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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. You labeled me, I'll label you, so I dub thee unforgiven.

With every painting that I do now, I decide what the story of it will be. What am I highlighting, which colors am I using to do that and how am I applying them through the flow of the composition, all of that. The main ‘story’ with this new Jamie Hayter painting, the thing I want to highlight, is her kissing her bicep. It’s a very powerful visual, why wouldn’t I? So I framed that in black to give it extra significance but I still want the viewer’s eye to be carried through the rest of the painting. That’s why the most detail of the piece is in the middle with the design on her gear, that’s then lead down further by the angle of her other arm.

It’s a simple piece relatively speaking, but I like to think it’s also a bold one.

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

The artist Jean Giraud is best-known for his science fiction comics under the alias of Moebius, but he had another notable body of work under the alias of Gir. This work is predominantly based in the American Old West around the character Blueberry and stylistically it has more use of shadows and textural lines than his clean-line Moebius comics.

It actually predates the Moebius stuff so you can see more of his artistic evolution through the Blueberry books. For instance, the page above doesn’t quite yet have his signature confidence of line or strong usage of composition. Like, it’s still lush and accomplished but nowhere near where his art will evolve.

The texture on the trees is simply fabulous, right? And look at how much cleaner of a composition this is with the characters framed by that texture and the shadows. Their figures are also far more naturalistic in their posing and how they’re weighted within their environment.

But gosh, those trees!

I’m also a huge fan of the bubblegummy-yet-subdued colors used for the Blueberry books. I’m not sure if Gir colored them himself but they’re a perfect accompaniment to his lines.

Like a lot of guys in their 20’s I had a period of fascination with the Spaghetti Westerns, especially Sergio Leone’s films. I feel like the Blueberry books fit perfectly into that genre’s aesthetic and overall vibe. They’re long out of print here in the States but you can pick up the translations fairly cheaply if you look around. The stories can be kinda dry but unlike the joke about Playboys, I’m getting these just to look at the pictures!

This 1814 painting by Francisco Goya has been on my mind for the past week. It depicts the Spanish people in the aftermath of their uprising against Napoleon’s occupation, being gunned down by French soldiers. It’s largely considered the first work of modern art, for how it broke from the conventions of historical art that glorified war and mythologized soldiers and their leaders. Stylistically it departs from the realism that was the norm of the time and those stylistic choices are seen to be primary influences for the Impressionists and the Cubists.

And, like, sure all of that art history stuff is fine and dandy but it’s the story and the emotions that this painting evokes that has it so prominent on my mind right now. The soldiers are in darkness and are committing unequivocal evil. The figures being executed are in the light, their bodies falling into pools of their own blood while the focal figure is standing in a Christ-like pose with stigmata on his hands, speaking to who in this moment is holy and who is not.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does echo. And this painting is echoing through my mind a lot right now.

Love you more,
Rob