SHOP TALK: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 19MAR23
Everybody's learnin' how.
Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Come on and safari with me.
Surfin’ with the alien!
WHAT’S NEW?
A couple weeks ago I started doing little 6” x 9” (or 9” x 6” if you turn that sum’bitch sideways) warmup paintings just for myself, and I thought I’d gift the first one out on here. It’s an idea for a Silver Surfer painting I’ve had in my mind for years that I finally turned into a real thing.
I’m giving this away at random to someone who leaves a comment telling me whether or not you think David Bowie was aware of The Undertaker. I’m unsure myself. Bowie was really into the arts and there’s the possibility at least that someone showed him a ‘Taker WrestleMania entrance as an example of production capabilities, but otherwise…I don’t know. (This is inspired by a bit Paul F Tompkins did a few years back asking if Bowie was aware of The Hamburgler. I’m still unsure on that, too.)
Comments are open to all paid tier members!
I asked my buddy David that helps me fulfill orders the other day about this and he got MAD that there’s no clear cut way to fall on this question.
The Bray Wyatt spray paint painting from a couple weeks ago is going out to reader Jesse Lawrence later this week. Thanks Jesse!
ICYMI, here's last week's Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Turned out pretty swell in my opinion.
UPCOMING VIDEOS
3/26 - Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels Wrestling Landscape
4/9 (Maybe earlier) - Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns
We’ll figure it out from there.
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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Signed prints at WWE Auction.
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Instagram
YouTube
WRESTLING LANDSCAPE PROGRESS
I spent the past week painting Shawn Michaels in this piece. Would you believe that the hearts on his pants alone took three hours? As you can see, I’m using some slightly different techniques for the foreground figures of Shawn and Bret Hart than I did with the rest of the piece to make them really pop out. That combined with the warmer colors and the use of black for the deepest shadows pushes that even further.
The finished painting debuts next week!
REMINDER: Founding Tier members will get a hand-remarqued print as a part of their subscription and other paid-tier members will get an exclusive discount code for $15 off! The hand-remarqued prints are essentially me doing a painting right on the print and it looks like this:
Being a Founding Tier Member is the ONLY way to get these. Outside of buying an original painting these are the most exclusive thing you can get from me.
WWE2K23 ICON EDITION
Hey, I painted this. No, I’m not going to shut up about it. It’s in a TV commercial now. That’s rad.
WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
I read Love Everlasting volume 1 by Tom King and Elsa Charretier (which started here on Substack!) the other day and was thoroughly impressed by it. The story is a bit of a supernatural reimagining of the classic romance comic format, where the same girl keeps falling in love but across all of time and keeps getting killed for doing so. It’s the first volume in a bigger story so a lot of the mysteries aren’t answered, but it’s a gorgeous journey. Charretier’s art is a wonder to behold and I really dig Matt Hollingsworth coloring her line art.
The new Night Court is a fun return to the 80’s sitcom approach and does so as a decades-later continuation of the original series. It’s not out to reinvent the form or anything, it’s here to be a lovely comedic diversion and after the past few years I think there’s a lot of us who appreciate such a thing. The judge is Harry Stone’s daughter, who gets John Larroquette’s Dan Fielding to come out of retirement as the public defender but other than the set itself it’s otherwise about telling new stories. It’s fun and dumb in my favorite ways and I’m glad I watched it.
I don’t want to spoil Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 5 more than I have to, but it’s worth noting the return of Ro Laren as played by the powerhouse Michelle Forbes, bringing that Admiral Cain energy from Battlestar Galactica back to the character. I won’t get into why she’s here or what she’s doing beyond an intense set of conversations between her and Picard. But man, she showed up and TOOK OVER every scene she was in and with this cast that’s not easy to do. I LOVE THIS SHOW.
“Hey Rob, what do you do when you’re working backstage at SmackDown?”
“Draw a tree study.”
YOU GOOD?
In case you missed it on my Instagram the other day (because not all of us are on there), I announced that I will not be a part of WrestleMania this year. I share your disappointment and frustrations over this, as I’ve been a part of it every year since WM30 except the two quarantine years. It was a business decision on WWE’s end, which out of a clear self-bias I don’t agree with but I do understand.
So, I wasn’t in the best headspace to work at SmackDown on Friday if I’m to be honest with you. I was feeling a lot of feelings, if you will, and going in and trying to still get work done and be professional in an environment that I already put a lot of pressure on myself within made for a tough day.
Luckily Katy was with me and we were kinda isolated, but then I found myself just sitting there running all of those angry thoughts through my head. It’s natural, but I didn’t have an outlet or an effective way to get to a different mindset. So I grabbed a piece of 11x14 cardboard, just like the ones I put in with your print orders and started drawing a tree I took a picture of in Hawaii a couple months ago.
Because at the end of the day I love making art. I know how fortunate I am to get to do this for a full-time living (someone who’s known me for years asked me the other day if I have a day job!) but it’s also a great outlet. Time passed, I was doing something productive for myself and I was able to shift my emotions around.
I’m not in control of everything in my life or career, but give me a surface and a tool to make marks and I’m still going to be able to do art.
What else is going on?
Secret Project: CODENAME SABOTAGE is progressing along. Inventories and spreadsheets and photoshoots and EDI setups all happened this past week. What’s an EDI? I honestly still can’t describe it accurately but by golly I’m setting that up. We’re in final negotiations while doing setup and testing so we’re all hopeful this will be up and going by the end of the month or the first week of April. It’ll be a radical positive development for my business and with the timing it might be okay that I’m not working ‘Mania this year. We’ll see, but all signs point to this being THE thing I’ve been building towards for the past decade.
Love you more,
Rob
EXCLUSIVE PAID SUBSCRIBER CONTENT
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 the ability to enter to win the original Silver Surfer painting. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.
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