This week we’ve got:

I just watched a Netflix documentary about costume designer Ruth Carter that featured renowned director Spike Lee. In fact, he stressed the point about having “good,” no, the "best" talent around you.

Hearing this was fitting after an interview with illustrator Nate Farro. You see, similar to what costume designer Ruth Carter did back in the era of Do the Right Thing, Nate's artwork recently caught the attention of Spike. This time it wasn't Spike relentlessly calling Ruth, but instead responding to a post that Nate had automatically shared from Instagram to Threads.

Well, let's back up and tell you a little about our featured artist, Nate Farro. Humbly, Nate says, "I draw pictures for a living is what I tell everybody."

Funny, but an understatement in my opinion.

Look through Nate's website and you will see that he has been involved in all kinds of projects, commercially and personally, for over 20 years in the great city of Nashville, Tennessee.

Among others, some of Nate's work includes:

As with any commercial project comes the song and dance of doing work you think fits the customer while also catering to the client. Nate explains, "They say, 'Hey, we want this font to be bigger. We want this color to be changed.'"

We know that these constraints can often create a piece of design or illustration that works for all parties. On the other hand, they can also create what we know as burnout in a creative person. It's just part of the industry.

With that said, Nate, being the entrepreneurial type, has lent his skills to what he calls his "passion projects." One of them recently led to a collaboration with Spike Lee and sold out limited runs of trading cards, which Nate took it upon himself to learn how to make.

Since this is a Business of Art newsletter, let's break down how this all happened.

Nate says, "It's something that I can control. I'm the art director, I'm the designer, I'm the web designer, I'm the social media person for it... it's just like it's just me, and I can control that world."

During last year's NBA playoffs, he was inspired by film director Spike Lee's never-ending presence courtside at Knicks games.

"He's always dressed to the nines" in orange and blue Knicks gear, says Nate.

With this front and center in his mind, Nate created a digital poster featuring Spike.

He posted it to Instagram, and it got three likes. Nate says with a smirk that even one of them was from his mom.

However, his Instagram account was set to automatically share his posts to Threads. Nate never paid much attention to the platform, but Spike Lee did.

Spike discovered the image, DM'd Nate, and asked to buy the piece.

Nate joked to himself, "You want to buy this piece of digital art that only lives on Instagram?"

Fortunately for Nate, his background in print design was a timely asset. He repurposed the art into vintage-style trading cards, then contacted a local printer and ran a limited batch of fifty physical trading cards.

He sent fifteen cards to New York. Spike kept ten, autographed five, and sent them back to Nate.

In the past few weeks, Nate even found himself on a casual Zoom call with the cinema icon, talking about family, sports, and art while Spike signed the cards.

Since then, this collaboration has opened up an entirely new market for Nate's art business, leading to near sold-out drops of Victor Wembanyama and Jalen Brunson cards.

More importantly, this freedom has fueled a deeply personal family mission. Nate's youngest child lives with Type 1 diabetes. To support families navigating the exact same journey, Nate funnels exactly 20% of all card sales and upcoming auctions directly to the Breakthrough Type 1 Diabetes Foundation.

"While it's not like millions and millions of dollars donated, every little bit helps," Nate says. "I'm proud of this, but I also helped other people with this. That's important too."

To see more of Nate’s work, visit his website or Instagram account.

Nate, being an art industry vet was full of ideas of things that have worked and things to watch out for. Enjoy some industry advice directly from Nate himself…

When asked what advice he would give to other artists, Nate kept coming back to passion projects.

"Do it for yourself."

He was quick to draw a distinction between passion projects and spec work.

"It's not spec work. It's not someone saying, 'Do this for free and we'll give you exposure.' It's the opposite. Do it because it inspires you. Throw it out there and see what happens."

Nate also stressed patience.

"Even if it sucks at first, that's okay. It's not an overnight thing. I spent years doing terrible drawings and figuring out my style, what tools to use, and how to best do the work."

And while talent matters, he believes character matters just as much.

"In a world full of noise and amazing artists, what can set you apart is being easy to work with, being kind, and being human."

His advice is simple:

"Be humble. Be human. Be kind. It's going to go a long way."

Finally, Nate shared one of his favorite quotes from who he refers to as “one of the greatest philosophers of our time” Comedian, Steve Martin:

"Be so good they can't ignore you."

The takeaway? Work hard. Refine your craft. Put your work into the world. You never know who's watching.

Creative Process

• iPad + Apple Pencil
Nate starts most illustrations on the iPad using the Apple Pencil to sketch ideas and rough concepts.

• Adobe Fresco
Used for early sketches and developing compositions.

• Pencil & Paper
Sometimes the best tool is still the traditional one. Nate occasionally begins with hand sketches before moving digital.

Illustration & Design

• Adobe Illustrator
Used to trace, refine, color, and build final vector artwork.

• RetroSupply Texture Packs
Custom brush and texture packs created by illustrator Adam from RetroSupply Company. These help give Nate's work its signature texture and depth.

Print Production

• Adobe InDesign
The final stop before print. Nate uses InDesign to prepare artwork and layouts for production.

• Adobe Photoshop
Always open alongside Illustrator and InDesign as part of his daily workflow.

Nate summed it up simply:

"At any given time, Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator are opened up on my computer and ready to roll with something."

Thanks for checking out another edition of Stay Sketchy. We will continue to put out as many newsletters as we can. In fact we are looking for people to interview. Could that be you? Just email us [email protected] ✌️

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