Here is one of my latest students final assignment. My students are given a first assignment before I teach them anything and by week nine they are to redesign that same character based on what they have learned. Here is what Jimena Sanchez had to say.
"I took this course because I wanted to polish my work, specially my characters. From the beginig, Stephen helped my understand the areas of my work were I could improve and throught the lessons he was able to provide the tools to do it. What I have learned on this class will help me keep growing as an artist for years to come."
My next semester starts on January 3rd 2011 and for 18 more days there is $100 off the self taught classes.

If you live locally and have nothing to do for a few hours, come on down to a real fun event. Van Eaton Galleries has just about every cool piece of vintage and current animation art you will find anywhere. There will be lots of art to look at. I will be there and will have a few original pieces, prints and books of mine there to. There are drinks and food and good times, It is an annual thing and there is always a great turn out. And best of all, it is FREE to attend.

The one and only Stan Goldeberg video is now available here
Stan is best known for his work with Archie Comics, which he has drawn across all titles for over four decades. He has been Archie's flagship artist for more than fifteen years. Stan will talk about his early career in the Golden and Silver Age of Comics, what helped him achieve his goals, and stories of how his career unfolded. You will learn about the mediums he uses, his techniques, and much more!

I will be at The CTN EXPO this week in Burbank. I have a bunch of fun stuff including my latest book and a great giveaway!
My Booth # is T-18.
Feel free to ask me whatever you like, I am there for you.
Silver

Here are a few recent works for a gallery exhibition I will be doing next year.

I will be at the New York Comic-Con October 8-10 booth # 348. Stop on by if you happen to be there.

Sketchbook

I wanted to share with you that my latest book "Stephen Silver's Sketchbook volume 2" is coming out next month. Within the pages are notes that I wrote to myself during the process, they became a constant reminder to me of what it is I needed to think about as I developed my skills. It is spiral bound to make it look like a sketchbook. If you would like to PREORDER you will receive FREE shipping anywhere in the U.S http://www.silvertoons.com/store.html

west hollywood book fair

West hollywood has a great book fair each year,I will have a table in the "Indie Comics Creators section" booth D13-16, Table K Sunday september 26th. Stop on by if your live nearby.

I just wanted to share a great e-mail I just received from one of my online students.

Dear Stephen,
I new when signing up for this online character design course that there was no way I would regret it. I new this because of the amount of passion I witness during your Live Art Casts and your inspirational sayings to everyone via Facebook. But I honestly was not expecting the class to be this helpful and this full of information, it was so much more then I could have asked for. You made the steps for a person to become successful in this industry understandable and clear. I can honestly say that you covered everything and more with full detail and life experience. This is the class people need to take in order to be on the right track to getting into the art industry and to learn how to grow as an artist. It blows my mind how much I've improved since the day I've started this class to now. In such a short period of time I can finally feel proud of my work and feel more confident in succeeding. Your videos were jam packed with the right steps, perfect advice, your own life experience and they really helped me so much I cannot even express it. This class was better then any art class I've ever taken and any art book I've ever read. It was just perfect so once again, I can't thank you enough for clearly putting so much effort into helping your students make their dreams come true. Your advice throughout the lessons will come in handy throughout the rest of my life. It has been an honor and a pleasure being your student. -Lauren Lorenzo

Art book summer sale

Summer sale on my passion for life book. by clicking the link below will take you to the site.
Click for more information

Character design course

I wanted to share with you one of my students, Klaus-Martin Gareis's final assignments from my last semester online character design course on schoolism.com. He amongst others had made huge improvements in just nine weeks. The drawing on the left was the first assignment based on a character description I gave with no teaching yet. The pic on the right is the final assignment to draw this character again with their new found knowledge. My June 21st semester is all filled up and my next on which starts on September 6th has already started to fill up, so reserve your seat today.

self publishing

wanted to share a book that Steve Harpster who took my self publishing lesson on schoolism.com did. very exciting.

CHARACTER DESIGN PANEL

I wanted to invite you to a character design panel I am on tomorrow night June 17,2010 between 6:30 and 9:30 pm. that will take place at The Animation Guild in Burbank. if you are a non member it is $10 and member $5. It should be fun. I will also be selling super discounted books.
Myself, Bob Singer, Bill Schwab who did the "MUSINEX" commercial characters,Jamie Mitchell who did SPECIAL AGENT OSO, Bonita Varish who did the Klasky-Csupo characters like RUGRATS and Linda Miller will be speaking on Hanna-Barbera and possibly Don Bluth characters.

