SHOP TALK: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 29SEP24
It's no stranger to you and me.
Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. I've seen your face before, my friend, but I don't know if you know who I am.
WORDS
Above is my third painting of one of the four ‘Guardian Spirit’ statues at the top of the National World War I Museum Liberty Memorial here in Kansas City. I’m really enjoying mixing the amorphous nature of watercolor with the clean art deco lines of the tower.
That’s what the tower looks like, if you’re unfamiliar. It’s truly stunning to see in person.
Super happy with this one, a painting of a pigeon on a statue in Florence. Katy was in a shop, if I remember right there may have been some perfumes up front which I’m allergic to, so I was hanging outside. This statue was set into a building across the street and I saw that a pigeon had landed right on its elbow. Like, wow, that’s so perfect, right? I thought it would make for a perfect composition for a painting.
Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new Dustin Rhodes painting. Hella fun working on this one.
UPCOMING AEW/PWT PAINTINGS
Dustin Rhodes - SIGNED
Deonna Purrazzo - SIGNED
Darby Allin
Sting
Abadon
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
Cara
YouTube
WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
After 31 years I finally got to see Batman: Mask of the Phantasm on the big screen! For whatever reason I missed it during its original run, but have watched it a lot over the years, starting with the VHS that came packaged with that awesome comic book adaptation drawn by the late, great Mike Parobeck. But it always nagged me that I hadn’t seen it in a proper theater. Until Tuesday night at my local AMC. Listen, the print wasn’t great and the sound wasn’t much better and friend I simply did not care, because it finally happened.
It’s tied with the 1966 Adam West movie for my favorite Batman flick.
Katy and I started watching The Rings of Power season 2 with its first two episodes and are enjoying it. I’m REALLY BAD about remembering the names of characters in fantasy stories, so I’ve already settled on ‘Ginger Dwarf’ and ‘Doogie Howser Elf’ for a couple of them. With Game of Thrones I would talk about Naked Dragon Lady and Sir Friendzone, of course.
Rebel Ridge on Netflix is a deft modernization of an 80’s action film, sort of asking the question “What if John Rambo in First Blood was a black man in the Southern US?” It has a lot of those 80’s action elements to it, though it leans more towards being a thriller with grounded action sequences. It does a solid job of introducing the Trouble Man archetype into a modern perspective on police corruption. Nothing’s black and white, everyone has a relatable motivation, but there’s still what’s right and what’s wrong. Good stuff.
I finished up the second Avengers by Kurt Busiek omnibus a few days ago. George Perez rightfully gets recognized for his art on this run, but I want to give a special shout out to Alan Davis and Kieron Dwyer who also did some top notch work. Davis is a huge name, so him coming on after Perez was a great decision to not get locked into a certain look for the book and man, Dwyer’s work in wrapping it up with the Kang storyline was really great. Stylized yet clear storytelling always wins with me. Story-wise, it dragged a bit towards the end of Perez’ time, with a few issues pretty much featuring the characters sitting around a table. Jerry Ordway’s art on the Maximum Security stuff was cool to see, although that bit of story just kinda came and went. But man, once the Kang stuff starts up it gets great and stays great.
My copy of The Marvel Art of David Mack came in and it’s a real beauty. David is obviously a big influence on my art, so I pounce on the chance to buy any art book of his work when they come out. I really like that this one has a lot of previously-unpublished private commissions in it to fill it out.
OG Headbanger
YOU GOOD?
Here’s another small painting of the statue of Perseus with Medusa’s Head in Florence, Italy. I took the color palette from a Frank Frazetta Buck Rogers cover, because of course I did.
I’m partial to the story of Perseus and Medusa. It’s a parable about someone in Medusa who was traumatized by the whims of fate, leaving her as this twisted creature who destroys everyone who gazes upon her (aka hurt people hurt people). Perseus is given the task to slay her (aka literally facing his trauma head on). He centers himself by praying to the gods (aka going to a therapist) who give him the tools he needs to overcome this task. Perseus later uses Medusa’s head (aka he’s now able to utilize that trauma without it overwhelming him) against an even larger foe in King Atlas to then create something beautiful by turning the king to stone and where he fell became the Atlas mountains.
So, yeah, I think that there’s something relatable in being facing one’s trauma and overcoming it with the aid of a therapist, and then utilizing that to create something beautiful for the world around you. No idea why! Doesn’t relate to my own personal mental health journey at all!
Can’t wait to walk into my therapist’s office tomorrow morning and asking her, “So, how much do you know about Greek mythology?”
Love you more,
Rob