Young & Sick

Hi, I’m Nick.

My dive into NFTs and the surrounding potential has been an incredible journey so far. The speed of innovation and growth in the space has been insane to be a part of, and gives me a ton of new ideas daily. The support thus far has meant the world. I want to take a moment to share my vision of where this project is headed, and for those of you just getting to know my work, what I’ve been up to over the last decade.

Art is the only thing that has ever made sense to me. Since I was young I would draw all the time. When not drawing, I’d pick up a guitar and try to write songs and play in various bands. My first small break was via MySpace. I used to make art for bands I loved, and just DM them. I got to work for a guy called Mark Foster. Mark went on to start Foster the People, and I created the album cover for their first record Torches. That record just turned ten, and with that I reflect on a very special decade.

Musically, I’ve put out records through a plethora of labels both major and indie. I’ve written and produced songs for others. All the while I drew… a lot. I’ve got to create a ton of album covers, merch, social campaigns, music festival visual worlds, and partnered with some cool brands. I’ve always thought this article from Nylon did a nice job covering some of the projects I felt most excited about until that time. While there have been a lot of highlights, the journey has certainly been tough.

Working with labels, clients, or really any sort of middleman leaves room for a lot of battles. Anyone who’s done any sort of client work can surely appreciate the sentiment. As an artist, a dream has been autonomy to create without limitation. To get really wacky without needing anyone to give me the okay.

In 2019 or so, I started to combine my craft for fun on Instagram. I’d make a one minute song, draw something, color it digitally, and bring it to life with animation. These little musical animations lived on my Instagram, and became a fun way to combine all the art I enjoy. In the middle of 2020 a friend reached out and said, ‘You know if you mint those on the blockchain, they are perfect as NFTs.’ I did my research, worked with my long time friend and manager Aaron to come up with some ideas, and my first big drop took place on Nifty Gateway back in March of this year.

You all came to support the project in a way that truly has transformed what’s possible moving forward. In the same way I was able to take my art, animation, and music and create these little one minute videos to combine all that I love—this next chapter of Young & Sick will be building the wacky world I’ve always envisioned — together.

OUR WORLD

On the digital side of things since March we’ve been talking to:

• Smart contract coders & visionaries to help us create some really special digital art
• Collectors to really hear what excites them
• Metaverse builders as we obviously need a digital space to hang and have fun in
• Wearable designers to bring some absurd creations to the Metaverse
• AR creators to bring our characters to the physical world
• Social token proponents because it could be interesting at some point
• Discord community gurus to help us build the most fun community out there

The list goes on, and with each conversation, new ideas of how we connect all the dots of potential in our project together.

In the physical world our conversations grow back to a lot of old friends:

• Major and independent festival promoters to chat live plans + onsite art installations
• Art zine manufacturers
• Our merch guy is on overdrive
• Old friends at incredible music companies that help us put out new music
• Clubs to get some DJ sets going again to have a little shake
• Toy and plush manufacturers because they rock

We are going to combine all these worlds and possibilities together, and have a ton of fun while doing it. Here is what we are working on:

• I am working on a 1/1 with an NFT original Skeenee. Our first collab likely on Foundation in mid-July.
• Programmable art is really exciting for us—I am working on two pieces with ASYNC art. One art-centric, one music-centric (although the music pieces have art too, but the music stems control the art changes).
• My next drop on Nifty Gateway is getting pushed back to the top of August 12th. This is for all the right reasons, though!
• We have a ton of physical pieces being made to coincide with the drop that need just a bit more time.
• We are building some incredible community rewards to coincide the pieces, and come soon thereafter to collectors.
• We’ll be rolling out our membership club — Inspired by Bored Apes or maybe Pizza Punks... but it will ultimately be smaller runs over time (versus 10k all at once).
• Members + holders of indicated pieces receive extra special access to drawings, airdrops, physical quarterly merch, vinyl records as they come, festival/show tickets, wearables... It’s going to be special.

Timeline (so far):

June / July — Skeenee Collab + ASYNC

July 9th — New music single out (+ community event in Discord for collectors of first drop item TBD)

August (post-Nifty) — Single two out (+ community event in Discord for collectors via Nifty Gateway)

August 12th— NIFTY GATEWAY Drop

Aug/Sept — Nifty Island Launch!?!

September — New album out (mega community event in Discord)

September — DJ Sets at Bonnaroo (pair of pass giveaway- details to follow)

December — Art Basel (NFT Exhibition, DJ Sets, Physical Art Gallery Shows)

August 12th Drop Notes / Community Rewards:

• We are shooting to announce the next two community reward pieces by next WED 16th. We just need to confirm with Nifty Gateway.
• The art should be ready in the next week or two, and we’ll share that + Nifty Gateway will give us full support this time :)
• Our next drop is quite ambitious—we’ll roll out our members club + an incredible reward system that will start sending free physical merch, prints, festival/concert access as well as access to limited NFTs + drawings… it’s going to be a ton of fun, and reward our most active community the most.
• At least two weeks before our drop, we’ll roll out our final reward system as a Medium post + another Medium that will lay out what the August 12th drop will look like, what collectors will need to hold before hand (for select pieces), and give a roadmap into future community rewards so our community can ape in on select pieces if the rewards are meaningful to you.

Final Thoughts

This timeline is mostly locked in, but I know there will be a lot to add as those conversations mentioned above are moving quickly. Stay tuned for more specifics.

I am always open to thoughts, input, ideas, feedback etc. This is going to be so much fun, and I’m grateful to be on this ride with you all.

Love,

Nick xx

P.S. What mechanic should we use to reward the next two community reward pieces? We spun the wheel already, but what next!? Would love to hear your ideas.