I find as artists, we tend to beat ourselves up quite a bit, and the reality is, it's a bunch of nonsence. I Find that if you can let go of comparing yourself to others, you will set your mind free, Relax more, create more and accept what it is you are currently doing as reality. The bottom line is "WHO CARES" Life is too short, so enjoy it.
I came across this on the web and I liked it. http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html
It hits the nail on the head. so I wanted to share.

So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips.

1. Ignore everybody.

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours.

3. Put the hours in.

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.

5. You are responsible for your own experience.

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.

7. Keep your day job.

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.

9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.

10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.

11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.

12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.

13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.

14. Dying young is overrated.

15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.

16. The world is changing.

17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.

18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.

19. Sing in your own voice.

20. The choice of media is irrelevant.

21. Selling out is harder than it looks.

22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.

23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.

24. Don�t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.

25. You have to find your own schtick.

26. Write from the heart.

27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.

28. Power is never given. Power is taken.

29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.

30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.

31. Remain frugal.

32. Allow your work to age with you.

33. Being Poor Sucks.

34. Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.

35. Savor obscurity while it lasts.

36. Start blogging.

COOLGRAPHICSTUFF.COM

I wanted to share with you, for all who are interested, The best priced place I found to order a Cintiq if you want one. I ordered mine through Anthony Coffey at WWW.COOLGRAPHICSTUFF.COM. 212-594-4373. He will get it to you for the lowest price out there. He is located in New York and also does free ground shipping. So if you are interested, give him a call, let him know you saw it here and wa-la, you will be good to go.

INDY 4

It's coming, and I am looking forward to it.

ORPHAN WORKS

IF YOU ARE AN ARTIST,YOU HAVE TO BE AWARE AND LISTEN TO THIS NEW PROPOSED MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!
Click on the orphan works title to download the mp3 interview

show #11

Artcast Show 11 Download

This Artcast is about not stressing out about your art and life in general and the book "A New Earth"
Thanks for listening
www.SCHOOLISM.com - Register today

LUNCHTIME DRAWING CLUB

There is nothing more fun than drawing from life in a sketchbook, well that's what I think anyway. So I thought it would be a fun idea to start a lunchtime drawing club out here in Burbank since that's where I'm working these days. This is an open invitation to anyone who just wants to get together, draw and eat some pizza or churros. Hope to see you there. Just simply show up with your sketchbook and start drawing what you see. It's FUN!!!!

My friend Frank Rocco and I have been developing our own intellectual property for animation either CG or 2D. Here is a sneak peak at some of the work. If you happen to be a studio and would like more details you can contact me @ silvertoons@yahoo.com

Every so often, I come upon some words of wisdom. Words that have meaning to me and pertain to our world in art. I came upon this and just simply wanted to share. If it makes you think, that is good.

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about those who don't.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it."

Last February 2007 I was hired back at Disney Television animation to redesign the second season of the Replacements, The first season had already be designed and is still showing on the network and I believe the second season starts airing today. The objective for the redesign of second season was not to completely change the main characters so that they weren't recognizable as first season, but to streamline the look of the characters so that there weren't so many angles which made it hard ro animate and of course simplify them more. I have seen a few shows already and must say that they look alot different from first season and I am pretty happy with what we did. Alan Bodner the art director had a hand in changing the backgrounds and color styling of the show as well. Alan and I worked together on Clerks the animated series and Kim possible. he was also the art director on Iron Giant. So as a designer for this show we are given 2 weeks to design an episode, we first get a script and then a breakdown of all the characters that need to be designed. So during the first week I will rough out all the characters the way I want to draw them. once there approved by the director, I will then clean them up on the second week. I prefer to use a Mars graphic 3000 duo brush pen. that is my favorite. it is made by Staedtler. Anyway, here are some of the new designs that will be appearing.

memory sketch

a couple standing in line at the theater that stood out to me.

