CAGEMATCH: For all the users who dont know you, who is Rob Schamberger?Rob Schamberger: I'm a fine artist specializing in portraits of professional wrestlers. My main project is called The Champions Collection, where I am painting portraits of every one of the world champions from all of the major American wrestling promotions, totaling in over 250 portraits by the time it's done! I also do artwork for WWE and make appearances for them.
What's the reason you decided to draw WWE Superstars?Haha, they asked me to! It started with The Champions Collection, but I expanded to doing wrestling pieces that interested me beyond world champions, including current WWE talent.
Which wrestler is your favourite one to draw?Whichever one I'm working on at the time! Beyond that,
The Ultimate Warrior and
Macho Man are naturally fun to depict, as well as
The Undertaker.
Do you have contact to WWE or former WWE Superstars? Do they tell you their opinions on your work?Yeah, I work with WWE so we're in pretty much constant contact. I'll go backstage at shows to get originals signed by the subjects an those go up on WWE Auctions every week. The wrestlers all dig what I do and several of them even use my pieces as their Twitter profile pictures, on top of several owning originals.
Let's talk about your work. How long does it take to get from an idea to a finished painting?There's a legend of a woman walking through a Parisian park and sees a man sitting on a bench sketching. She says, "My goodness, you're the famous painter Pablo Picasso, aren't you?" "I am," he replies. "Can you draw my portrait?" He agrees to her request. He looks at her for a couple of minutes, then quickly makes a few marks on the paper, creating a perfect likeness. He hands it to her and says, "That will be $500." "But that only took a few minutes to do!" she indignantly replies. "No, it took me a lifetime." Every piece an artist does informs what they do next through trial and error and lessons learned. While one piece may take an hour and another takes days, ultimately they all take a lifetime to create.
What is your inspiration?I draw inspiration from everywhere. I'll spend an hour every morning just looking at other artists' work, seeing how they solved problems and how I can apply that to my own work. Sometimes a color combination I see outside my window will set me on my path, or even songs.
How long did it take to earn money for your paintings for the first time?I've been a professional artist since I was 17 years old, so I guess 17 years? I've been working professionally for 17 years, so I guess half my life as an artist! Not bad!
At the end I want to ask some short questions, you can answer with one sentence or word: Your favourite Wrestler?Bruiser Brody.
Your favourite Match?Anything between
Ric Flair and
Ricky Steamboat.
Your Wrestling Moment?Ultimate Warrior's final appearance, first for the importance of it unto itself, but also because I painted the coat he was wearing, creating a personal moment I'll treasure the rest of my life.
What are your opinions for Summerslam 2014?Looking forward to doing some live art there!
What are the next projects you will working on?More paintings of rasslers! I have new items going up at WWE Auctions every Tuesday, and also create videos for WWE's YouTube Channel that go up every Monday as a part of their Canvas 2 Canvas series. I'll also be painting live at SummerSlam!
Thanks for your time!You're welcome.
All pictures taken from RobSchamberger.com
