THE USOS: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 11DEC22

Through your spine to the top of your cerebral cortex.

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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. An axe killer adventure, paint a picture well.

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WORDS  

I realized I hadn’t done a new painting of Jimmy and Jey Uso on their own in far too long. So for this new one, I wanted to do something different than I had for past paintings of them and took a more illustrative approach.

After putting down some masking fluid to preserve the white of the paper for the highlights on their figures, I applied a couple coats of colored ink, first some orange and magenta before a watered-down coat of bright red. After that, I had some fun ruling out the straight lines of the op-art background and filling it in with black ink before using more ink on the Usos’ figures. I finished it off with some black colored pencil for texture on both their figures and also a bit in the background, making it all feel a little more organic.

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ICYMI, here's last week's Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Tomorrow's will go up on WWE's YouTube channel at 11AM CST!

UPCOMING VIDEOS  

• RIVALRY SERIES: Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens - This one defied my expectations and I think you’re going to dig it, too!

• Paul Heyman acrylic - It’s not going to be what you expect.

• Bron Breakker

• Veer Mahaan

Card subject to change.

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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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Instagram
YouTube

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SCHAMBERGER LABS: THE SERIES! SEASON FINALE!

The next Wrestling Landscape Painting will be Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart from WrestleMania XII! It might be a week or two before I start as I need to bank up some paintings for WWE before their holiday break. Feeling like this will be an acrylic painting this time around.

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WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK  

What I liked the most was going to the monthly figure drawing session at Art School KC. I…don’t get out of the house much and going to these has been so refreshing. It’s a different set of artistic ‘muscles’ drawing from a live model with a set amount of time. The one above was a 20 minute pose done with watercolor, charcoal pencil and a red pen. It’s fun seeing how much I can do in the time given, and to then see how the other artists in the room approached the pose from their own vantage.

I think this was overall my best session. I’m super happy with the work I did throughout. I shared them over on my Instagram the other day if you want to check them out.

It’s a pure and enriching experience for me.

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Speaking of pure and enriching…

YOU GOOD?  

I surprised the Wrestling Club kids with a box of prints the other day. In Junior High my art teacher Mr Klausing started a comic book club when he saw how passionate I was about making them and that really made a difference in my life. My single mom could only do so much on her own and having someone believe in me and give me that space like Mr Klausing did went a really long way.

It’s so fun seeing these kids getting a similar place to come together and share their interests, and to send them these prints, this art that has a direct link back to something just like what they’re doing, means a lot to me. It’s a cool thing they’re doing there.

WWE is fully supporting my decision to slow down my output in a few weeks. I can’t say enough good things about the people I work with there and I’m so grateful for the platform they provide for me and my work. But after ten years of this pace I think the time is right for me to spend more time on the type of paintings I want to make going forward.

In therapy I’ve learned that keeping myself busy all of the time was a way to keep myself distracted from the things that are interfering with my true happiness. Looking back on it, I’ve done this for the majority of my adult life. If I filled every moment of every day with productivity then the gravity of other parts of my life wouldn’t enter.

I’ve recently made some very big steps towards addressing the roots of those issues. It’s…deeply personal and a giant bummer so I won’t get into any of it here except to say that I’ve made some giant swings at moving in a more positive direction. Through that, I find that my need to be busy all of the time is lessening as well.

I don’t know if any of this makes any sense to anyone beyond me, Katy and my therapists but if there’s someone reading this in a similar boat I just want to let you know that the emotional work eventually pays off.

And for everyone else? I’m excited about the paintings I’m going to be able to make for you very soon. Already I’m seeing a difference in my work from brain power freeing up and it’s going to be fun seeing how much further I can take it.

Love you more,
Rob

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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, and 24 hour advance access for the original Usos painting. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.