SHOP TALK: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 08JUN25
I can't seem to face up to the facts.
Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax.
WORDS
‘Striped Red Umbrella’
Watercolor on 12” x 9” watercolor paper
A few weeks back I went to an outdoor figure drawing session and was really struck by how the light was shining through this umbrella on our model Brock, both the red cast shadow and also the white bleached-out area. I had a little time this week and worked up this study of it.
Above is the sketch I did from the original session, along with the one for the other painting I made this week.
‘She Looks Away’
Watercolor on 16” x 12” watercolor paper
It’s my favorite painting I’ve done of Joanna so far, and one of my favorite paintings I’ve made overall. I rarely like my own work and it’s even rarer that I feel like I did ‘the real thing’ but this is one of those. Like I say, I’m constantly chasing a feeling with the work I make and this painting gave me that feeling.
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:
My last solo piece of The Algonauts, this one featuring Doorbuster. Great name. He’s fighting a skeleton with a gun and goggles and one of those dang axe-wielding robots. I’m getting close on the overall look and feel I’m after with the book, with the working title of NOSTOS/ALGOS.
Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new Kris Statlander painting.
UPCOMING AEW/PWT PAINTINGS
Kris Statlander - SIGNED!
Speedball Mike Bailey
Konosuke Takeshita
Kenny Omega
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
I’d been looking forward to the new show Adults and it’s solidly funny. It took a couple episodes to find its footing but it seems to be humming along nicely now. It’s about five people in their 20’s living together in a house in Queens, trying to make a go of it. There’s a funny bit with cards in the first episode but it’s more around episode 4 that it starts getting truly funny.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary The Talking Heads have finally put out an official Psycho Killer video and it’s fuggin great. Directed by Mike Mills and starring Saoirise Ronan, well…you just gotta see it:
Watched it? Okay, let’s talk about this blast of brilliance. Mills said his approach was that it’s not about Ronan being psychotically violent, but instead that the world around her is psychically violent and she’s just trying to survive from day to day. She’s just trying to keep it together as the world keeps trying to take away everything. The amount of acting on Ronan’s part to get this across through 200(!) shots in such short bursts is straight up masterful, both in her face and with such engaging physicality.
Did you know that Psycho Killer was the first song David Byrne ever wrote for the band?
Yesterday morning I watched Predator: Killer of Killers, another thing I’ve been looking forward to for a while. From the same director as the excellent Prey, Dan Trachtenburg, it’s an animated film looking at various cases of the Predators interacting with humanity throughout history, focusing on a Viking woman, a feudal-era Japanese man and a WWII-era Latin American pilot. At first it seems like it’s an anthology of stories but…it’s not. I don’t want to say more than that because it’s a fun journey. It’s a visual treat as well, very stylized and painterly with some truly stunning shots. Being animated, it’s safe to say they weren’t as worried about physics or in two cases, hypothermia, as just making something awesome to watch. While there’s definitely some suspension of disbelief in this movie about alien monsters, they do an excellent job of keeping the emotional accuracy of the humans right on point.
Love is Love
YOU GOOD?
Wishing you a Happy Pride Month! You’re wonderful for being exactly who you are. We’re not going to let anyone tear us down, we’re not going to let the bastards win. I’m glad you’re here being the person that you are, and thanks for accepting me for who I am.
Love you more,
Rob