Free book giveaway

I get lots of questions as to how to promote your art and get exposure so here is the answer. I wanted to share with you one of the simplest, easiest books that I have come across as far as what to do to promote yourself written by Gino Orlandi. What I would like to do is giveaway a free copy. All you have to do is leave a comment on the post telling me about what you are trying to achieve as an artist and put your website or blog URL and then I will pick one winner on Friday May 8th. Social networking sites are a major key to success when it comes to building a brand name for yourself in the online art community, getting more exposure and generating more income each month. If you want to make a great living as an artist you need to leverage
these sites to your advantage and really become active in the online art community!
"Sell Art Online".

I have been reading an inspiring book by author Napoleon Hill. Below are some excerpts from his book The Laws of Success.
All my life I have had many thoughts and feelings in my head, but never really knew how to explain or define them. For me, when I read this stuff, it all makes sense. Most importantly, I live by it and practice it. The excerpt below is about making decisions, when I read it, I think about how Walt Disney and other successful people are decision makers.


“The man of DECISION cannot be stopped!
The man of INDECISION cannot be started!
make a decision to start the project.
make a decision to transform your vision into reality
make a decision to transform the mere possibilities into realities
Imagination, alone, is not enough to insure success.
define a DEFINITE PURPOSE and a firm DECISION to transform that purpose into reality.

The man of DECISION gets that which he goes
after, no matter how long it takes, or how difficult the
task.

THE SUCCESSFUL MEN
AND WOMEN ARE THOSE WHO REACH
DECISIONS QUICKLY AND THEN STAND FIRMLY
BY THOSE DECISIONS AFTER THEY ARE MADE.

If you are one of those who make up their minds
today and change them again tomorrow you are
doomed to failure. If you are not sure which way to
move it is better to shut your eyes and move in the
dark than to remain still and make no move at all.
The world will forgive you if you make mistakes,
but it will never forgive you if you make no
DECISIONS, because it will never hear of you outside
of the community in which you live.
No matter who you are or what may be your
lifework, you are playing checkers with TIME! It is
always your next move. Move with quick DECISION
and Time will favor you. Stand still and Time will
wipe you off the board.
You cannot always make the right move, but, if
you make enough moves you may take advantage of
the law of averages and pile up a creditable score
before the great game of LIFE is ended.”

I will be attending a night at the Burbank Association of Realtors Hall with Animation Nation discussing the problems that animation artists, both veterans and newcomers are facing in the industry.
Tuesday April 28th
2006 W. Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91506

Doors open at 7pm, first round of pizza at 7:45, discussion will start at 8pm or thereabouts.

SILVERTOONS.COM

Just wanted to share with you that I just updated my website with all new content. check it out. http://www.silvertoons.com

Do It for yourself

For many years as an artist I struggled with the fact that I didn’t draw as well as my influences, or other artists that I thought had superior talent. I was comparing myself to these artists which caused this competition within my head because my work was not as good as theirs. I questioned my level of talent, which would cause me frustration. I get emails from people who struggle with this all the time, they too create their own competition and frustration.

Through out the years I have learned to be inspired by others work and not intimidated by it. My philosophy is that I do not have to be the best, I just have to do my best.

Wallace Wattles, had a great quote he said, “do not be competitive, be creative.” Don't waste your time looking at what the competition is doing, create something new. Look at your goals, your interests, your abilities, not the goals, interests, and abilities of others. Do it for yourself!

Here is some development for Nickelodeon's Penquins of Madagascar show that I was working on.

Student Work

Here are a few of my graduating students latest work from my online character design course. www.schoolism.com. They just wrapped up their nine weeks, learning everything from design fundamentals, to clean-up and turnarounds. I give them a character to design for week one before I start teaching and by week nine they draw the same guy. Some students just want to learn how to push their shapes, others are starting from ground zero.
New semester starts this coming monday and the following one will start in about 12 weeks.

Next semester begins March 23rd 2009
limited spaces available

LEAPFISH

I just returned from a great time at the San Francisco Wondercon and an all day lecture workshop at San Jose State. I drew these of the people walking by at the con. I also wanted to share a really cool search engine with you that I saw on fox news. I like it better than google.
www.leapfish.com

lecture

One of my true passions is teaching. That includes doing lectures and workshops too. I had the honor of being asked to to a lecture at the Art Institute and while I was there, they told me there was going to be a reporter and that's how this video came about. On a side note I am currently teaching character design at CalArts and I will also be teaching a gesture figure class at LAAFA. (the Los angeles academy of figurative arts in april. I am currently in a session with my Schoolism.com character design course and am now taking registration for my march semester.

Some great words by the author James Allen his book which was published in 1902 ” As a man thinketh”
It may seem long, but give it a read, you will be glad you did.

VISIONS AND IDEALS

He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Columbus cherished a vision of another world, and he discovered it; Copernicus fostered the vision of a multiplicity of worlds and a wider universe, and he revealed it; Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world of stainless beauty and perfect peace, and he entered into it.

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all, heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.

To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve. Shall man's basest desires receive the fullest measure of gratification, and his purest aspirations starve for lack of sustenance? Such is not the Law: such a condition of things can never obtain: "ask and receive."

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long remain so if you but perceive an Ideal and strive to reach it. You cannot travel within and stand still _without._

And you, too, will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful,
or a mixture of both, for you will always gravitate toward that which you, secretly, most love. Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no more, no less.

Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration:
The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of luck, of fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, "How lucky he is!"
Observing another become intellectual, they exclaim, "How highly favoured he is!" And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, "How chance aids him at every turn!" They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the
Vision of their heart. They do not know the darkness and the heartaches; they only see the light and joy, and call it "luck". They do not see the long and arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it "good fortune," do not understand the process, but only perceive the result, and call it chance.
In all human affairs there are _efforts,_ and there are _results,_ and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result.
Chance is not. Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.
The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart--this you will build your life by, this you will become.

PASSION

I read this on a website called nydailynews.com, I think the author is Jennifer Angel, but I am not sure, and wanted to share it. nonetheless, I think it is great because I truly believe it.

The "word passion" conjures up all sorts of images and feelings.
If we determine what we are truly passionate about then life would be very simple, because it’s the passion that drives us.
It is passion that leads us to our being able to fulfill our goals.
Passion drives us to do what we love, to love what we do - and to love.
But how do we find this elusive passion that sets us into action?
Somewhere inside us we all have something that we really want to do in life; something that will drive us to the fulfillment and satisfaction that makes us fill the hours with enjoyment and energy.
What stops us from finding this driver? Sometimes it’s our lack of self confidence - the voice that asks; Do you really think YOU could achieve that?"
Personal fulfillment - personal greatness - is all about breaking through whatever barriers that prevent us being passionate. To succeed you must search deep inside of yourself and finding out what it really is you want to achieve in your life. It’s about being the greatest you can be.
Just because you have let your ambitions be subdued in the past doesn't mean that you don't still have those ambitions and passions. You can find them again - and find new ones, and even it if takes work it will be worth it.
Every day you have the chance to set out on a new mission, to discover or to revive a passion and start out on a new experience that you thought was only possible in long forgotten dreams.

Here is some more of the early development. And as a side note, I just posted a video of my journey into animation on the left if you are interested.

I recently finished up designing a bunch of characters for an HIV awareness project at Warner Bros. Above are some of the development pages. They were directed by my good friend and great director Chris Bailey that I worked on with Clerks and Kim Possible. They were done as a bunch of shorts showcasing different characters. I think they turned out pretty cool. I don't know how to upload the videos so you can go to the website http://hivfreegeneration.warnerbros.com/

Lecture

Anyone is welcome if you have the time, you just need to RSVP

Next semester begins Jan 5th 2009
Spaces available

My 3rd edition print run of my first book the "Art of Silver" just came out. For those of you who already have a copy of the 1st and 2nd addition this is the same book, it just has an additional 16 pages and new cover. For those of you who don't have the book, well it's just a bonus, the same price and 16 new pages added. You can order through my website @ www.silvertoons.com or just click on the books to the left and I will sign it for you, if you would like it personalized, please express so in the paypal comments.

Cheers!
Silver

TODAY

Last week one of my relatives lost her fight with cancer, she was only 50 years old, leaving behind her husband and two kids.
After attending her funeral and realizing how short we are on this earth for I wrote this.

TODAY

Simplify just one thing TODAY
How can you make your life great TODAY
Play something that will make you laugh TODAY
Say hello to someone you don’t know TODAY
Call that person that has been on your mind TODAY
Draw that sketch that was on your mind TODAY
Eat something good TODAY
Help someone you don’t know TODAY
Hug your wife ,kids, and pets TODAY
Begin that project you’ve been holding off TODAY
Try something new TODAY
Smile TODAY
Be grateful TODAY
Appreciate TODAY
Enjoy TODAY because it is TODAY, for their may not be a tomorrow.

By
Stephen Silver

Jeff Dunham Christmas Cards

I recently did some christmas cards for the comedian Jeff Dunham. It was pretty fun, I did my initial rough takes on them and he liked them like that. Super nice guy and funny, you can see his videos on youtube. And if you like you can order the x-mas cards off his site.

Setting Goals

I was watching an interview the other night with Ted Turner, He had said something that Made something click in my head. It was all about Goal setting. He mentioned that his father had said to him always set your goals high and keep creating them, Ted had mentioned that his father felt he never set his goals high enough and in the end it led to his suicide. That is a bit extreme, but it made me think of the importance of goals. Alot of the time we move through life in our daily grind that we don't bother to ask for what we want in life. We get too caught up in doing everything for everyone else and when times get tough, we look around and say, what have I accomplished, what am I doing with my life, I know first hand as an artist in the animation industry and knowing how nomadic of a life it is, it is important to set goals. First look at what is is you have and appreciate that. Because alot of the time, you may have the success(not monetarily) that you think you want. A house,a car, kids,wife, girlfriend, health, friends
good pets,you eat what you want, you enjoy music, a hot shower in the morning, a cup of coffee makes you happy. It is always the small things that we have that are the most important and often the most meaningful. So it is important from time to time to set up some new goals, have a new focus, It will inspire you and create excitement when you feel you have nothing exciting to look forward too. You may even realize that you have everything you truly wanted in your life, but you need to take the first step and look. So start small, write down on Monday what you would like to accomplish this week, It may be going out and sketching on your lunch just one day, It may be cleaning that closet you stare at everyday and groan about the mess. Small steps, make them happen, accomplish your goals and set up some big ones, and once you've achieved those, because you will in time. Start all over, make life fun, happy and exciting. Remember your dreams and wishes when you were younger, the things you wanted to be and do. Don't forget! Be thankful that you weren't someone trampled to death on black Friday in a walmart, be thankful that you weren't in a tourist spot in India when terrorist decided to attack, Be thankful that you woke up today and walked, you can see, you can hear. When you look at the scheme of things, Reality, you have nothing to bitch about. Just look!