Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Guilty feet have got no rhythm.
WHAT’S NEW?
A couple weeks ago while sorting through some of my archives I found this signed Paige print! This was, I believe, the first signed print I did of her. It’s on 8.5” x 11” glossy stock, unlike how I do my prints now.
I owe a lot of my early success in WWE to Saraya aka Paige. My art of her did VERY well and I’m told it got both of us taken seriously on the merchandise side. She’s always been a delight to work with.
I’m giving this away at random to someone who leaves a comment telling me about one of your favorite songs to listen to. It doesn’t have to be your all-time favorite song, because if you’re like me that changes all of the time. Just -A- favorite song and if there’s a reason why it holds that special place for you I’d love to hear your story about it!
Comments are open to all paid tier members!
Here’s a couple of my random favorites:
Katy and I’s song is Waylon Jennings’ Luckenbach, Texas. The story it tells about a couple who let their lives get in the way of their love and taking things back to basics resonates with us. Before a big event like WrestleMania we’ll listen to this to make sure we stay centered and grounded, knowing what we’re working so dang hard for.
The song that got me through lockdown was Robert Palmer’s cover of Pressure Drop by Toots and the Maytals. Why this cover and not the original? Dude, I don’t know. The heart wants what the heart wants. But for that year or so I purposefully listened to only upbeat music because, well, you don’t need me to rehash all of that. But for the year of 2020 I listened to this at least once a day and for at least five minutes I was doing good.
My biggest discovery of lockdown was that in the late 70’s Robert Palmer was fuggin AWESOME. Dude got down, man.
ICYMI, here's last week's Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Turned out pretty swell in my opinion.
UPCOMING VIDEOS
2/26 - Judgment Day
3/12 - Bray Wyatt
3/26 - Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels Wrestling Landscape
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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YouTube
WRESTLING LANDSCAPE PROGRESS
Friend, I’m going to be honest with you that through this point I’ve had a hard time really getting into this painting. I think what it is for me is because of the atmospheric distortion, everything so far has been very monochromatic and lacking contrast. By its nature! I’m painting the furthest-away portion of the composition so it SHOULD be this way, but it hasn’t given me a lot to sink my teeth into as contrast is my whole thing.
BUT!
It’s going to make the foreground of Bret and Shawn’s action really pop once I get to it. Paintings like this are a marathon and not a sprint and I need to trust my experience and abilities as I move through it.
NEXT WEEK: Colors other than blue get introduced!
WWE2K23 ICON EDITION
Hey, I painted this. No, I’m not going to shut up about it.
WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
You watched the first episode of Star Trek: Picard Season Three, right? I TOLD YOU SO.
Speaking of sci-fi, I checked out the first three episodes of The Ark and found it to be a solid show. I’ve got a soft spot for low budget sci-fi TV, having grown up in the 80’s and 90’s when that was pretty much all we had. It’s early, so the show could still veer either way quality-wise but so far it’s very watchable. I do wish it was lit differently, but that’s a personal taste thing.
Garth Marenghi’s TerrorTome came at me out of nowhere. It’s…a very specific joke played out excellently. A meta-type story about a self-absorbed horror writer of questionable ability whose stories come true, written by a self-absorbed horror writer of questionable ability who does the narration on the audiobook. If you’re one of the fifteen people who saw the show Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace starring Matt Berry, you’ll know all about this and also question how and why this book came to be. But holy moly the audiobook is a treasure as ‘Marenghi’ mispronounces words and poorly does accents. The one that stuck out with me was when the main character sees a giant worm and is told that it’s actually a ‘wyrm’ so from that point on it’s mispronounced as ‘weerm’.
Oh, and there’s an army of skeletal warriors unironically called boners.
Like I said, a very specific niche joke but knowing people like this in real life I was dying laughing.
I finished reading Grendel Omnibus volume 3 by Matt Wagner and friends. It varied in quality and was often a bit too dense but the good stuff really shone through. I’d never read this portion of the Grendel mythos, centering on Orion’s rise to becoming emperor of the world. The Tim Sale art, especially on the the Vegas Vampires portion was gorgeous.
The Complete Eightball by Daniel Clowes is one to read in small bits. Clowes’ humor is often dark and heavy which for me personally can be a tad much, but golly it’s so excellently done. I’d really only read the individual collected stories from the series, Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, Ghost World and Pussey so yeah, I’d missed out on A LOT. ‘Velvet’ is so dang good. It’s a very David Lynch-ian bit of surrealism and danger.
My pal Chris Gough has a new podcast called The Worst Territory in the World, focusing in on the history of pro wrestling in our home town of Kansas City. In another life I did a comic book loosely based on KC wrestling in the 70’s, which was how Chris and I became friends as at the same time he did the excellent KC on the Mat documentary. Chris interviews folks who were active back then with Central States Wrestling on through to wrestlers working today and his own time heading up Metro Pro Wrestling and the NWL.
I always wonder if anyone reads the ‘What I Liked’ section or just scrolls past it. It’s all so particular to my personal tastes.
We had a really fun time in the private chat last night talking up the WWE Elimination Chamber live, our biggest chat thread yet! The show itself was an absolute masterpiece in my opinion, with a main event that stands with the greatest moments in wrestling history.
The chat is a bonus feature for paid-tier members that you can access through the Substack Reader app.
She works so hard.
YOU GOOD?
I had a good art week. My new schedule is starting to really pay off for me, letting me be more methodical and intentional with my work. I love that it’s so much more about making the best paintings I can versus getting the painting done on time.
Before this gets taken out of context, I make my own schedule and the prior frequency of doing a weekly painting was something I did to myself. It was the right decision for that time, and slowing down a bit now is also the right thing for me.
Anyway.
I finished up the Judgment Day painting on Wednesday and it exceeded my expectations for it. My cat Kima would like you to think SHE does all of the work, but I swear I’m the one who makes these dang things. You’ll see next week, but it’s terrifying in its beauty.
Thursday through yesterday I worked on the Bret vs Shawn Wrestling Landscape, taking my time with its intricate background. I’m a couple weeks ahead on it now and yeah, you should start getting really excited for this one.
I’m looking forward to what my work looks like after a year of this more deliberate pace. Thanks for giving me the space to explore!
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 signed Paige print. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.
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