Don't share this image until after 12PM CST. This is a perk for newsletter readers only. Be cool. Don't ruin it for everyone else.
Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. It is strong and you are tough, but a heart is not enough.
WORDS
After her recent appearance on Raw, I realized I was overdue for an iconic acrylic painting of Trish Stratus. I wanted it to have a 60’s/ 70’s paperback novel cover vibe, feeling that’d be a gorgeous way to capture Trish’s appearance, to convey both her beauty and her dangerous side.
In case you ever wondered what artists get excited about in their own work, one example is when a color palette really comes together like I feel this one did. The golden hues tempered with a neutral blue and just a hint of pink for her lips, nose and cheeks give this the extra ‘oomph’ I wanted. I never really know until I’m done if it works or not, and this was one of those where I wasn’t sure until the literal last brush stroke. But yeah, it worked.
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
Karrion Kross and Scarlet - I just finished this and it’s going to surprise you. It surprised me, at least!
Sheamus
Tommaso Ciampa
Veer Mahaan
Card subject to change.
Hundreds of prints and paintings at Schamberger Labs!
Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
###
Signed prints at WWE Auction.
###
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
SCHAMBERGER LABS: THE SERIES! SEASON TWO FINALE!
This is the single best watercolor painting I’ve made to date. For my latest Wrestling Landscape painting I knew that an Undertaker WrestleMania moment would be perfect for what I’m trying to do with this series thanks to the lighting, the scale, and the emotional resonance. I put a lot of time into just thinking about my approach to give this the appropriate feeling of depth, creating a feeling that you can almost reach into the painting, or go take a seat behind JBL and Michael Cole at ringside.
I hope it gives you the same level of excitement seeing it as I got out of making it, because friend I was thrilled from beginning to end with every movement of my brush.
Prints are available here. The initial week’s orders will be numbered and signed by me and are only available to newsletter subscribers. These orders will ship out around September 20th, I expect. After the paywall, there’s also a discount code for paid tier subscribers to get $15 off the print. Yeah. That much.
Finally, ‘founding member’ subscribers will get theirs for free, exclusively hand-remarqued by me. Yeah, I’m directly making original art on your print. These take a little longer, so be patient with me!
Yesterday I penciled out the next Wrestling Landscape painting, featuring Roman Reigns standing triumphant at SummerSlam 2022. Believe it or not, it’s even more detailed than this one! WHAT AM I DOING TO MYSELF!?!
SPOOKY SEASON IS HERE!
Cool weather arrived here in Kansas City, at least for a handful of days before it shoots back up to the 90’s, but that means we’re now back in the season for scary movies. We kicked it off last night with John Carpenter’s The Fog, because Katy and I wanted to start a personal Carpenter festival and we’d both never seen it before.
Which makes me wonder: Do you have any favorite scary or monster movies you like to watch this time of year? Or any you’ve never seen you plan to watch this year?
FIGURE DRAWING
Tuesday I attended the monthly figure drawing session at Art School KC and finally did a piece I’m happy with! Our model (@artmodelkc on IG) did some exceptional poses for us and something about the above piece especially really resonated with me. I didn’t go the Frazetta route stylistically but the pose and lighting were straight out of a Frank Frazetta piece and for a 20 minute painting I think it turned out solid.
I LOVE working with a live model again. Nothing beats it.
YOU GOOD?
Monday I worked backstage at WWE Raw, my first show since Money in the Bank and all of the big changes behind the scenes. It was a lot of ‘same job, different boss’ but also a very different, very positive energy with not just the wrestlers, but all of the staff as well. Katy noticed it as well (since she normally comes to at least the hometown shows to help me), so it wasn’t me projecting things onto others.
I had a fun chat with Corey Graves about how he thought he was going to die when Brock lifted the ring with the tractor at SummerSlam. If you’ve heard him talk about that on After the Bell or elsewhere, that’s a shoot brother. We also talked about grilling pizzas. Katy and I had great chats especially with Bayley, who we hadn’t seen since Survivor Series 2019(!) and Edge who’s simply the nicest dude around.
We got A LOT signed so that my signed prints at WWE Auction can go back to being a regular ongoing concern. I’ve got September’s scheduled releases after the paywall for you.
Another rad new thing that WWE is trying out with my signed prints is having some available at the merch stand in the venues! It’s a pilot program right now and only happening at a few upcoming shows, but I’m grateful to have them continue to put this faith in me and my work.
Shortly before the show started, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque stopped by to say hello. I congratulated him on his new position as head of creative and told him how I had an immediate and ongoing surge in sales the day he took over. He grinned and said, “It’s one show at a time, is all we can do.”
That’s a mentality I see a lot with people who excel like him or John Cena, that they acknowledge where they are, but don’t take it for granted and put in as much effort now at the top as they did every day climbing to the top. It’s something to learn from.
Love you more,
Rob
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 Trish Stratus painting. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Rob Schamberger Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.