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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. I stay at home, just like a hermit.

With Eddie Kingston’s return I jumped on the opportunity to do (what I thought was) my first painting of the Mad King. I’m a longtime fan of his talking especially. The guy’s got a knack for expressing himself on the microphone, y’know? He’s not some muscly guy, he’s not out there doing fancy flips, but if you were to run into this guy in a bar you know you’re getting your ass beat and he’s going to make everyone there laugh at you once it’s done. He’s a throwback-type that brings a sense of reality to pro wrestling that I personally enjoy.

So, this is pretty fun. I could have sworn I’d never painted Eddie Kingston before but in my archive I found I’d made this painting of him back in November of 2012, thirteen(!) years before I made this one. Looking at it I sorta remember it now, but I’ve lived some life between then and now. It’s fascinating to compare these two paintings of the same subject, one from when I first began the wrestling-based paintings and now one of my latest. I can see a couple things I held onto stylistically but otherwise it’s like it was made by a completely different artist.

Like, look at them side by side. It’s interesting to me, studying these paintings made almost exactly 13 years apart of the same subject. Obviously Kingston has lived a lot of life in between so there’s those superficial differences but I’m looking at my craft and approach to making each of these. I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable and confident with my mediums and have upgraded the quality of paints I use considerably.

That first one was done with this pan of dried paints and then ink for the black. I also scanned it in and used the multiply function in Photoshop to correct the bleaching that comes from using a scanner. Hey, I used the materials I had to the best of my abilities at the time. No shame in that game. I’ve learned a LOT since then, though.

I’m a firm believer of the saying that, “It’s not the tools, it’s how you use them.” But I’m also all about upgrading the tools once you know better how to use them. That and one of my mentors’ faces when they saw what I was using and I realized it was finally time to get the fancy stuff.

But it’s not the tools, really. To paraphrase Jack Kirby, “There’s nothing magic about it, kid, it’s just a pencil.” It’s the decades of putting in the effort to learn every little thing I can.

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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Bluesky
Cara
YouTube
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Katy’s book Oldest Kansas City

Yesterday morning I experimented with a breakfast casserole, inspired by the Velveeta green bean casserole quiche we do with our Thanksgiving leftovers. Here’s what I did:

INGREDIENTS:

After the bread got stale to the touch, I sprayed a Pyrex casserole dish with some olive oil cooking spray and then tore up the bread and lined it along the bottom. I then set that aside.

In a large pan I put some olive oil on the bottom and added the onions and bell peppers with a pinch of salt to saute. I then chopped up the mushrooms and once the onions and peppers had a sheen to them I added the mushrooms as well as a splash of my homemade white wine vinegar (that’s optional and I wouldn’t recommend using store-bought vinegar for this) and raised the heat up to medium to let it cook down.

Once the moisture was largely evaporated I added the shaved garlic and let that cook for about another minute. After turning the heat down to a simmer I then poured in the cream of mushroom soup, a splash of milk and the block of Velveeta cheese, occasionally stirring as the cheese melted.

At the same time, I cracked 12 eggs into a large mixing bowl and added the milk, salt, shredded cheese, pepper and Italian seasoning. I whisked it all together and sat it aside. The veggie mix was done so I removed that from the heat and poured it evenly over the bread crumbs, then poured the egg mix over that. I covered it with foil and refrigerated overnight to let everything mix and soak.

In the morning I let it sit uncovered on the counter for about 15 minutes while the oven heated to 375, then baked uncovered for 45 minutes. 35 minutes into the bake I poked a few air holes to allow moisture to escape, but that wasn’t too much of a problem. Once the bake was done with the top a golden brown and the edges crusty I pulled it out to cool for another 10 minutes.

Then I ate a slab of that sumbitch. Ate another one this morning. Goddam right I’m eatin’ another one tomorrow.

Love you more,
Rob