Undertaker: No Escape Original Painting

Undertaker: No Escape

Ink and acrylic on 19" x 24" bristol board

Artwork by Rob Schamberger

I view this painting as a celebration of Undertaker's entrances, the look and the feel of them. The colors, the menace, the power and the overall sense of foreboding. I felt like the techniques I've been experimenting with of late with acrylic paint would be the perfect outlet for this.

A fun side-story about the making of it: I started it as a live painting at Twin Cities Con in Minneapolis but I soon discovered that the yellow lightbulbs in that venue were throwing off my ability to see the paint colors accurately. I was telling my wife about it and she was blown away when we got it out into natural light to see the difference. The blues were a little greenish, the violets and magentas less brilliant, the latter a little on the orange side. Once I got it back to the studio I was of course able to see it all correctly but it's a fascinating thing to address when painting live.

Like, different locations have different humidity levels and that affects the drying time for acrylic paint. New Orleans takes forever while Los Angeles is instantaneous, for example. But this was the first time I ran into a lighting issue. As an artist, I've learned to easily adjust to changes and do the best I can with different circumstances. This was another one of those.

Also, acrylic paint is opaque so anything that wasn't working was just painted over. Pro tip!

All of that said, I'm super happy with the end result and that momentary challenge ultimately made it a stronger piece I feel.