SHOP TALK: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 24NOV24
My thoughts ya hear and ya begin to fear.
Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Started as a sketch in my notebook, and now dope hooks make punks take another look.
WORDS
On Tuesday I had the great fortune to work with my longtime friend, former studiomate and ace photographer Paul Andrews and our model Zelda to start putting together reference for my upcoming Human Needs series of paintings. Above was one last study I did before the shoot to give them a feel for what I’m after.
I was telling Katy the other night that Paul has the ability to both execute my vision and at the same time stoke my inferiority complex. The same goes with Zelda. Like, I gave them the overview, the props, the sketches and the studies and they just went so far beyond what I would have been thrilled with. Just that great.
Paul ended up taking about 500 shots so while he’s compiling those and getting them over to me I worked up this study from the shoot, playing around with colors and methods. Between the holiday and some AEW commitments I may not properly start on these for a couple weeks but I’m feeling super excited and confident that these will be the next evolution of my work.
Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new Sting painting. I believe that this is of Sting and not of Sting wearing a Sting mask. Hard to say, honestly.
UPCOMING AEW/PWT PAINTINGS
Sting
Konosuke Takashita
Hangman Adam Page
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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Instagram
Threads
Bluesky
Cara
YouTube
There’s posters now, too! That’s something that you like, I’ve heard. And remember, ALL of my prints and posters at ShopAEW and Pro Wrestling Tees are 40% off during their annual Black Friday Sale. Take advantage of that, for real for real.
PODCASTS I’M LISTENING TO
Besides audiobooks I listen to a lot of podcasts while I’m working. Here’s the ones I’m currently enjoying:
GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT
Best Movies Never Made - Self-explanatory, right? A group of Hollywood writers dig through all of the great movies that were never made. Recent episodes include the Nick Cave-written Gladiator 2 (really), never-made Halloween sequels (kaiju Michael Myers!?!) and the insanity that was Rob Zombie’s Crow screenplay that was a post-apocalyptic zombie Solomon Kane.
The Plot Thickens - Currently off-season, but it’s a deep-dive TCM podcast hosted by Ben Mankiewicz that looks at the lives and careers of influential people in entertainment. The last season was on John Ford and there was an outstanding on on Lucille Ball.
The Prestige TV Podcast - I come in and out on this one as it focuses in on various current TV shows that I may or may not have watched yet. They also do occasional episodes on notable series finales that are super fun.
Talking Pictures - The other Ben Mankiewicz TCM podcast with stand-alone interview episodes. A couple weeks ago they got the holy grail with Bill Murray that’s a must-listen.
The Town - A very inside-baseball look at the business side of Hollywood. It’s there for people in the entertainment business and the people who are REALLY into the behind the scenes machinations of the industry.
Unspooled - Another one that I come in and out of as I’ve either not seen all of the movies or didn’t particularly love them, but it’s overall a good balance of review, criticism, history and some laughs.
COMEDY
Comedy Bang! Bang! - I’m relatively new to this but man, I’m all about it now. The format is an acquired taste but once I got it, I REALLY got it. It’s set up as an interview show hosted by Scott Aukerman with a ‘real’ person and the other guests are all improv actors portraying various ridiculous characters. Kind of like The Muppet Show but, like, no muppets.
Handsome - Hosted by Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin, it’s the three of them riffing off each other while answering pre-recorded questions from celebrity guests. Simple format that works really well.
How Did This Get Made - Out of all of these, this is the show I’ve listened to the second-longest. Paul, June and Jason keep finding all of these glorious bad movies and continue to find ways to lovingly(?) watch them. For instance, they finally watched Troll 2 after over a decade. Hopefully some day they’ll watch the disaster that was Taking Lives, notably for the WILD scene at the end.
Newcomers - In its off-season, but this is a show where Nicole Beyer and Lauren Lapkus watch notable movies that they’ve never seen and then talk about them in hilarious fashion. Past seasons have included the oeuvres of Marvel, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Martin Scorsese, and sports movies. Some they love, some they…don’t.
Threedom - The most chaotic show I listen to that’s purely just Scott Aukerman, Lauren Lapkus and Paul F Tompkins riffing off of each other. It’s the one that gets me to laugh HARD, which nowadays is very welcome.
POLITICS/ HISTORY
Hardcore History - The show I’ve been listening to the longest now. It releases very irregularly but each episode is normally like 4-8 hours. Host Dan Carlin does deep dives into various events and figures that shaped the world, currently in the midst of finally getting into the one-of-a-kind figure that was Alexander the Great.
Serious Trouble - The only political show that I listen to anymore. Hosts Josh Barro and Ken White look at the various events and personalities in American politics from a purely legal viewpoint. It’s…a jaded show but one that’s based in reality and not just saying what people want to hear. It aggravates me as much as it informs me, but I guess that means it’s doing its job.
(MERMAID) FIGURE DRAWING SESSION
Last Sunday was a first for me with a figure drawing group: A mermaid. Our model professionally works as a mermaid at places like renaissance fairs and similar events. So, yeah, she had the tail on.
I ended up not doing much with the tail as I was working small and I would have ended up leaving a lot of the paper blank to fit it all in. I’m still happy with the studies I did, though.
She was a fantastic model, very aware of how she was positioned for us. She was also exactly what I was hoping for: A hard-edged, no-nonsense salty sailor.
Fierce jungle tiger.
YOU GOOD?
Quiet week for me. Still processing the past few weeks, honestly. The big emotions will spike here and there but it’s evening out. I’m sure it’ll ramp back up in January. It’s the waiting and the not knowing how bad it will get and how quickly, right? I have to be in the moment and take each moment of each day as they come, all with an eye on the future. Or something.
(It’s the apathy of my fellow citizens that I’m struggling with the most right now. Not everyone is capable of empathy, I know that, but it’s still jarring to see it writ large.)
Okay, so there’s that. I’ve been busy with painting. I’ve been doing a lot around the house, both to prepare to host my mom and stepfather on Thanksgiving and also to just keep myself grounded. On Sunday we brought up an area rug from the basement that we knew was stained but wanted to see if we could clean it and we had this beautiful discovery: There were clumps of our old cat Monkey’s hair on it from before our last move and her subsequent passing. We got to, after a sort, pet her one more time. That was…really beautiful.
I made stuffed shells on Tuesday night. After picking the final harvest of bell peppers before the cold months, on Friday night I made chilli mac-stuffed peppers. A lot of self care that’s currently working, I suppose.
Love you more,
Rob