I wanted to give an update and let you know that My new book "LIFE" will be shipping at the end of this month, you can preorder it right now through my website. www.silvertoons.com. I have done a limited run so it will only be available through my website and any conventions I will be attending. My first convention of the year will be Wonder con in San Francisco on Feb 22nd.

The new "Beatles" Bobble Heads

Happy new year everyone. I thought I would start off the new year with a new book that I have just recently published through Brand Studios, and my good friend Alberto Ruiz. It will be available at the end of January, exclusivly through my website and conventions that I attend. www.silvertoons.com. This new book is about the importance of life drawing and how you can take the figure that is in front of you and turn them into a character design.

From the life drawing board.

The october class is finished and I wanted to share with you some of the students final assignment work. They had to design a character by the name of Fat Joe. Again, I am posting this because I am so proud of all the effort and results that each student put into and recieved from this course. In a final note, due to overwhelming response, I have added a second January session that is starting to fill up. For more info on signing up, go to www.schoolism.com, click on courses and lessons and then course dates. Jan 14th.

October Student Testimonial:
I have been working as a freelance illustrator for over ten years now and while I am happy to make a living creating art, I was finding the projects and the process becoming boring. I knew this was something I had to change if I wanted to forward my career and land better projects. Steven Silver's character design course was able to jump start my creative process in a whole new way. This class is not only about drawing cartoon characters but making them unique, well designed and believable. Silver has an entirely fresh way of looking at character design that will turn seemingly average people on the street into great characters on paper. After nine weeks of Silver's teachings and assignments I find myself sketching people at the grocery, the mall, and at home but more importantly when I am not able to draw I look at people and imagine how I would draw them. Silver's class was just the shot of creativity and discipline that my art needed and plan on taking his lessons with me as I breathe new life and passion into my own art and career.

Steve Harpster
childrens book illustrator
www.studioharpster.com

show# 10

Artcast Show 10 Download

This Artcast is about motivation and the fear of failure.
Please leave any suggestions you have for future topics.
Thanks for listening
SCHOOLISM.com

Well, I just recently finished my very first semester of teaching online, and am now halfway through the second semester. It has been an extremely rewarding experience, and with that I felt I wanted to share with you what some of the students have said. Every now and again it is ok to pat oneself on the back, and I am doing so here because of how proud I am of the students for their dedication and the 9 week course I have put together. My next semester starts in January, and there are only 3 spots left, My next semester will follow in March.



Silver; thank you so much for this class. I have a degree in illustration and have been a professional artist in the video game industry for 11 years. I learned more from you in nine weeks than I have in years. Your straightforward way of explaining your process and the principles of character design was both refreshing and inspiring! You really opened a new door for me.

Barry Prioste

I have had a incredible time. Prior to this course I had just completed a three year animation degree and after these past nine weeks I feel I have learned more invaluable practices and techniques with you than i did during my time at university. You are a true master of your craft and working alongside you has been a dream come true. I feel I have grown more as an artist than ever before and have a new found drive to become not only a great character designer, but a great all-around artist as well. I cannot begin to put into words how appreciative I am of the priceless knowledge you have shared with me and I will always remain incredibly grateful for granting me this fantastic opportunity.

Ben Williams

I just wanted to personally thank you for the time and effort you've put into these lectures and our critiques and everything. I know my drawings have improved and are more confident. I now have some experience in turnarounds and clean up and feel as though I was able to skip a lot of the heartache of trying to learn it on my own. I really enjoyed having a lecture each week to look forward to and being able to watch the other student's videos was a real treat. I've already recommended schoolism.com to a lot of my friends and fellow students.

