SHOP TALK: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 26NOV23

Sometimes you can feel the pressure does unwind.

Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Enter in the dance, plug it in and we begin.

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WHAT’S NEW?

Today is the tenth anniversary of when my first official product launched with WWE in 2013. Ten years. It’s flown on by, my friend, I almost blinked and missed it.

Since then my work and personal lives have drastically changed but I’ve also intentionally kept it small for myself, kept it about having a corner to make my art in. I like to think that keeps me grounded and keeps everything about the art.

That said, here’s some highlights from the past decade:

• Painted live at WrestleMania Axxess for several years.

• Hand-painted the duster Ultimate Warrior wore in his final appearance, which later became an action figure from Mattel.

• Did the convention circuit for a few years, getting to meet people in person and hearing how my art affects them personally. The act of exhibiting at shows is hard for me, but talking to each person and hearing their stories was so meaningful.

• Various physical and digital cards for Topps.

• Had my name for a year on the front of the bestselling action figure line in the world with the Mattel Elite figures.

• Multiple projects with WWE2K, including being a part of the WWE2K ‘17 Special Edition, making original cards for SuperCard and painting the cover for this year’s game.

• Between Mattel and 2K, I’m told I was the most-viewed living artist in the world in 2019. The number of people with my art in some form are about the same as the population of a mid-sized European nation at this point.

• Wrote, shot and edited the longest-running show in the history of WWE’s YouTube Channel with my series Canvas 2 Canvas. Tens of millions of views at this point, I believe.

• I’ve been on WWE programing with the New Day, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon, name dropped on commentary, and featured on shows like Total Divas and Miz & Mrs.

• Integrated with WWE and Fanatics in a way that I now have a dedicated Art Fulfillment Center to process all of the orders from collectors. A whole office just for online orders. For years I personally processed every order, originally from my corner of a shared studio, hand writing the addresses on the mailers and taking them to the carrier’s office. For the past several years I’ve had an assistant who did this from my dining room table and now I’ve grown my operations to the point that I have a facility just for this component of my company.

I may not be the flashiest person around, my belly’s a little big and my hair’s a little thin, I may not be a social media darling, but little by little I’ve done my best to make the most of every opportunity and to grow my business. WWE gave me a platform, and that’s a big thing, but all the rest has been on me. Thanks to therapy I’m finally comfortable saying that I’m proud of all of this and of the art I’ve made that’s allowed it all to happen. A LOT of people helped, I’m fortunate to have you and the rest in my life, and I’m going to keep working to make the most of every opportunity in the future, knowing that I’ve got you in my corner.

Here’s a progress shot for next week’s first-ever Tiffany Stratton painting! It’s a straightforward watercolor painting where I utilized a lot of the skills I’ve been developing lately and I think you’ll see those efforts truly pay off.

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A QUICK MESSAGE ON BEHALF OF MY MOTHER-IN-LAW

Katy’s mom Ruth Ann has been battling cancer for several years now and it’s drained her finances. The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with the medical costs. If you have a moment to give it a read, please do. If you can pass along the link or contribute to the cause, the family would greatly thank you.

Fun story: Ruth Ann’s college roommate was legendary wrestler, promoter and NWA President Bob Geigel’s daugther Chotts (pronounced ‘Shots’). At Chotts’ wedding several of the wrestlers were there and Bulldog Bob Brown was the bartender! It was through Ruth Ann that I had the huge privilege to go to Bob’s house and talk with him. That led to meeting documentarian, former WWE writer and wrestling promoter Chris Gough. It was through Chris’ Metro Pro Wrestling shows that I made a lot of the connections that led to my working with WWE.

So. If you like my art, there’s a direct through line to Ruth Ann taking me to Bob Geigel’s house all of those years ago. She’s been through a lot with this struggle against cancer and she’s faced it as fiercely and bravely as the wrestlers portray in the ring.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

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UPCOMING WWE PAINTINGS  

• Tiffany Stratton

• Roman Reigns

• Kairi Sane

• Iyo Sky

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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Rob’s prints on WWE Shop!
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Instagram
YouTube

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WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK

Katy and I watched the latest episodes of The Crown, focusing on Diana’s last days. I really enjoyed this series throughout but gosh, when Diana entered it really took a huge step up. I don’t know that they could have cast someone better for the role than Elizabeth Debicki, who does a masterful job.

That said, I’ll be on my deathbed and my final words will be, “It was really hilarious that they cast one of the most dapper mf’ers alive in Dominic West to play Prince Charles.”

Wheel of Time Season Two is infinitely better than the first season. It’s like a SyFy Original became a prestige HBO series. It’s that odd thing where they seemed to recognize everything that could be improved from the first season and then, y’know, actually did it. They kept the focus on the characters and their emotional truths but wildly increased the quality of the production and editing. Really impressive.

Fargo Season Five opens with a dude getting punched in the dork. Tremendous. So far the new season is off to a hell of a start. It’s a sort of mix of Out of the Past and Yellowstone, where a Minnesota woman is arrested during a fight at a school board meeting and that brings out a lot of elements from her secret past to track her down. I’m really excited to see where this goes next.

I watched the first episode of A Murder at the End of the World yesterday morning and immediately fell in love. Feels like the Serial podcast meets Halt & Catch Fire with a dose of David Fincher. A pathologist’s daughter becomes an amateur sleuth but after a case goes very wrong she becomes an author and hacker and soon finds herself at a billionaire’s private conference in Iceland when someone from her past is murdered there. But nothing is what it seems and everyone has their secrets. Yeah. I’m on board.

Red Harvest by Michael Cherkas is a fascinating and moving graphic novel about the 1930’s Ukranian famine under Stalin’s Soviet control. Nearly a hundred years later, the concept of greed, hubris and mismanagement leading to hardships for so many unfortunately rings just as true today.

A new episode of the Hardcore History podcast dropped this week, continuing Dan Carlin’s look at the Vikings and how they moved through Europe, wreaking havoc and change everywhere they went. Equally in opposition to the spread of Christianity through the continent and often aiding in its spread as another form of cultural dominance and integration. It’s a monster six hours that’s kept me thoroughly engaged.

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Did anything happen at Survivor Series last night?

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Stuffing waffles in the upper right corner, baby!

YOU GOOD?  

Katy and I hosted my mom and stepdad for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Katy cooked the meal (along with mom bringing the green bean casserole) and it’s somehow better every year. Katy and I make a point of doing as little as possible between Thursday and Sunday, it’s kind of our only chance to relax throughout the year, watching shows and eating leftovers, taking naps and doing the same thing all over again.

Obviously, I’m still plugged into work because it IS my biggest sales period of the year and I needed to pop into the Art Fulfillment Center each day (oh hey, thanks for the massive sales!) and doing various computer thangs but that was…about it. Mostly I’ve spent the past several days recharging so that I can finish the year off strong. It’s been…a rough, hard year. But this was a good meal and a lovely time to just relax.

Love you more,
Rob

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EXCLUSIVE PAID SUBSCRIBER CONTENT

Paid subscribers this week will get an exclusive 25% off discount code to Schamberger Labs. Also lots of information about upcoming signed prints on WWE Shop. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.