RICOCHET: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 02JAN25

Teaching life in a violent new way.

Jan 02, 2025

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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Sound of thunder, sound of gold, sound of the devil breaking parole.

WORDS

Since so much of Ricochet’s in-ring action is synonymous with being a high flyer, I thought this was an excellent opportunity to pull on my love of superhero comics to take this painting in an unexpected direction. When I got my first comic book when I was 8 years old, I immediately knew that I wanted to make art and that obviously stayed with me. You can see it in a lot of how I utilize positive and negative space, as well as my color choices and how I apply them.

Anyway, with this piece I thought it’d be fun to have him fly REALLY high, way up in the sky. The lighter blues and whites of the background helped to frame his figure in the composition. I also added a bit of red to his face, speaking to him being, y’know, upside down and the blood rushing to his head. Fun piece to make!

ARTIST OF CHAMPIONS

Taco Burger

UPCOMING AEW/PWT PRINTS

Private Party - SIGNED!
Adam Cole
The Outrunners

Card subject to change.

Rob’s Art on ShopAEW
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Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Rob’s prints and shirts at Pro Wrestling Tees
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Instagram
Threads
Bluesky
Cara
YouTube

ONE SECOND EVERY DAY

I recorded one second from every day of 2024 to put together in this. It’s pretty powerful to look at it all together. A lot of painting, cats, food, and Katy but also a lot of big moments. For instance:

The Royal Rumble, the last WWE event I watched. I was mentally checked out from that point.
Working on the Bayley painting that was never released.
Working on the Rock painting that was never finished. And never will be.
When I drove up to Chicago in March to clandestinely meet with Ryan at Pro Wrestling Tee’s/ ShopAEW about making the change.
Starting work on my first AEW paintings, weeks before the switch was official.
The life-changing trip to Italy.
Closing down the office for the Schamberger Labs Art Fulfillment Center. There’s a moment in there that hits me like that final scene from Fresh Prince when Will’s standing in the empty living room.
My positive Covid test.
A blossoming of the art I’ve been making, piece by piece.

A year of interesting times, for sure.

WHAT I PAINTED THIS YEAR

I can say with no hesitation that this has been the most creatively rewarding year of my life. A huge part of that was the change in commercial partners, another the trip to Italy, and finally the balance I put on myself between professional and personal works. I’d lost my love and desire to make art through 2023, I can see that clearly now, and thus I lost myself in the process. 2024 has been a year of re-sparking that joy for art and learning who I am all over again. Or maybe for the first time.

THE 2025 SIGNATURE

I change my signature every year, making the paintings and illustrations that have it on them their own body of work. It’s a nice way to delineate the passage of time and makes it easy for me to quickly know when I made something. I started doing this around 2012 and after thousands of works over 13 years it’s handy to be able to quickly tell when I made something.

In case you didn’t know, my signature is a four panel grid with my initials on the top and the year on the bottom. So, this year is:

Which is fun, because it’s essentially the same marks on the top and bottom, so maybe this year is also:

You decide!

Love you more,
Rob