One of my favorite movies.

"A Mute of Hounds" art show

I am in a group gallery show coming up June 12th Meltdown comics. That is a tiny snippet from my piece. Stop on by, check it out and say ello, ello!

Napoleon dynamite

Just heard they were doing an animated napoleon dynamite, one of my favorite movies, I did these designs a while back hoping they would do it. so I am posting them again and putting it out there that they will contact me to do it. positive thinking right?

Greeting Cards

Design a personalized gift at Zazzle.

I just created a site full of over 60 greeting cards you can order and even write what you want on the inside. They get mailed out with envelopes and can be ordered in bulk too. check it out.

I just recently returned home from A USO tour in Germany with a group of great cartoonist.Our mission was to draw cartoons and caricatures for the wounded troops.I posted more about my experience on my Passion blog Here is a little slideshow, sorry for the repetition of music.

Summer sale at schoolism.com

L.A Times book fair

I will be selling and signing my books at the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books which will be held this Saturday & Sunday, April 24-25, 2010 at UCLA. My location is Zone G booth 751. Stop on by if you happen to be going. If you live in another state, well have a great weekend. here is a link to the site for more info

LAST FACEBOOK POST!!!!

Dear Passion for life group members.

I wanted to let you know that due to some hacking concerns I am moving my passion for life group to a new improved site, where i can post pics and videos. If you wish to still recieve monday morning words of encouragement you can now join this site
and hit the "Subscribe to Passion For Life by Email" link on the right side and you will get the weekly updates.
Thanks for being a part of my group and I hope to see you there.
I posted one there this morning.
Silver

Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Being a big fan of Dan Decarlo, I wanted to share with you a great new book that is coming to bookstores near you on April 14th. It is a book titled Dan DeCarlo's JETTA. Craig Yoe put this whole thing together and asked a bunch of artists including myself to do a pin-up. here is what i did along with the cover of the book you can purchase it online at
amazon

This is a little teaser of something i'm working on. I will post the finish soon.

WONDERCON THIS WEEKEND

I received this from a guy named jason who watched my online video on how to self publish. You can purchase his book here on amazon this is what he wrote.

Sephen
I watched your presentation on book making on schoolism.com and I made a book. I'm starting small with black and white print-on-demand.
Thank you for the inspiration and the information

Jason Pruett

Bob Boyle

My good friend Bob Boyle is the Emmy Award winning creator of the Nick Jr. series, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! and is author/illustrator of the children's book, Hugo and the Really, Really, Really Long String. He also created the Disney series, Yin! Yang! Yo! and was a Producer and the Art Director of The Fairly OddParents. He just released the new children's book Hugo. check out this fun trailer and send him a shout.

Schoolism Students work

I just wrapped up another session of my character design course. what your seeing from my students is the design they did without instruction on the first week and then their last design they did on their final week. Great Job guys.The next session one begins April 5th. you can register by going here. schoolism


This class was awesome. I got to learn so many things that I know I wouldn't have been able to learn anywhere in Alaska. I'm going to start slowing down with my drawings and do more sketches from life. Character design is what I love to do and now I feel like I'll be able to draw the characters that have been locked up in my head because I was too scared to draw them before. Thanks for a great time Silver.



Stephen,
Without exaggeration, this has been one of the best classes I've ever taken in my life.
Thanks for sharing some of your trade secrets, which you earned through hard work over many years. These 'short-cuts' you've given me are an incredible boost.
Sincerely,
Guy.



Stephen Silver's Schoolism course on animation character design has blown away my ideas on what an online course can offer. Stephen uses videos to hand us the tools to improve our artwork with in-depth lessons and personal critiques that are hand drawn over our own assignments. We get to see where we've succeeded in applying his lessons, but more importantly where we've strayed so we can learn from our mistakes. I can't say that all of his lessons have sunk in yet, but I've already noticed an improvement in my artwork. And I have more confidence in my abilities too!
James Anderson. jimcandraw.com


During the nine weeks in Stephen's class I really learned to discipline my process in character development and design. Stephen has a palpable passion for this artform, and it is contagious. His encouragement to constantly practice our craft, explore different styles, and to keep studying were all keys to our improvment. He clearly breaks down his process without imposing his own drawing style on yours. From thumbnails to turnarounds to expression sheets, I really felt like my development process took a huge leap forward. I came away from the class with the message that it's all about passion, discipline, and practice.
Bobby Pontillas http://bobbypontillas.blogspot.com/


