JUDGMENT DAY: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 26FEB23

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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Rolls of red tape seal your lips.

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Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley: The Judgment Day!

This piece is all about the vibe that these four emanate, through the statuesque pose to the color scheme. Inspired by the lighting often used for the group, I used washes of colored ink to get these lush hues. These inks/ dyes are difficult to work with due to how fast they dry, that they’re permanent and also how inorganic the edges can be if not applied in just the right way. Because of that, I haven’t much done a piece solely with them but as I often do I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could do it.

I’m personally in love with the results, especially due to the rich colors and how it adds to the overall composition.

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ICYMI, here's last week's Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Tomorrow's episode will go up on WWE's YouTube channel at 11AM CST!

• 3/12 - Bray Wyatt

• 3/26 - Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels WM12 Wrestling Landscape

• 4/9 - Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes

Card subject to change.

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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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Instagram
YouTube

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Hey, a color other than blue! I painted in the lower bowl area for the crowd who are getting some ambient light reflected onto them from the ring, so I’m able to add in a bit of warm color like burnt umber and a neutral violet, in addition to a darker Prussian blue for the shadows and a light blue grey for some highlights. Once that was all dry I did a glaze of blue over it to mute everything a bit and unify the coloring. In theory, that muted nature will make the foreground figures really explode off of the composition.

NEXT WEEK: I’ll finish off the crowd and it all starts getting really exciting for me!

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I was home alone last Sunday and didn’t feel like doing much, so I watched the first season of Killing It on Peacock and absolutely loved it. Craig Robinson is a fantastic and empathetic lead and I was thrilled to see Claudia O’Doherty as the co-lead. She played a supporting character in the Netflix original ‘Love’ a few years ago, which is one of my favorite shows so it was cool to see her in a bigger role.

Speaking of Peacock, they have all of The Six Million Dollar Man on there currently. I never really watched these as a kid, I don’t remember the re-runs airing or they were on opposite something else I watched, I don’t know. It’s definitely a time capsule of when they first aired and the overall slower pace of movies and TV from that time. Like, they stay on shots A LOT longer than we would now and the scores for the original TV movies are smooth jazz, making it all feel even more slow. That said, the writing is strong and I especially like how Steve Austin (the non-wrestler, bionic one) was originally at odds with OSI.

I had a lot of fun reading the Silver Surfer Epic Collection: The Return of Thanos by Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin, Ron Lim and friends. It’s the end of Englehart’s run on the series and the beginning of Starlin’s, nearly all drawn by, to me, the definitive Surfer artist Ron Lim. I’d read the Starlin stuff when it originally came out but hadn’t read these Englehart issues, which wrap up his work as well as the second Kree/Skrull War. It’s wild how these issues pretty much set the stage for everything that Marvel TV and movies have done up to now.

I’m almost done listening to the audiobook for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The High Country by John Jackson Miller and am fully enthralled by it. It’s the first SNW book (although Miller kinda did one before with The Enterprise War) and is a modern take on those Original Series episodes where the crew discovers an Old West planet. Overall I don’t love those episodes, but Miller pulls from a variety of Trek history and puts it all together in an expansive way to create a true epic feel.

I was interviewed by my buddy Chris Gough for his Worst Territory in the World podcast. Chris is a former WWF writer and fellow Kansas Citian and was a very early proponent of my work, predating even the original Kickstarter campaign. We’ve got a ton of history together and I feel comfortable with him so I open up a lot more than I normally do in interviews. Plus! Jerry Brisco’s chair breaks at a gentleman’s club! Christopher Daniels makes a startling discovery in my bathroom! Using magic to jumpstart a car! Choking a chicken! And more! You can find the show on all podcasting platforms.

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Last night I worked the WWE Supershow in Champaign, IL getting a massive batch of prints signed. House shows, live events, whatever you want to call them, are such a nice environment. It’s the WWE superstars doing matches just for the crowd there in person. No TV or the myriad other pressures on them, it’s their time to go out and be wrestlers.

For those of us working backstage, especially those of us getting things signed, it’s also the best environment. I started with WWE nearly ten years ago(!) at a house show in Kansas City. Because the wrestlers have less pressure on them, it’s a lot easier to get them to sit down to sign, but also to just chat for a minute or two and catch up.

There’s some good stuff coming your way, if you’re into the signed prints. And if you’ve never been to a WWE live event, I highly recommend it. They’re super fun, which is what all of this is about!

Love you more,
Rob

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Paid subscribers this week will get an exclusive 25% off discount code for prints, upcoming signed print releases at WWE Auction, access to the exclusive chat, and 24 hour advance access for the original Judgment Day painting. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.