Category: Craig’s Sly Art

Thomas Boatwright’s: First Blood

Craig / / 2010, Craig's Sly Art, First Blood

I had been a fan of Thomas Boatwright’s art for a while.  When he announced a sale on commissions for the month of December, I wrote to ask him about a Stallone piece for my collection.  Thomas quickly responded and said that he was a fan of “First Blood.” I was surprised at how quickly Thomas finished the piece and that he’d decided to put Richard Crenna’s character in as well.  I totally dug everything about it.

So… I asked Thomas if he was up for some more Stallone.  He said that he was, so you’ll be seeing his take on Sly from The Expendables and Get Carter on the SZ in the next few weeks.  They are just as cool!  If you want to see them sooner, Thomas has posted them on his blog and his DA site.  Send him some love.

I hope to get more Stallone art from Thomas in the future.  If you get commissions, you should consider him as well.  He keeps you totally in the loop on his progress, finishes his commissions on or ahead of schedule, has very reasonable prices and is a fantastic artist!  – Craig

John Beatty: The Expendables

Craig / / 2010, Craig's Sly Art, Expendables

The art above was created by my brother from another mother, John Beatty at our second annual Black “Stallone” Friday.  Last year Big Beatty decided to create a new piece for my Stallone art collection live on U-Stream. This allowed Stallone fans as well as fans of John’s art to watch and interact with us live as John created the piece.  We called it “Black Stallone Friday” and had a blast.

This year, John decided to sweeten the pot with a free, Expendables Blu-Ray giveaway.  We fired up the Beattytron and began broadcasting from the beautiful JBI Studio in downtown Holly Hill a little before 2pm.  The show ran until 9pm — and John still had more to do on the piece.  Along the way we were joined by Shana, Sophie, Mike aka Killer Karl Krupp, Royce, Rob Smith Jr., The Mad Pirate, Husky Courdoroy, and others.  Shana was the lucky winner of the DVD set.

I can’t thank John enough for the art.  As great as it looks on screen, it is even more impressive in person.  John set the bar high and surpassed all expectations.

Want to Win The Expendables?

Craig / / 2010, Craig's Sly Art, Expendables

WANT TO WIN A FREE COPY OF “THE EXPENDABLES” 3 DISC SET BLU-RAY DVD OR A FREE COPY OF “THE EXPENDABLES” SOUNDTRACK?

How to win:

You need to do two things:

  • 1: Re-Tweet this post using the “hashtag” #BlackStalloneFriday
  • Don’t have a Twitter account? Sign up HERE
  • On twitter, follow @CraigZablo or @_JohnBeatty_
  • 2: Be in the room watching the LIVE Ustream show on 11.26.2010
  • Don’t have a Usteam account? Sign up HERE
  • Ustream show link HERE

MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN!!!

Ustream Starts At 2:00pm Eastern Time: USA!

Contest will be announced during the stream.

Winner must have valid shipping address in the USA

for physical shipment!

May also choose digital download via iTunes!

Outside the USA a digital download will be available via iTunes!

YES…it’s that simple!

Black “Stallone” Friday

Craig / / 2010, Craig's Sly Art

The poster above was created by my buddy, John Beatty to announce our second annual Black “Stallone” Friday.  As most of you are probably aware, the day after Thanksgiving is traditionally a day of shopping.  For many businesses it’s their biggest day of the year.  For those of us who don’t like crowds and traffic, it’s a pain.  So last year Big Beatty decided to create a new piece for my Stallone art collection live on U-Stream.  This allowed Stallone fans as well as fans of John’s art to watch and interact with us live as John created the piece.

We called it “Black Stallone Friday” and had a blast.  We had so much fun that we decided to make it an annual event.  So this Friday, we’re going to do it again.  John and I will post the specifics later this week, but our hope is that we can get a lot of folks to tune in, even if only for a bit.  The more fans that pop in with questions and comments, the more fun it becomes.  So check back here or at John’s site later this week for full details.  Oh, and I posted the art from last year’s event to give you an idea of what we can expect this year.

Chris Stevens: Jack Carter

Craig / / 2010, Craig's Sly Art, Get Carter

I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Stevens’ art since I first discovered him on Deviant Art.  When I first met Chris, he was pretty much an unknown artist just starting to make waves.  He wasn’t even a guest at the show.  Suddenly Chris burst on the scene and it seemed everyone loved his style.  And why wouldn’t they?  The following year, Chris was a featured guest and a line of fans that would make any artist proud!

When I found out that Chris was putting together his first sketchbook, I knew I was going to want one.  The fact that Chris included free headshots with advance purchases was a beautiful bonus.  I’m hoping that Chris will have a new edition sketch book next year, and will offer the same deal again!  Until then, we have Chris DA Art Gallery to hold us over!

Otis Frampton: Cop Land

Craig / / 2010, Cop Land, Craig's Sly Art

Otis Frampton’s art is no stranger to the StalloneZone.  I’ve told you about Otis’ 7-7-7 Sundays before.  I’ve been fortunate enough to get three previous sketches from Otis — Rambo, Jack Carter and Cosmo Carboni.  You can see them here.

I finally got to meet Otis in person at Heroes Con last year.  When Otis attends conventions he has sketchbooks that he sells for a buck each.  Yep, one buck.  And to make the deal even more enticing, Otis includes a free headsketch.  For mine he did Freddy from Cop Land.  I would have gladly paid a buck a piece to have Otis draw Sly from every movie he’s done, but the idea is to get new fans to give Otis’ work a look.  So instead, whenever I ran into a friend who’d never heard of Otis I’d slap a buck down and buy ’em a copy of the sketchbook with a free headsketch.  Luckily none of them requested Sly, or I might have had to keep the copy for myself.  ; )