that helped me kind of have the, you know, the name and who I had worked with to help other deals, you know, it gave credibility. So, it's not the easiest thing by any means to break into just, you know, there's a lot more involved than just creating art when you get into something like this. Yeah, it's the business side of it, right? And now, is that stuff that you- you- you learned yourself or you learned that you needed to bring people around you to help you navigate it? I mean, early on, I really learned a ton about, you know, the structure and the business side, so I would say I'm very involved in it, but I've grown and I've built and, you know, a team around me that is hitting in their areas, so I can focus on what I do best. How many days a week is Justin painting? Well, I try to do- I would say if I'm not traveling doing events, I probably go five to six days a week. There's time when I was seven days and there's periods that I- there is little breaks where, you know, when we do Super Bowl or Masters, you know, Kentucky Derby, some of these events that are, you know, week-long, I am painting at the events, but it's more interacting, you know, with the guests and- and the experience, so I am painting, but it's not the same as what I'm doing like in the studio. Yeah, more- is it more like an entertaining painting? Kind of. Well, at events, I try to have a painting that I'm working on that's, you know, further along developed, you know, where it's maybe 80%, not to see, I'm even complete with it, but you want something that's gonna wow people and we'll have an activation with my other pieces around it, you know, that really shows, and we try to put my most iconic pieces and what fits the event, you know, obviously if we're doing a Masters, we're gonna have more, you know, golf pieces, but we might sprinkle in, you know, what Jordan or, or, you know, another icon or something along the way. We, you know, just got a deal, we actually have Al Pacino signing tomorrow, we just got a deal with him and and Paramount Pictures to do, got Father 2 piece, so I'm really excited about that. That's our first, you know, move the team at kind of kind of piece and it's, it's just, you know, one of the most historic and influential movies that that's been made or serious that's been made. So, completely talking with Justin Farona, I'm gonna call him the bad ass artist, the BAA, I just make, I give everybody a pet name, Justin, it's just my thing. Justin, who's been like the, maybe you're one of your favorites that you've worked with? Like, did we tell a story if there is one, you know, some, you've, you know, either commissioned you or someone that you've painted, et cetera? Sure, a couple of them it would be, I've had, I've been fortunate to have a lot of really great experiences, but playing baseball as a kid and looking up the kangaroo if you junior, you know, playing center field. So, it was usually that athletes do want, you know, my work, it may not even always be of them. They might have had an icon or somebody they were a favorite of, but when I finished the kangaroo if you junior painting, he really wanted the original, which was an honor for, you know, him to think that highly than just getting a limited edition of it. And it actually broke out into how we structured our agreement was actually where I did a sit-down interview with him at his house and we talked about the art and it was, was nervous doing it first time, you know, you know, idle growing up and, you know, for me, my background is art not doing sit-down interviews. So, I, you know, learned a lot from that first one that I did, but it gave me a new, new outlook on, you know, how that is done, what you guys kind of do with these these interviews and who's kind of being in those shoes, but it was very conversational. It was a little nervous doing it, but kind of prepping going into it, like what I was going to ask, but I think it went pretty smoothly. It felt like full circle because as a kid, I probably did more drawings and paintings of kangaroo for junior than any other athlete, so it was really cool. That is awesome. And he got the original, huh? Yeah, that is. How does that work? Tell me about your process there. I think that brings up this to a good point for your process of, you know, original to, you know, walk us through that, how that comes about. Sure. Early on when I was doing like some high-profile events, I would meet a lot of athletes that would ask for commissions and I would be more open to those. At this stage, I, it's got to be, I already know kind of the projects of who and what I need to do as, you know, a high-profile, you know, there's a reason I've done seven or eight Michael Jordan projects is the previous are sold out. There's a reason I've done that many tiger and jeeter tom Brady projects. So when those additions sell out, it spurs obviously a new piece. So the most iconic guys are, yes, the most expensive, but they're the ones that, you know, are going to like your better investments to be honest, but if you're viewing it from that standpoint, but there's people that just love their regional teams and guys. So there's been times of my growth of what I've done, where I was like living in Boston and I was doing a lot of Boston athletes and red socks with big market, you know, Yankees are still very good market, even though I didn't live there, but I have a big collector base of those. But how I, my process basically is I want to create the most piece that's going to connect to the collectors in general, not just to one. So what I try to do, and even if a piece is commissioned by a collector, they're trusting me to create a moving piece. And there might be some back and forth, but they're putting their trust in me. And I'm designing it in Photoshop. I do it. And even before that, I'm really doing an image search and looking for, you know, I'm usually telling a story like, you know, you can see behind me like that Michael Jordan, like most of my pieces, there's a main shot that I want to be the most impactful, and then a story kind of around it. And that might be key moments that might be about their city, it might be about a nickname, anything it could, but