SHOP TALK: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 04MAY25
Get a little action in.
Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. A couple of the sounds that I really like are the sounds of a switchblade and a motorbike.
WORDS
I’m doing some studies to prepare for the graphic novel I intend to make. Working out color palettes, approaches, overall looks. Getting that mostly all ironed out before I start actively working on the pages makes it all a lot easier. Since this is a side project and something I’m passionate about I have the benefit of time and I’m making the most of that.
First up, I did the above study of the climactic scene from John Boorman’s Excalibur, one of my very favorite movies. In my top five, for sure. Boorman’s vision for it was for the film to look like a moving classical painting and I wanted to dig in on how he accomplished that by reverse-engineering it.
He had four levels of depth: The sky and setting sun, the background of the pennants, hill and spears, then Arthur and Modred as the focal point and finally the fallen knights littering the extreme foreground. The setting sun was used as a compositional element around Arthur, the background was hazy and out of focus and then the extreme foreground elements were deeply shadowed giving it all a sense of gravity. Very interesting things that present themselves when you spend a few hours studying a thing.
And the whole movie is like that!
Quick digression: My go-to conversation starter is asking someone what song they would use for their entrance if they were a pro wrestler. I worked with this incredible guy who said to give him a day so that he could really think about it. I figured he was blowing me off but NOPE, they next day he said, “Okay, so my entrance would start like Gangrel and The Brood, where I’m being raised up inside of a circle of fire while that song from Excalibur, where they’re riding through the woods? Sounds like ‘hoo-hoo ha-ha’? While that’s playing.”
“Then I’d make my way to the ring with a big mother#$%&ing sword.” To this day the best answer I’ve gotten to that question.
I also worked up this 7” x 10” Batman, since I’m going to have some superhero elements in the book. My neighbor’s toddler sons are really into superheroes so I’m going to surprise them with this and a Spider-Man.
Next week I’m also going to start designing all of the characters. After that comes the scripting, then the thumbnailing, then some photo reference shoots and I’m off to the races. Should only take a couple years!
If your voice and your vote didn’t have power, they wouldn’t be working so hard to take them away from you.
Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new Hangman Adam Page painting.
UPCOMING AEW/PWT PAINTINGS
Hangman Adam Page - SIGNED!
Swerve Strickland
Kazuchika Okada
Orange Cassidy
Speedball Mike Bailey
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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Bluesky
Cara
YouTube
WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
Last weekend Katy and I finally watched Saturday Night, the dramatized look at the couple hours before the first episode of Saturday Night Live. A lot was condensed into the movie and its timeline and a lot was changed for dramatic purposes but I don’t really care about that. It’s not a documentary, y’know? Instead it was an anxiety-riddled sprint to the finish line story about making this dream come alive with all of the odds against it.
Tuesday night we went to see the unbelievably great Sinners. I don’t know that I can say anything that hasn’t already been said about this powerful, beautiful, important and timeless movie but I’m so taken by this one scene of true moviemaking magic that happens in it. Like, my hairs stood up on end seeing it. We were there on a Tuesday night and it was a full house, which speaks to the power of this piece of art. There’s also a spectacular sweater at the end. Spoiler!
And speaking of moviemaking magic, the final scene, the final word spoken by John Goodman in the series finale of The Conners was something that would be impossible to replicate or even to do on purpose, as I’ve read. I’m not going to ruin it if you haven’t seen it and plan to, but good golly this was so well-earned. What a show!
Yesterday I read the gorgeously chaotic Godzilla: Skate or Die by Louie Joyce. Yes, that’s really the title and that’s ultimately what the damn book is about. Godzilla and Varan are about to fight in an abandoned Australian warehouse district where four kids have turned part of it into their skate park hangout. So, naturally, the kids rush in to save it. It’s like one of those classic stories about a park or a tree that is so tied to your childhood and how far you’ll go to protect it, except this time with Godzilla and a secret military operation and a weird rock that fell from the sky. Things are different in Australia, I guess.
Blossom! As in a flower, not the girl with the hats.
YOU GOOD?
Got my first pepper plant blossom of the season yesterday. A really good week for the pepper plants overall, with a lot of buds coming in and all of them hitting their growth cycle in a big way. I had an exceptional last season with my bell peppers and I’m hopeful for this year.
What else?
My friends Kari and Greg were in town on Monday and we got together for a lovely lunch. The older I get the harder it is to meet up with friends, I’ve found. Maybe age has nothing to do with it and instead it’s all of that stuff I talk about every Monday morning in therapy. Probably the latter! Anyway, Kari does a fantastic job of reaching out whenever she’s in town and it means a lot.
Yesterday I mowed for the fourth time already since the weather warmed back up. We’ve had a lot of rain so far and I’m doing my best to stay on top of things. Fourth time in two weeks, I think. Hilariously enough, my neighbor across the street the other day told me I have the best grass on the block. I laughed and said she’s right. Her husband WHO WAS STANDING RIGHT THERE looked back at their yard and got in their car without saying anything. Poor guy! Not everyone has the luxury of working from home AND actually enjoys doing yard work.
Okay, see you on Thursday!
Love you more,
Rob