Booth H-06

San Diego Comic Con is coming! I will be there at my usual booth H-06 at the end of isle 1000. Please stop by and say hello. I will also be on a panel on Friday. here is the info:

Friday, July 24, 2009

2:30 pm -3:30 pm: State of the Animation Industry-- ASIFA-Hollywood's annual overview of trends in the animation industry. In this turbulent economy, how is the animation industry faring? Can games take up the slack? Is 2D coming back? Moderated by Tom Sito (Shrek, The Lion King). Panelists include Raul Garcia (The Missing Lynx), Frank Gladstone (producer, Starz Media, Dreamworks), Jun Falkenstein (The Tigger Movie, Mulan II), Helen Jen (Games), and Stephen Silver (Kim Possible) Room 10

Student work

Here are a few of my students last semester work. On the first week they are asked to do a specific design to the best of their ability and week # 9 they are to redesign with there new knowledge of character design. Oscar on the bottom, just took the self study course of my program where he just watched my tutorial videos, without my personal critique. The next semester starts in September, seats are limited and already filling up, The self study program you can sign up at any time. Schoolism.com

ISCA

I attend this convention every year, it is a great way to learn and have fun.
For those of you who may not have heard, the National Caricaturist Network has a new name. We are now ISCA, which stands for the International Society of Caricature Artists. So now the NCN Annual Caricature Convention will be known as the ISCA Annual Caricature Convention.

Speaking of the convention, I wanted to tell everyone here about the big news. This year's annual convention is taking place at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio from November 2nd through the 7th. And the best part is this year's theme: MAD Magazine! We have four top artists from MAD as our guests of honor: Sam Viviano, Mark Fredrickson, Hermann Meija and Tom Richmond. And also for the first time, we are allowing NON-members to come and attend the guest speaker seminars for a special price. All the info can be found here

WINNERS OF BOOK GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCED

Stephen Silver book giveaway video from stephen silver on Vimeo.

Here is my video announcing the 2 winners of my book givaway,
Thank you all so much for sharing your dreams and aspirations. Now it is time to make it all come true!
To order my book visit the store

Self-Publishing Seminar

Seating is limited. to reserve your seat, click on the title above.

SCHOOLISm.com

Schoolism.com Online Art Classes open for registration:

Character Design by Silver - starts September 7, 2009
Over nine lessons, Stephen will introduce you to the art of drawing, character design and the business of art. Your role will be to create major and incidental characters for animated T.V., feature films, or video game concepts!

The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler - starts July 24, 2009
By the end of this course, master caricaturist, Jason Seiler, will have you looking at people in a whole new way! For illustrators seeking to add high-end caricaturing to their repertoire, this course is a must!

Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee - starts July 31, 2009
Go through an intensive workshop with professional comic book artist Alvin Lee to create a powerful comic book portfolio. Watch and listen as Alvin draws on top of your work, explaining to you the 'DOs' and 'DON'Ts' of what makes a great comic book portfolio!


Portfolio workshop with Cheeks - starts November 15, 2009
Sean Galloway aka Cheeks will be taking you through 9 lessons of intensive workshop to teach you the do's and dont's of what makes a great design portfolio for film, television, animation, or illustration.

Digital Painting Techniques with Bobby Chiu - starts November 1, 2009
Learn Bobby's personal techniques of how to digital paint. Watch the lessons, do the assignments and see Bobby paint on top of your paintings showing you how to improve your art!

Register at www.schoolism.com

CLICK HERE

My son Caiden was my inspiration for Jolly and Roger

I entered an animation contest, and I would be honored if you would vote for my show concept. 11th row down far right. Jolly and Roger's misguided adventures. please go to this link. CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE.
http://bit.ly/x7P75
voting ends on the 26th
Thanks

FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY

Passion for Life is my latest book, giving insight into my philosophies in life drawing and life itself. With over 200 figure drawings in many different styles and techniques, Passion for Life will inspire and give you a look into the art of life drawing with a whole new perspective never seen before. Passion for life, and all it contains is an insightful book, not just for the drawings, but the message it sends. The quotes, and inspirational thoughts, are not just for artists, but for anyone who aspires to be happy, content and productive.
What I would like to do again is giveaway 2 free copies. I have found that many artists are working but not following their real passion, and have the desire to do something different with their art other than what it is they are actually doing. So I ask this question?
If you woke up tomorrow and had the opportunity to be doing that one special thing you really want to be doing, what would it be?
All you have to do is leave a comment on the post and put your website or blog URL so people can see what you do. There is no right or wrong, on Monday, June 29th I will do a live video post where I will place everyone's name in a bowl and pick the two winners .
And if you can't wait, you can order my book directly @ http://silvertoons.com/store.html or click on the title. All books come signed with an original sketch of course.
Good luck!

BOOK PROMOTION

Starting tomorrow, June 6th I am doing a book promotion on my book the Art of Silver. This is my 3rd edition book with an additional 17 pages. I have had many requests to do a soft cover version from students so that it costs a little less. So this month into the next month before comic-con I am offering the hardcover version for only $25 instead of $40. Just go to this link http://silvertoons.com/store.html or click on the title above and then click on the add to cart for US sales. For foreign and canadian, click on the order foreign or order canadian buttons to get the discount. All books come signed with an original sketch.

Funatico.com

I was recently introduced and partnered up with Ivan Spasenovic, one of the brains behind this great new innovative site called funatico.com. It is always great to find a site promoting originality and unique user content. Sites like this are also great for finding pictures that you just may want to sketch from.
Funatico is one of the most popular entertainment sites on the web with huge collection of funny videos that will make you lol. If you want to have fun and you have some free time at home or work you can play something from Funatico flash games archive. Don't forget to check out their cool gallery of funny pictures too.

Reuben weekend

Just came back from a terrific weekend at the National Cartoonists Society Reuben awards. There were seminars with greats like, Drew Struzan and Eric Goldberg. Here I am one of the many nights having a little drink with my friends Tom Richmond and Keelan Parham. To get the whole scoop and see lots of great pictures and what it is all about, go to Tom's site, he posted it all. http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/

SKETCHBOOK DIARY 01

Testing out a new camera, sorry for the motion delay and the image not always in the frame, this was my first one, so the others will improve as time goes by. This is me carrying around my sketchbook, sketching in public places.

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