something that's really going to hit you. And I designed that. We got to, you know, Dean Mackey on my side handles all of the milledreams, the approvals with the leagues, all of that business stuff, you know, he handles. So we got to go through all of that as the before I ever put, you know, a pencil down to do a sketch and then get into the painting. But once all those happen and I get into the painting process, it's really building up a lot of layers of detail, you know, it's building the shapes and the texture. But even when I show somebody something maybe 20% in, they think it's done. And then when you actually see the progression of where that was to where it gets, I mean, that is the difference really with my, I feel with my work of differentiates me from the. It's layered, man. I mean, it's really layered. That was, that was what I was like that Josh Allen. It was not lost on me. I was like, there is incredible layering like in, I mean, that's my way. I mentioned it earlier too, the flow and the movement. So all of those things and the depth, like what you'll see, and it's hard to see it on the screen when you see it in person as, as you did is like that depth and that life, I mean, it really comes to life. Yeah, you guys have the right, they're per lighting too. They're like shining on it. You almost gave a, it wasn't three dimensional, but it almost looked, that's, your stuff almost has a three dimensional look to it. But you get from both the depth that I create, but also that painting texture on the painting, which you can really, you can't get through appreciation for that till you see the person. Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. If you're listening, you need to get out to one of these shows or just do better yet, go to just front and side, we'll have all that at the end and go buy one. But I'm just telling you, like it's, it's something to behold. I don't know that I would have, you know, if it was just, you know, a reprint or something, I it wouldn't have probably grabbed, I mean, grab my, I mean, grab, I was a national, I was a sea of stainless of just cards, you know, and it's, you know, it's like a fire hose there, unbelievable. Millions of booth space, everything like that. I was, your art was like a magnet to my, like laser, you know, like my, my boys were like, and then one thing out of there, they even said, I mean, when we talked like, I was your favorite things, they were like, you were in the top three, like everybody's like, like just the appreciation, they even, you know, nine, nine year olds, like that art was really cool. I mean, yeah, but that's like the idea. And I, you know, I, I've got two boys myself, eight and 11 right now, both play a lot of baseball themselves, but I don't know if they get the true appreciation for it because they're around it all the time, but they, and they're not bragging, but it's, it's like pretty cool that their dad gets to work with some of these, you know, major athletes. So yeah, it's very cool. So we're, we're venturing into the entertainment space. You mentioned the, the, the movie got brother to, um, will there be your own creativity brought into that? Like would you get to like bring like some of that to life? I did. It's got my own unique style, but it is, you know, the shot from the cover because it's so iconic. So I did do that, but my paint style and the background, there's a little bit to it. It's still on simpler side, but it is, I wouldn't say it says creative as most of my pieces, but it's got my own flair to it. Okay, because you're, yeah, well, I mean, that's the thing. That's like kind of making it in your own. Like you want to keep it to where it's iconic, you know, you don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, you know, but it's just interesting even just how we're evolving, you know, over time here is like movies back in the 80s, 90s, the movie covers were so, you know, iconic to what you're thinking about. So that's the kind of the world I wanted to jump into. I don't want to lose my creativity, but it's timeless where movies come out today. People, you know, the cover, I don't even know if anybody even realized their notices what it is. No, I mean, now it's there's gonna be digital. You kind of lost that to a degree. I mean, you know, physical DVD case or even the VHS tape box or whatever it might be the shape of that artwork. Same with music and, you know, where you have the music cover, CD covers and all of that because that covers back in the day is like those were iconic. Oh, yeah. Pearl Jam, Nirvana. Like I think they're like the ones on I'm growing up. Counting crows even. But that's what people want to do and they collect things. It's reliving, you know, reliving elements and even in the trading cards. I mean, the, you know, it's back in the day. Everybody knows the Michael Jordan and, you know, rookie card. What is it? The flair, you know, shot. Everybody knows the Vicky Manel, like rookie or whatever it would. Yeah. The top thing you man on the figure like basketball. You know it. The Griffey, rookie 89 up for deck one. I mean, I remember that as a kid collecting and, you know, those are, I think you lose that a little bit these days because there's so much, you know, out there. What I'd like to see Justin is because, you know, one of my favorite things in the trading card spaces, these are the special edition cards, whether it's the kaboom, the downtowns, you know, the ones that have the art built it. We need to adjust to Toronto top edition, like something cool. It may come in the future. It would be more probably a complement to what I'm already doing versus I think I don't know that space well enough, but I'm assuming like those are just for those cards. I think it might be taking like a version of what I've created and then making maybe a version of that in a card. Exactly. That's what I'll say. Like, do you do, do you do card size versions of what you do? Or is it kind of hard? I have. And I don't see myself at, like, I think, I don't want, there's artists that are very successful in doing that. And that's their, what they do. I don't think it's something I would, I think it's building off of what I'm currently