As a professional designer, I started Stephen Silverís course with the idea of improve my character designing skills and learn how to success in the industry. And I absolutely arrive to that goal, and far beyond.
Iíve not only learned a lot about drawing and designing, but about how to face some usual artistís problems, frustrations, and blockings. I realized the importance of drawing daily, and how to do it in a successful way. This course gives fuel to my passion for drawing, and awake my desire for draw more and more.
Stephen is not only a great professional of the designing industry, but a great instructor. His lectures are fill of love for drawing and designing. He shares all his knowledge and talks about his own experience. The explanations are clear and filled with great information. You will want to watch it once and once again. Guaranteed.
Also, a very important thing for me is that when I had some problem with the assignements, or with the course, I could easily talk with my instructor and he solved them quickly and very kindly.
I absolutely recommend this course to everyone who wants to improve his designing skills, learn a lot about design and drawing and have a lot of fun.
jaume cullell http://www.jaumecullell.com/



This course turned out to be everything I was hoping for, and more. Your experience and enthusiasm for what you do comes through, not only in your lessons but in the critiques as well. Not only have I seen the improvement in my own work, but I have caught myself saying things like ìWatch those tangents!î when I am doing critiques at work. You sir, were (and still are) my idle while I was going to art school. It has truly been my honor to have spent this pass nine weeks under your tutelage. And for that I thank you.
Steve Richardson http://stuf123.deviantart.com

CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON

This is a cool little piece that I am featured in from the gallery nucleus show I was part of for the Alice in wonderland exhibit.

I was part of a brand new reality show called The Antonio Treatment that aired on HGTV Sunday- March 14th. My studio was filmed and I also drew a caricature of the whole crew for Cartoonist Mattdaigle.com I was filmed drawing the whole crew. It was alot of fun.

This is a sample of one of my weekly video critiques I give my students on my online character design course @ www.schoolism.com. It is a nine week one on one class with over 18 hours of video instruction. I can work with you privately weekly or you can take the self taught where you get to just watch the videos and other student critiques. The next class is starting on April 5th, seating is limited and almost full. To view dates, lesson plan and student testimonials go to www.schoolism.com,courses and lessons,character design with stephen Silver.

A NEW TRAILER

I made a new trailer for the two hour film, check it out.
Mort Drucker, world famous caricaturist and humorous illustrator best known for his work in MAD magazine has made an exclusive, never before seen tutorial film about his process and life experiences. Presented and interviewed by me. To watch the 2 hour and 15 minute film go to www.schoolism.com and click on "The Masters Series" banner located on the bottom. The film is now available and only $39.95

MAD HATTER

Here was my mad hatter painting I did it is 16x20 acrylic

Gallery Nucleus

I wanted to share with you local L.A guys and invite you to a group gallery showing I am part of this coming Saturday. The theme was Alice in Wonderland and there is going to be lots of cool stuff. I painted a 16 x 20 Mad Hatter, hope to see you there.
http://www.gallerynucleus.com/gallery/exhibition/223

This was a quick sketch I did of drakula for no particular reason, I can often get sidetracked from a project and start doodling.

Mort Drucker Film Now available

Today is the day! The film I made about my hero(Mort Drucker) and main inspiration for me doing what I do is now up and available on schoolism.com I am extremely proud of it and it has been getting some great reviews. Mort Drucker

Free book iPhone app

I am extremely excited about the technology of today. You can do just about anything you set your mind to. I have just released one of my books as an iPhone app due to the fact that I am a box away from being sold out of the actual books.

Stephen Silver's sketchbook which I made to look like a real sketchbook will not be reprinted and is now available as an app and real cheap too. only $2.99. You can order it and many more artist sketchbooks through this site artistsketchbooks.com or you can download it straight from your iPhone in the app store, simply type in Stephen Silver.

As a promotion I am giving away 5 free apps throughout the week. I will give out one of my iPhone apps for free to a random commenter on my iPhone app post on my passion for life facebook group. All you have to do is join my group and make a random comment here Passion for Life group

Mort Drucker Film

Mort Drucker, world famous caricaturist and humorous illustrator best known for his work in MAD magazine has made an exclusive, never before seen tutorial film about his process and life experiences. Presented and interviewed by Stephen Silver. To watch the 2 hour and 15 minute film go to www.schoolism.com and click on "The Masters Series" banner located on the bottom. The film will debut starting January 2oth 2010.