Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Nevermore to go astray.
OH HEY, WHAT’S THAT?
Looks like a print signed by Roman Reigns, the Usos and Paul Heyman, doesn’t it? I bet that’d be something good to launch on Black Friday. That’s what I think. I reckon I’ll talk a lot more about this and other signed prints on the other side of the paywall at the end of this here newsletter. Might want to make sure you’re a paid subscriber if you’re into this sort of thing, right? It’s only five bucks a month.
Thursday the rest of my library went up on WWE Shop. Like I’ve talked about with you recently, this was a herculean task that has been actively worked on since January with WWE and Fanatics. It entailed A LOT more than I ever anticipated, so many spreadsheets, new procedures, new departments to interface with in different ways, and a whole lot of unexpected delays.
I’m now in a relationship with WWE that’s like Mattel’s or 2K’s, in that I’m a licensee. But that also means that I’m held to the same levels of quality, professionalism and service as them. My relationship with Fanatics is what’s called a dropshipper, essentially a warehouse that fulfills orders placed through their site in a seamless way for the customer. Both of these relationships are ones that normally a company with huge staffs do, that my assistant David and I are doing on our own. I’m proud of this.
I’ve lost hair and gained weight over this process from the stress. I understand now why no other artist has had this arrangement before, because the setup was so lengthy and expensive. Insurance policies, office space, inventory, software, lost sales while we were making the transition, waiting to get on a new invoice cycle…it hasn’t been easy.
But I did it.
I leveled up my business in a big way and the potential for how this can and will affect me is huge. Thanks again for being with me on this journey.
With all of those words out of the way, here’s a progress shot of next week’s new Asuka painting. I’ve set a standard for myself that I do my best work with Asuka and I think you’ll see that this keeps that tradition going.
UPCOMING WWE PAINTINGS
Asuka
Tiffany Stratton
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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Rob’s prints on WWE Shop!
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Instagram
YouTube
WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due is a vitally important book that I can’t recommend highly enough. It’s about a 12 year old black boy in 1950’s Florida who is unjustly arrested and put into a reformatory and everything his 16 year old sister has to do to free him. Oh, and the boy can see ghosts and the girl can see the future. Inspired by Due’s uncle who died in a reformatory, it’s a terrifying ghost story about how we’re still haunted by our past.
Loving The Reformatory so much, I got a copy of Due’s graphic novel The Keeper with Steven Barnes and Marco Finnegan. It’s a similarly-themed short story set in the modern day, adapted by Barnes and Finnegan from Due’s treatment for a never-made movie with Jordan Peele. Yeah. You read that right. An orphaned girl is protected by a supernatural force with ties to her family, but this spirit’s help comes at a horrifying cost.
Noir Burlesque by Enrico Marini is exactly what it sounds like: A noir story set around a burlesque performer and the man who wishes he didn’t love her. Marini is one of my favorite artists, creating lush stylistic illustrations that are offset by the violence they’re bringing to life.
W0rldtr33 volume 1 by James Tynion IV and Fernando Blanco explores what would happen if the internet inadvertently connected to another world’s internet. A group of hackers who originally discovered this in college and thought they had cut off the connection are brought back together when it comes back. It’s a Cthulhu-esque dark world whose very ideas drive humans insane, quickly putting the entire world in peril. Blanco’s dramatic art is perfect for this concept and is often so jarring that I thought this was really all happening.
Invincible season two is off to a rockin’ start. The original comics didn’t pull its punches and this adaptation sure as hell doesn’t, either. It’s smashmouth and bloody but also light and fun, making for a very enjoyable watch.
Tokyo Calling by Atarashii Gakko! is totally rad. I guess I like a Japanese girl group now and I’m okay with that. But seriously, this video is outstanding. One of the coolest I’ve seen in a minute.
Contrasting colors.
YOU GOOD?
This was a pretty good week. The Thursday launch with my library on WWE Shop was a big piece of good news, along with another professional thing I can’t get into publicly. Good things, though.
Outside of the work related to that, I spent time with my next Emotions Series painting, its progress shown above. It’s a very complicated piece that’s way outside of my skillset’s comfort zone, which is why I challenged myself with it. I’m getting so much from making these paintings, as an artist and as a human being on a journey of self-discovery.
I used to think that the whole ‘tortured artist suffering for their art’ was a bunch of nonsense, but here I am. It’s really rewarding, though, to externalize these sides of myself, to view them from the outside and also to show them to the people in my life. I’ve also had people reach out to me about how they can start therapy and one friend wondered if they may have a similar condition to mine. I also had a lovely conversation with my best friend Andy about what they mean to him, getting a meaning that resonates with him that wasn’t what I was doing but that is just as valid and real.
“Why would you make paintings that have given you nightmares, caused an emotional breakdown and left you sobbing?” That’s why. They’re helping me and the people who see them in a true way. That’s not just why I’m making these, but why I’m an artist in the first place.
Love you more,
Rob
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.
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