doing and then kind of implementing maybe that into it. Yeah. And I, and I don't know, when I saw that, that Josh Allen, I saw, I'm gonna feel like that wing was like, I don't know, four feet tall or something. It wasn't that big, but it was cool cards. I think it's a complement though to what I'm, what I'm already, already built. Yeah. I actually printed one at card size, that I took a picture of yours and I just, because I just wanted to see it, like, if cards, I was like, I liked it, but I was like, this is a big enough though. Missing the, the brush, the brush artwork and all of that. What is, so you've got the entertainment stuff coming? Like, what else is kind of on the road map for you as it relates to just art in general? It's really, I just want to be getting into as big icons that there can be, rather than, you know, in my mid career, I was doing regional things. There was somewhat more collector. So at the top, if somebody was commissioning something and it made sense for, it would always have to make sense in my mid career that it made sense to do a, there was be a, in a limited edition complimenting it, where now, but that could have been a regional player. I'm not really doing that now. What I'm looking is just making deals, not just in the main four sports, which most of my stuff is baseball football and then done a bunch of projects with the biggest basketball players, but the, you know, historically, but I'm looking to get more into, you know, can I get a deal with, you know, Ronaldo or, or, you know, any of the goats and any of these sports or whatever it may be, it doesn't even have to be. It just needs to have a big enough fan base that and the distribution and, you know, marketing behind whatever it is. So that's really my interest. I mean, I did a political piece earlier this year. You know, if it's going to draw, I don't want to take a side on anything I do, even though I may have my own beliefs, but, you know, we've done, you know, some projects with that too. And I think it's important probably to have a balance of both because there's a market for both. But, yeah, music too. I mean, just looking for things that are more timeless and iconic, doing projects and that's kind of the area that I want to live in versus just doing a soul, you know, league or sport. I want to be very diversified in that. And how we market a lot of things today and over the years, it's been partnerships at a lot of these higher end tier, you know, either charity or, or just event hospitality events at Super Bowl, Masters, Kentucky Derby, MLB, you know, all star fan fest and Hall of Fame inductions, things like that. But I really do want to open that up more. And that maybe is doing, you know, the movie concerts and just different partnerships that where people that can afford the higher tier, that's kind of the world, you know, a fine art that I'm living in right now. So, yep. You know, DJ Ski, he's doing realist.com. I need to add him on this way. I mean, I'm hearing you talk and I'm hearing names I've had on this week. I didn't make some connections with you that are doing this stuff. And then Dan Jameson, he's with icons.com. He's doing Leo Messy. I got some rebellion. And you need it. We need a Justin Farano Leo. He and I would certainly be a project I like to do. I mean, a couple others like I'd like to do a Schwarzenegger. Oh, yeah. You know, icons that are, you know, timeless. The people, you know, something that they're proud to put on their wall. That's so long. Yeah. So that's more like a kind of breakout into more than just kind of my beast of what I've done early 2026 and on. Like that's a movement that we want to be. That's cool. And it's all collectible. I mean, that's what this is. It's, you know, these moments in time. But the, you know, the Farano artistic take on them. And, you know, the collectibility of that and the scarcity. And just, you know, like the human touch. I mean, you said at the beginning. And I, you know, as we close out, I, you know, I hit on that. You know, like, you got all this AI going on. And it's great. It's enabling a lot of things. But it can't recreate the vision in the humanity that an artist like you can. And I think that as time goes on, things like what you're doing and you're talent are actually more scarce and more valuable because I see it going. I think you're going to have a splash of all of that just like with the NFT space that came in and not to say that there may not be something with that. But I view NFTs on this side more value in as an authentication on a blockchain versus the value being behind it. So I think that with the elite artists, you're going to have that appreciation and respect it. And that's what's going to drive that up that much more. And then it's going to be realized there's so much stuff with the other that if it's that's what it is, that's what's going to, you know, water down, you know, that that side, you know, that market. So I think it's going to drive up the top tier. And then it's going to bring everything, all that other stuff that gets overdone is going to just going to draw out and devalue, you know, the cream rises to the top. And your talent definitely has you there, brother. I really value what you do. Talk to me about where people listening can learn more about a website, handles social all that stuff. FaranoFineArt.com, the same on social media that's all FaranoFineArt. F-A-R-A-N-O FaranoArt.com, it was really good. FaranoFineArt. We'll have that in the link exactly. It should be for everyone to click on. Just an awesome man. I really appreciate your time. No, Ryan, likewise, nice chopping up with it. Yeah, man, you're doing some some beautiful stuff. And I think we should highlight again, talent like yourself whenever we have the opportunity. Wonderful. Be happy to come back home. Hey guys, you're going to find us a collectible shop. Dot show will have links to all of Justin's amazing work. And of course the highlight clips, the full episode, audio and video of this show. And we appreciate you for listening. We appreciate Justin for coming on. We'll see you next time on trading cards and collectibles. 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