Chris Houghton

As artists we are always looking for ways to grow and inspire us. Well what better way than to be mentored by a professional/master, who is at the top of his game, like Stephen Silver. Character design is a complicated mix between capturing a unique personality while applying appealing design elements to each character. There are many ways to study design, but the best is to be provided with in-depth instruction and valuable critiques. However, it is often difficult to find someone who is a master at the craft as well as an excellent teacher. Stephen Silver is just that, an amazing character designer by right, but also a priceless teacher. I could not possibly sum up the value of this class. Each lesson is packed full of beneficial fundamental information that placed alone would be worth taking this class. But combined with all the information you get one on one attention with informative critiques that will open your eyes to what you need to work on to improve your work. I recommend this class to people of all ages, amateurs to professionals; there is something for everyone in Stephen Silver’s character design class offered at schoolism.com.

Brittnie Bruner


Thanks for the class. It was really great, the course covered so much from basic drawing issues to ways to approach and analyze design. Your crits were very
Informative and gives you an insight on what pros see and do. Thanks agian.

Arree Chung


Stephen's character design class is fantastic. Each lesson is loaded with insight and inspiration. Stephen goes beyond just tricks and gimmicks to focus on mastering the fundamentals. His passion for drawing is contagious, and his one-on-one feedback was extremely helpful. Stephen raises the bar high and then comes alongside you to help you achieve it. I would highly recommend this class to anyone who is serious about becoming an animation character designer.

Cedric Hohnstadt


Thanks for all the lectures and in-depth analysis of my work, I truly feel I've grown so much as an artist in the past 9 weeks - and at a much faster rate than I would have on my own over several years. Really, I mean that.

You've helped me gain an understanding of a myriad of techniques and processes I can explore to broaden my skills, and most of all, re-ignited a spark that I had as a kid - my love for drawing and just having fun with it all.

I no longer feel intimidated by a blank sheet of paper, and have no fear of failure or producing bad drawings, because you've shown me through this course that each one gets me closer to a better one and deeper into the art form.

Rafi Nizam

I just wanted to say how valuable this course has been. Just the fact that I got to work with a personal hero of mine on assignments every week for the past couple of months has been incredible. Learning from someone who is actually working in the industry and going through everything that he teaches is a wonderful way to trust every critique as being correct. I never once found myself questioning anything that Mr. Silver was saying about my work. I found myself watching the videos multiple times just because my pen couldn't take notes fast enough. I would highly recommend this course to anyone (and I already have).

Steve Umbleby

I had a fantastic time on this course and have learnt so many new techniques and exercises that I will be using daily for the rest of my life. Stephen Silver is an incredible teacher who makes learning enjoyable and easy to understand. His 1 on 1 critiques are superb, and he really goes to great lengths to make sure you understand what is being taught and leaves no stone unturned when it comes to guiding you in the right direction to strengthening your designs. My drawings have improved so much over the last 2 months thanks to Stephen Silver's Character Design Course. I highly recommend this course for anyone interested in learning character design, you will NOT be disappointed. Thanks for all your help and guidance, Stephen. Kind Regards.

Justin Cook.

As many of you know, I am a big advocate for encouriging artists to get involved in the artist community, and being a part of cartoonist organizations wherever you may live. It is a great way to network as well as meet some great talent, hear some good stories, look at beautiful art and make some good friends. I am personally involved in the (NCS) the national cartoonists society, (www.reuben.org)the (NCN) the national caricaturist network(www.caricature.org) and (CAPS) The comic art professional society,(www.capscentral.org) that meets in burbank once a month. Anyway, last year I helped organize a banquet where we honored the great Jack Davis. This year I have helped organize a banquet where we will be honoring the great Stan Lee Next month. One of the things we do is have all the artists of CAPS, do an original drawing for the person that we present to them in a beautiful leather bound book and honor them with the Sergio award. Based on Sergio Argones, one of the founders of the group and who attends each month. Anyway, This was my sketch for Stan.

Well, I've been in the industry for quite some time now, and people always say, "Why don't you pitch your own show". Well there are many reasons, but here is a little section of a development piece that my creative partner Frank Rocco and I have been pitching.

A COUPLE OF 5 MINUTE POSES FROM THE LIFE DRAWING BOARD.