IYO SKY: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 11FEB24
Domino effect, arts and crafts, paragraphs contain cyanide.
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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. An axe killer adventure, paint a picture well.
WORDS
It’s been a little bit since my last Iyo Sky painting and was excited to do a new one as she’s one of my favorite subjects. I’ve recently upgraded the quality of my watercolors and this is my first with these fancy, lush colors. Even with a simple headshot, Iyo’s presence shines through and made my job relatively easy.
ICYMI, here's the latest Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Tomorrow’s episode will go up on WWE's YouTube channel at 12PM CST!
UPCOMING WWE PAINTINGS
I honestly don’t know. Waiting for WWE to approve concepts at the moment. The nature of things. It COULD be one of these:
Terry Funk
Bayley
Jade Cargill
The Rock
Or none of them. I have no idea. We’ll find out together. It’ll be great whatever it is.
Card subject to change. For real this time.
Hundreds of prints and paintings at Schamberger Labs!
Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Prints and Signed Prints at WWE Shop
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Instagram
Threads
YouTube
WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
The Newcomers: Batman with Nicole Beyer and Lauren Lapkus podcast is a hoot. Each season they pick a series of movies they’ve never seen before, really famous ones, and watch them fresh. It’s kind of like music reaction videos on YouTube, but damn funny. So far they’ve watched the 66 movie (my personal favorite), the Burton movies, Mask of the Phantasm (my other favorite) and the Schumacher films. The episode for Batman Forever is as great as you’d expect.
I had missed the Keys to the Kingdom podcast when it came out but listened to all of it while working this week. Co-hosts Matt Gourley and Amanda Lund talk to people who have worked various jobs at theme parks and it’s an outrageous listen. Funny, heartbreaking, jaw-dropping and always in good faith and with love. Each episode focuses on different groups like Disney princesses, the fuzzies, the fans and more. Sometimes, especially with the princesses and fuzzies, they even have to alter peoples’ voices because of the fears of what they’re saying may harm their careers! Definitely worth a listen.
Hypericum by Manuele Fior is a gorgeous graphic novel about a young woman interning at the Berlin museum for their King Tut exhibit, researching to learn about Ancient Egypt, the original ‘discovery’ of the tomb, and most importantly herself. Lushly painted by Fior, it’s a treasure unto itself just to look at.
I really knew nothing about Immortal Sergeant by Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura before reading it except that I’m a fan of Kelly’s writing and WOW was this a journey. Niimura’s cartoony style gave me no warning about what a deeply charater-driven story this is about a 35 year-old man trying to understand his fraught relationship with his recently-retired homicide detective father. And man…this gets REAL. I think the lightness of the art makes this story about generational trauma and moral greyness a lot more palatable.
This wasn’t my first time reading Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, probably third or fourth, but I got the new oversized ‘Gallery Edition’ hardcover that just came out to properly gaze at Mazz’s art from this all-time classic. This is a sorta-controversial take, but the majority of Marvel’s backlist, the stuff prior to around 1998 with Marvel Knights, largely is tough to re-read. They were monthly comics with no intention of being collected or revisited and are full of impenetrable purple prose. If you come in fresh with no nostalgia, they’re tough to get into. That’s why I think Miller’s Daredevil work (and a few others, notably Claremont’s X-Men) stood out. Even though it’s set in the mid 80’s, its focus on characterization along with stellar artwork gives it a true timeless quality.
Who else wants to see an hour of David Bowie in 1973 performing live?!? ME! I do! What a treasure trove. Plus a whole ton of other acts from that British scene at the time.
And in case you were wondering if Bowie and Marianne Faithfull (dressed like a nun) do a duet to the Sonny & Cher classic I Got You, Babe I’m here to say that yes, yes they sure do.
HERE’S SOME MORE ART
While I wait for WWE to give me a thumbs-up and before I do my next shoot with my photographer friend Paul Andrews for my next couple Emotion Series paintings, I’ve been making some smaller 9x12 watercolors to keep my skills sharp.
First up, a couple skulls because skulls are cool.
I’m in the midst of rewatching Twin Peaks since it first aired and was inspired to make a painting of my crush Audrey as portrayed by the lovely Sherilyn Fenn.
Here’s a watercolor of one of my models Jenny Ramirez from the shoot we did with Paul for the ‘Confident’ Emotion Series painting.
Finally, a tree I saw during our stay on the Big Island of Hawaii last year, done with watercolor and a parallel pen. Really happy with the markmaking on the leaves and the bark I got out of the parallel pen, a tool I’m still learning to use.
Yesterday I started working on a bigger and more involved piece that I might have finished for next week. These smaller pieces were fun and I learned a lot doing them, but I’m ready for something ambitious again. If it goes the way I want it to it’ll be a breakthrough on a craft level for me. It’s way outside of my comfort zone.
FEBRUARY SCHAMBERGER LABS DISCOUNT CODE
Through the end of January, use the promo code FEB24 at checkout for 20% off all prints at schambergerlabs.com! This is an exclusive for subscribers, so kayfabe this one. It’s just for you because you’re amazing.
ORIGINAL IYO SKY PAINTING
Ink and Watercolor on on 11” x 15” watercolor paper. Only one person gets the original painting, where I put brush to paper and physically created it. Since you’re a paid subscriber I think you should get a 24 hour lead on everyone else before it becomes publicly available. Here’s the link if you want to go for it. I have a hunch that you might with this one.
Tikka is a professional book model now. Seriously, can you believe how handsome this guy is?
YOU GOOD?
My “in-between projects” time has gone on a little longer than anticipated but I’m in a very fortunate spot to be able to actually enjoy it. With my library up on WWE Shop, the vast majority of my sales are coming from that back catalogue rather than new work. I’ve been able to simply make art for the joy of making art and you know what? That’s been rather nice. I’ve earned this.
That said, I’m excited to see what my next WWE piece looks like with everything I’ve been learning from this personal work over the past month or so. I’ve got IDEAS.
Love you more,
Rob