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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams.
WORDS
I thought it’d be fun to do a literal wrestling landscape with this Triple H painting. Inspired by his WrestleMania 22 entrance, I transplanted him to a brutal mountain-scape, the king of an endless kingdom.
I probably spent as much time looking at this and trying to figure out how to paint this as I did actually painting it. It’s very much unlike anything I’ve done before, especially with acrylics, and I was learning new tools and techniques as I went to get it to look the way I wanted. I haven’t struggled with a painting this much in a long time, which I feel good about. If I’m not pushing myself beyond my comfort zone, especially on a painting of Triple H then I’m not growing.
WWE felt for the print they wanted Triple H shown more prominently. Especially at 11x14, I can see why they felt that way. He’d be pretty tiny on it! Still thought it’d be fun to show you the original ‘director’s cut’ (artist’s cut?) of what I originally envisioned.
ICYMI, here's the latest Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Tomorrow’s episode will go up on WWE's YouTube channel at 12PM CST!
UPCOMING PAINTINGS
Cody Rhodes acrylic. Just finished this and it’s NOT what you expect. ‘American Nightmare’ indeed.
LA Knight
Rhea Ripley
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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Prints and Signed Prints at WWE Shop
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WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
I was eagerly looking forward to The Sky Vault by Benjamin Percy and it definitely met those high expectations. The third book in his Sky Cycle series, it’s a sort of mashup of Cthuhlu myth, Stranger Things, Oppenheimer and John Woo’s Hong Kong films. A comet came within Earth’s orbit and pieces of it rained down impossible elements that have changed everything we know about the laws of physics. Or maybe all of that’s completely wrong and something else entirely is happening.
Blue Book volume 1 by James Tynion IV and Mike Oeming is rad if you’re a fellow UFOlogist and conspiracy theory fan. It tells the (maybe) true story of a couple who were abducted by aliens and how the experience affected them. I grew up on the show Unsolved Mysteries so I’m totally the target audience for this, and that it’s drawn by the incomparable Mike Oeming takes it to another level.
Reservation Dogs season 3 episode 9, the series’ penultimate episode, is further evidence of why this is my current favorite show. One of the kids, Elora, needs to find her father to sign some forms for her college financial aid paperwork. The father she’s never known, who walked out on her and her mom and went on to start a family he actually wanted. A father played by Ethan Hawke, who’s doing some career best work here and that’s really saying something. It’s awkward and authentic and messy.
After watching it, Katy turned to me and asked if I was okay.
“That’s what it was like,” I said.
The best show.
Also:
You’re welcome.
Oh! And here’s Metallica playing Master of Puppets live on Howard Stern a few years ago.
Lars and I have the same hair, apparently.
YOU GOOD?
I started decorating the Schamberger Labs Art Fulfillment Center this week, putting up some original paintings, my Mattel Elite figures and the above convention banner. It was our first week of operations getting orders out and it went super well. I stop in every morning moving more things over and making sure my guy David’s got everything he needs. It’s…really nice.
Getting it planned out, moved over and set up was a daunting undertaking especially in context of everything else I’ve got going on but gosh it’s great. I can now focus on growing my inventory on WWE Shop and integrating those backend operations with Schamberger Labs which will take my business to the next level for sure. It’s also lovely having the space in our house.
It got cramped, with Katy and I both working out of the house and my having an employee coming in every week day to work out of our dining room. Started feeling like a hoarder house to a degree. Like, we’re able to have the house because of all of this and I never lost my gratitude but it’s also nice to have a dining room again. Plus Katy’s office is now just Katy’s office instead of 2/3 of it being my stockroom.
I feel like a grownup now.
Love you more,
Rob
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