RANDY ORTON: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 28JAN24
Lordy mama, light my fuse.
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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Truck on out and spread the news.
WORDS
As soon as Randy Orton returned to action at the 2023 Survivor Series I was excited to make a new painting of him. This is another of the expressive acrylic paintings I’ve been doing of late, using the technique called ‘indirect painting’ where I do a monochromatic greyscale underpainting to work out all of the tones, and then applied a glaze of orange paint over the top. All of that underpainting is transformed with the addition of color while staying pretty loose and energetic. I feel like the explosive energy of this painting speaks well to how it is to watch Randy in the ring.
ICYMI, here's the latest Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Tomorrow’s episode will go up on WWE's YouTube channel at 12PM CST!
UPCOMING PAINTINGS
Iyo Sky
Jade Cargill
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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Prints and Signed Prints at WWE Shop
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WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
Katy and I had somehow missed watching True Detective season three when it originally aired and caught up on it to prepare for the new season that’s just started. The way this was told over three time periods (1980, 1990 and 2015), with Mahershala Ali battling dementia in 2015 but how that helps him out with the unsolved case is…transcendental in its beauty.
In the Know, the latest from Mike Judge, just dropped on Peacock and it’s something else. It kind of does to the New York NPR setting what King of the Hill did with suburban Texas, laughing WITH and AT the characters but in a really loving way. As a longtime NPR listener (and donor!) myself, I get a lot of these jokes on a deeper level but they’re still damn funny. It’s a combination stop motion and CGI animation, a la Robot Chicken, but done as an ‘interview show’ (actually hilarious improv comedy) in the fashion of Space Ghost Coast to Coast with actual people. I was watching it the other morning and Katy walked into the living room and was instantly transfixed by what she was seeing.
Speaking of improv comedy done as an interview show, Dana Gould’s Hanging With Doctor Z came back this week for a new season. The latest episode features Kevin Pollak and the joke about The Usual Suspects is something I’ll quote for years. The gag of this show, that Doctor Zaius from Planet of the Apes was actually a real-life actor involved in the 60’s and 70’s Hollywood party scene, is such a specific joke but damn it I love it. Here it is:
The Stick the Landing podcast just started and its first episode focused on Friday Night Lights. The concept of the show is to look at different series finales and asking the question if they, wait for it…stuck the landing. FNL was a perfect way to start from my perspective as its a show I absolutely adore, warts and all. This week’s was on Mad Men, another show I love but that I haven’t revisited since it originally aired. It’s a hard show to binge, if you’re familiar. Very down-pushing instead of uplifting. Katy and I have talked about watching it again, but I set the ground rule that we shouldn’t watch more than three episodes a week and never more than one a night.
My copy of The Future is Now: Neon Rising by Death Burger came in on Friday and it’s a true thing of beauty. A narrative art book, it’s full of rad cyberpunk-esque illustrations that each stand on their own, but when viewed together they tell a story. I’ve seen a lot of people try this, but this book does it the best I’ve ever seen. The art is a jaw-dropping mix of Akira, Aeon Flux, Fury Road, Killian Eng, Moebius, and so much more.
And yes, I’m also upset that a different artist got to the name ‘Death Burger’ before I could.
I listened to the audiobook for The Glass Box by J Michael Straczynski this week while working and really enjoyed it. A story about the near future, it’s a sort of combination of The Prisoner, V For Vendetta and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest about a protestor committed to a mental institution instead of a prison. It’s also about staying true to yourself and your ideals against the greatest of opposition. JMS is a self-admitted mega-fan of The Prisoner and this feels like how he would approach that concept, while also expanding a lot on what he did with the same setting in Babylon 5’s epic episode ‘Intersections in Real Time’ from season four.
I finally made time yesterday morning to read Hey Kids! Comics! volume 3 by Howard Chaykin, wrapping up his fictionalized look at the people behind the creation of our favorite comic books. This is another one that’s got a slim intersection in the Venn Diagram of people who’d really get this book, but blessed am I to be in that overlap. Maybe I’m a little more partial to being a crotchety old artist at this point in my life, too.
PUBLIC ART SHOWING
My fine friends at Gaels Public House here in Kansas City have done me the honor of exhibiting my collection of LGBTQ athlete paintings. They’re a gay sports bar (“Whatever that means,” the staff always adds), so this is a perfect fit for this set of pieces. They’ll be up for a month or two. If you’re in the area or plan to be and would like to meet up to see the art and for a drink and some of their outstanding food (best nachos in town, I’m told. I’m partial to the pizza) lemme know.
This is the first body of work like this I’ve done since coming out as bi a couple years ago, and again, this is the perfect venue to show off these paintings.
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 RANDY ORTON PAINTING
Acrylic on 15” x 20” illustration board. 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.
Lookit that belly.
YOU GOOD?
A bit of housekeeping: I’ve decided that this will be a 100% free newsletter going forward. I’ve suspended subscription fees, so they won’t hit your account anymore. If you paid annually, drop me a line and I’ll figure out how to send you a prorated refund.
After the new Iyo Sky painting coming out in a couple weeks, new paintings will be released once a month instead of every other week. I’m at a point where I can slow down a little more and spend more time with each new WWE work, trying to make each its own special event.
Because of this, because I’m doing more personal work outside of my WWE obligations, I just didn’t feel right charging for a premium tier anymore as I don’t think I’m offering enough value anymore.
THANK YOU to everyone who was a part of the paid tier over the past couple of years. Your dedication to my work and support of me personally means so much.
I’m going to pay that back to everyone who’s supported me and my work in any way over the past decade-plus but continuing to grow as an artist and to give you the best quality work possible.
Love you more,
Rob
Does this mean marque prints go away? 😢