LIV MORGAN: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 24JUL22

Action speaks louder than words.

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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. And I got some in store.

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WORDS  

When Liv Morgan won the SmackDown Women’s Championship (hey, I worked that show!) I knew I needed to do a new painting of her. This was a great opportunity to continue to experiment with watercolor and masking fluid. Liv’s energy is such that I can push things a bit further stylistically and I always jump at that chance!

I used a more limited palette of magentas, blues and then violet for the deepest shadows, knowing the restrained palette would allow me to do more with the expressive brush strokes as well as how I’ve started learning to apply the masking fluid. It works particularly well on those tiny loose hairs, I’ve found.

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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  

• Cora Jade

• Rey Mysterio

• Veer Mahaan

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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Twitter
Instagram
YouTube

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SCHAMBERGER LABS: THE SERIES!

Season 1 Finale! I finish up my grand painting of Charlotte Flair, and am joined by Katy to talk about the piece and its importance to us.

Ideally Season 2 starts next week and I’ll be going one on one with…THE UNDERTAKER!

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WHAT I LIKED LAST WEEK

Superman ‘78 by Robert Venditti and Wilfredo Torres is a really fun book. It carries on the continuity from the Christopher Reeve-starring movies, matching the tone and characterizations from those films perfectly. The story revolves around Brainiac arriving on Earth and forcing Superman to become his prisoner. It’s got huge twists I didn’t see coming, Lois Lane blowing off Clark for lunch, Lex Luthor and his toupee, and Brainiac giving a massive choke slam to Superman.

I finished reading The Question Omnibus volume 1 by Dennis O’Neil and Denys Cowan yesterday and am still in awe. I’d heard so many great things about this series but somehow had never read it. It didn’t show up in the back issue bins around Kansas City when I was diving into them and was never properly collected until now is the reason, I guess! Mid-80’s DC Comics

DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT HOW ‘DC COMICS’ IS SHORT FOR ‘DETECTIVE COMICS COMICS’ BECAUSE I DO

was on fire, especially their ‘mature readers’ books that instead of just having boobs and cussing were actually made for emotionally mature adults to read and enjoy, or at least for savvy kids who -wanted- to be emotionally mature adults. The Question, The Shadow, Green Arrow, and Swamp Thing were at the forefront as far as regular monthly comics went.

The series reimagines Steve Ditko’s Ayn Rand-ian Objectivism for a more-nuanced Existentialism, requiring the reader to derive their own meaning from the questions asked in each issue. It’s a fascinating approach. While the titular character is The Question, I instead feel like each issue was really revolving around the social and moral questions they posed. And the art by Denys Cowan is among the best that monthly American superhero comics have ever produced. The Bill Sienkiewicz-inked covers are gorgeous pieces of art, but man the interiors are rough and purposefully ugly, so ultimately masterful and beautiful. I especially adore the issues inked by Malcolm Jones. Highest-possible recommendation!

Can you tell I liked this book?

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Hey, I just got my hands on the El Segundo Brewing Co and Ogopogo Brewery beers I made labels for! How cool are these?

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YOU GOOD?  

First up, we got awesome news that Katy does NOT have the BRCA gene. We’d been waiting a couple weeks to get the results back and it’d gotten pretty scary just sitting there until they came back in. She’s going to stay on top of her regular exams and go along with what her doctors advise, but man, it was an instant weight removed for both of us.

At the same time all of this was going on, my career was in a state of flux due to the conversion of WWE Shop and WWE Auction over to Fanatics. I couldn’t get a straight answer on what was going on in regards to my work on both sites, due to the nature of how these things go. Nothing malicious, just mundane corporate stuff, but I was in a position of not knowing if my time with WWE was over or not. I didn’t want that, WWE didn’t want that, but sometimes reality gets in the way of what we all want.

Through the help of two key WWE people we were able to make it happen, though. My unsigned prints are currently off of Shop, which is a bummer but not the end of the road. We got the signed prints back up on Auction, which I know is VERY important not just to myself but to so many collectors around the world.

My entire living comes 100% from sales, and it’s through your ongoing passion and support for my work that I’m able to keep making it for you. The future’s uncertain and the end is always near, but today we get to do it for at least another day and hopefully many more to come.

Speaking of, the response to the epic Charlotte Flair print has been astounding. Pictured above are the remarqued prints for the Founding Member tier, where I hand-drew a headshot of Charlotte onto the print. Not only do they get an exclusive print, but they’re also original pieces of art!

Heckuva thing.

So, what else is going on? Oh yeah, Vince McMahon retired. I think I need a few more days to process everything before commenting on this. There’s a lot to unpack and we’ll do that in Wednesday’s newsletter.

It’s been a wild month or so, and at least here at Stately Schamberger Manor things are settling down a bit for the time being. We needed it.

I hope things are going well for you, too.

Love you more,
Rob

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EXCLUSIVE PAID SUBSCRIBER CONTENT

First up, through today your first month on the paid tier is only $5. Not bad.

Paid subscribers this week will get an exclusive 25% off discount code for prints, a list of the coming week’s signed prints at WWE Auction, and 24 hour advance access for the original Liv Morgan painting. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.