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

The true one of ones. Like if you're talking about scarcity and rarity and not being a facsimile of something already done, true art, like what you do, is the true, scarcest collectible 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. And hits the collector a special way. Welcome to trading Cards and Collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network. From chasing grails to calling bluffs and 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 in sports. We're coming for you, Kelsey Brothers. Okay, well, okay, you can swift this. Justin Faraudo is here with us today. I'm going to tell a little story. So with the boys at my first national back in the hobby and the sports growing so much, and I'm walking around cards and cards and cards, I'm kind of like, all right, am I 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 fo. I'm telling you. Justin Prano 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. I appreciate the art of Mahomes, 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 become so damn talented? Well, it was. I mean, as a kid, it was kind of noticed real early on, just, you know, drawing. I was always into sports. Baseball was my thing. But, you know, I still drew tons of athletes growing up. And it was, you know, in school just jotting, you know, or doing a little sketch and the kids kind of swarming around and kind of just wowed by what I could do at a real early age. And just, I mean, I've been doing this. Started the 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 to paper, like with a. Is something 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. You know, some artists are so good that you, you know, can't tell the difference between a photo and. And the painting. I try not to be. I try 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 it was intentional, but again, I'm someone that appreciates art, like, and so I do notice detail in this. I. 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 what I mean? 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 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 side to things, Right? Yeah, there's gonna be. It's already started. I mean, years ago, when you saw this nft, 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 gonna see just with 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 and appreciation. I mean art's been around forever and, and values of things have drastically gone up when they're in that pinnacle, you know, elite, you know, rare item. But you're, if you're a true collector. And again, I mean, you know, Justin Suff 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 and you can talk about that in a bit. Justin. But like the true one of ones, like if you're talking about scarcity and rarity and not being a facsimile of something already done, true art, like what you do is the true scarcest collectible on earth because it's your hand one time there's an 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, 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, I think people also realize, you know, I'm going to be turning 46 in a month that 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, what drew you to the sports side of art as a kid? You know, not to sound dated, 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 Modersha Saturday Mornings, I love watching those programs and seeing the highlights and what some of these athletes could do is just incredible. And then try to, you know, put it on paper, like in a drawing or painting of, of kind of. It was just so cool to me and inspirational and so base. Yeah, baseball was definitely something I lived in and I loved creating, creating art at the same time. So those are my two passions as a kid. Hey, and then you made it your career, like, but I mean, you know, you gotta be talented enough to do it. Connect the dots. And like you said, you had learning lessons and different things. I mean, it's, it is. But I would say, you know, there's a lot of talented 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, when it was around. 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. I mean, 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, 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 area so I can focus on what I do best. How many days a week is just in 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 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. Is it more like an entertaining painting? Like kind of a bit? 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 say 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 going to have more, you know, golf pieces, but we might sprinkle in, you know, a 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 Godfather 2 piece. So I'm really excited about that. That's our first, you know, movie, entertainment kind of kind of piece. And it's, it's just, you know, one of the most historic and influential movies that there that's been made or series that's been made so completely. Talking with Justin Furano, I'm gonna call him the badass 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 one of your favorites you've worked with. Like did we tell a story if there is one, you know, with someone you've, you know, either commissioned you or someone that you've painted, etc. 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 to Ken Griffey Jr. You know, playing center field. So it was usually the 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 Ken Griffey Jr. 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 nervous doing it the first time. You know, you're you know, idol 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 look outlook on know how that is done, what you guys kind of do with these, these interviews. And it was kind of being in those shoes, but it was very conversational. I was a little nervous doing it but and 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 Ken Griffey Jr. Than any other athlete. So it was really cool. That is awesome. And he got the original, huh? Yep. Down in his. 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, 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 Jeter 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 are like your better investments to be honest. But if you're viewing it from that standpoint. But there's people that just love the regional teams and guys. So there's been times in 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 Sox 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. 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 that mo a moving piece. And there might be some back and forth but they're putting their trust in me and I'm designing in Photoshop, I do 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 a, you know, Dean Mackey on my side, handles all of the nil agreements, the approvals with the leagues, all of that business stuff, you know, he handles. So we got to go through all of that. As 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. It's layered, man. I mean, it's really layered. That was when I was looking at Josh Allen. It was not lost on me. I was like, there is incredible layering, like, and I mean, that's my words earlier to 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 you did is like that depth and that life. I mean, it really comes to life. Yeah, you guys had the right. The pro lighting too, though, like shining on it almost gave us. It wasn't three dimensional, but it almost looked. That's your stuff. Almost has a three dimensional look to it, which you get from both the depth that I create, but also that paint and texture on the painting, which you can really. You can't get through appreciation for that till you see it in person. Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. If you're listening, you need to get out to one of these shows or. Or just do. Better yet, go to just front of site. 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, it grabbed my. I mean, grab. I was a national. It was a sea of sameness of just cards, you know, and it's, you know, you know what is. It's like a fire hose. There's unbelievable millions of boo spins everything like that. Yeah, it was. Your. Your art was like a magnet to my, like laser. You know, like, my boys were like. And then once they got there, they even said, I mean, when we talked, like, what was your favorite things? They're like, you were in the top three. Like, everybody's like, like just the appreciation even, you know, nine, my nine year olds, like, that art was really cool. I'm like, yeah, yeah. But that's like the idea. And you know, I, I've got two boys myself 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 movie Godfather 2. 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 COVID 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 the simpler side, but it is. I wouldn't say it's as 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 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 a world I wanted do jump into. I don't want to lose my creativity. But it, it's timeless where movies come out today. People, you know, the COVID I don't even know if anybody even realizes or notices what it is. No. Now is there me digital, you kind of lose that to a degree. I mean, you don't physical, I don't know, dv deep 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 had the music cover, CD covers and all that cassette covers back in the day is like th. Those were iconic. Oh yeah. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, like I think they were like the ones when I'm growing up. Counting Crows even. But that's what people want to do when they collect things. It's reliving, you know, reliving. 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. The. What is it? The flare, you know, shot. Everybody knows the Mickey Mantle, like rookie or whatever. Yeah. The tops basketball, you know it. The Griffey Rookie 89 Upper Deck 1. 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 space is these car, the special edition cards, whether it's the kaboom, the downtowns, you know, the ones that have the art built. We need a Justin Furano tops edition. Like something cool. How do we make that happen? It may come in the future. It would be more probably a compliment 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'm saying. 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 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 jump into. I think it's. Yeah, 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 feel like that thing was like I don't know, four feet tall or something. It wasn't, I don't know, it wasn't that big. But it would make cool cards. I think it's a compliment though to what I'm. What I'm already. Already built. Yeah. Oh, I actually printed one at card sized. I took a picture of yours and I just. Because I Just wanted to see it like a card size. And I was like, I liked it but I was like this isn't big enough though. I'm missing the, the brushes, the brush artwork and all of that. What, what is. So you've got the entertainment stuff coming. Like what else is kind of on the roadmap for you as it relates to just art in general. It's really. I just want to be getting into as big, 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, it would always have to make sense. In my mid career that it made sense to do a. There would be 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 with 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 in you know, historically. But I'm looking to get more into, you know, can I get a deal with, you know, Ronaldo or you know, any of the goats in 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, 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 sole, 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 there'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't afford the higher tier that's Kind of the world, you know, of fine art that I'm living in right now. So. Yep. You know DJ Ski, he's doing realist.com. i had him on this. I'm hearing you talk and I'm hearing names I've had on this week. I need to make some connections with you that are doing this stuff. And then Dan Jameson, he's with icons.com. he's doing Leo Messi autographs, memorabilia. I need, you need. We need a Justin Ferrano. Leo Messi 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, that people, you know, something that they're proud to put on their wall. That's Stallone. Yes. Yeah. Kind of break out into more than just kind of my base 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. It's, you know, these moments in time. But, you know, the Furano 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, you said the beginning and I, you know, as we close out, I want, you know, I want to hit on that. You know, like you've got all this AI going on and, and it's great, it's enabling a lot of things, but it can't recreate the vision and the humanity that an artist like you can. And I think that as time goes on, things like what you're doing and your talent are actually more scarce and more valuable because that's where I see it going. You're gonna have a splash of all 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 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 for the other that if it's. That's what it is. That's what's going to, you know, water down, you know, 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 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, handle social, all that stuff. Furanofineart.com Same on social media. It's all for on a fine art. F A R A n o farano art.com Dustin it was really fine art. Fine art. We'll have that in the link. Exactly. It should be for everyone to click on. Justin, that's awesome, man. I really appreciate your time. No, Ryan, likewise. Nice chopping up with you. 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 on. Hey guys, you're gonna find us collectibleshot.show. we'll 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 and we appreciate Justin for coming on. We'll see you next time on Trading Cards and Collectibles. Collectibles show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing. And ultimately, hey, we want to hear from you. You do Case hitsollectibles Show. We want you to send in your favorite pulls of the week. And here's the difference. This isn't about just value. Hey, we want to see some $10,000 hits. Had a couple of those myself a few months back. But it's not just about the value. It's about what you're collecting, what means something to you. Share a story, share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week that was your favorite player and you nailed it. So Case Hits collectibles Show. Send in those videos. I want to know the stories. We're going to bring them to life here on the show. We're going to do a segment each week once we get rolling and get some videos in where we share that on the show with us. We want to feature you on Collectibles show. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www.collectibles.show or follow Ryan on Instagram at ryanolford. Now get out there and collect yours.