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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Letting all the people know that I’m back to run the show.
WORDS
Since her dramatic return at SummerSlam 2022 I knew I wanted to do a new portrait of Dakota Kai, and here we are! Taking more of an illustrative approach, I used her hair as inspiration to split the background with white and one pink. I used the same watered-down magenta ink for her figure, before adding values. The darkest black was done with ink (and a little pen for the outlined areas), then watered-down ink for the grey-tone. I finished off with a dark charcoal pencil to add some texture, giving this a grittier feel than the other mediums may have provided.
I think it all makes for a striking composition. Almost as striking as her kicking opponents upside the head.
ICYMI, here's last week's Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Tomorrow's will go up on WWE's YouTube channel at 11AM CST!
UPCOMING VIDEOS
Iyo Sky
TBD
Veer Mahaan
Card subject to change.
Hundreds of prints and paintings at Schamberger Labs!
Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Signed prints at WWE Auction.
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SCHAMBERGER LABS: THE SERIES! SEASON TWO!
For my epic Wrestling Landscape painting of The Undertaker, I take you through making the mid-ground work for a painting like this!
Here’s what it looks like so far:
This is the point where I’m getting REALLY excited about this piece. Like, I think I’m really going to pull this off.
WANT SIGNED PRINTS OF HIT ROW AND THE UNDISPUTED ERA?
All of the details are here but the broad view is I want to know who YOU think will be the one to finally beat Roman Reigns, and I’ll pick one commenter at random and send them BOTH of these signed prints.
WHAT I LIKED LAST WEEK
This Fool on Hulu really took me by surprise with how great it is. It centers around two cousins, Luis who is recently out of prison and Julio his case manager at Hugs Not Thugs, a program for reintegrating felons back into society. There’s a lot of childhood rivalries coming back to the surface with their power roles reversed, while they also learn from each other in meaningful ways. There’s also grandma sorcerers, Michael Imperioli, cupcakes, spirits named Fatass and Bust-A-Nut, toxic relationships, co-dependencies based around Austin Powers, Ronald Reagan taking a dump, and billionaire cuckolding.
You know, as a show does.
It’s probably the closest we’ll ever get to a TV show of Love & Rockets, especially Jaime’s later work, and there’s even an episode with Julio wearing an L&R shirt. The show is a dramatic comedy in line with Reservation Dogs and as the season progresses it ventures into being a very dark comedy but keeps its heart. That’s a hard balance to keep but they do it in a beautiful way.
I finished listening to the audiobook for Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner’s Heat 2 and it delivered in a big way, providing both a capstone to the original movie while setting up new ground for potential future stories. It also answers why the Neil McCauley character had such a hard mantra of “Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner,” and it’s a really hard answer.
YOU GOOD?
A solid week of working for me. I got more done on the Undertaker Wrestling Landscape piece (you’ll see that progress next Sunday), made this week’s Dakota Kai piece and also next week’s Iyo Sky. Then I made the Canvas 2 Canvas episodes for each as well as this and next week’s Schamberger Labs episodes. Sometimes I need to work ahead, but there’s so many other parts and logistical concerns that go into that beyond just painting.
Things they don’t teach you in art class.
Wednesday was Katy’s 40th birthday. We had a lovely Italian dinner at Anthony’s, a Kansas City institution that may or may not have been where the mob ran Vegas out of back in the day. After that we had a drink on the patio at Tannin, one of Katy’s favorite places in town before heading home to the cats.
It’s wild that we were in our mid-twenties when we met but I guess that’s how time works. The Earth keeps on a’spinnin’.
Love you more,
Rob
EXCLUSIVE PAID SUBSCRIBER CONTENT
Paid subscribers this week will get an exclusive 25% off discount code for prints and 24 hour advance access for the original Dakota Kai painting. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.
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