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!

I just returned back from Texas where I did a character design talk workshop for the great animation team at Powerhouse Animation. All I can say is that I had a great time and met some great people. Here are some pics.

I just recently came back from a week long caricature drawing convention, non stop drawing all week long. It is called The National Caricaturist Network (NCN) www.caricature.org. evey year about 200 hundred caricature artist get together and compete. There are workshops seminars and lots of boozing. here are some of the caricatures I drew.

Schoolism

We just wrapped up the last semester of my character design by Silver course at www.schoolism.com and I wanted to share with you a couple of the students work. I give my students an assignment on week one before I teach them anything and then by week nine they take another stab of it with the knowledge they have acquired. the image on the left is from week one and the one on the right is from week nine. If you are interested in taking the course, the next semester begins Jan.5th 2009. Also here are a couple comments my students have made from the last semester.

This course was a great experience! I think any one who draws characters can benefit from it. It was packed with exercises and lessons to help push my drafting skills. It also was very encouraging to have a Skilled professional go over my own drawings, giving helpful advice along the way. This was money well spent!

-Alan Stewart

I'm very grateful to have learned so many things from this class. I really do not think I would've learned many of these things anywhere else. This course has opened my eyes to many aspects of art in general, including rhythm, balance, appeal, and breathing life into characters through shapes, poses, line art, and much more. I can safely say that these lessons have indeed improved my drawing abilities, and given me a different outlook when it comes to designing characters. All of the lessons, great tips and advice you gave have a permanent place in my mind, a database if you will, of information that I refer to whenever I am drawing characters. What I'm most happy about is the fact that I am now able to bring more life into my characters. And although, I'm not quite as good as I'd like to be yet, I have a better design sense than I did before, and I know this will help me grow. Thanks for all the awesome lessons and fun course Stephen!

- Dave Han

Thanks for the terrific course. By sharing so much of yourself in the instructional videos and being so specific during the feedback you really underscored your messages about attention to detail and passed along your great work ethic. I look forward to following up with the reference books and artists who have inspired you and on business practices you reviewed. I've been working as an Illustrator for close to 20 years and found your work and input extremely inspirational. I'm looking forward to applying everything you have passed along and continuing with my good new sketchbook habits. Thanks Silver!

-Marcos Sorensen

Thanks for a fantastic course! I really appreciated the clarity and descriptive nature of the lectures.Your passion and enthusiasm for drawing is evident and contagious. There is a wealth of information to dissect and digest that extends far beyond the scope of the 9 short weeks.

-Rich Lauzon

I just really want to thank you for doing this course! It by far exceeded any of my expectations. One of the things that stands out to me most is how much professionalism you bring to everything you do. It adds a value to your teaching that both inspires and captivates those learning. I took this course doubtful that I'd complete it and be able to produce a decent design... Only 9 weeks later, I feel confident to produce a cleaned up character, full turnaround and expression sheet... that really is a testament to you as a teacher and artist.

-Judd Simantov

I thoroughly enjoyed the Character Design coarse. It was real eye opener for me. I find that I now have a greater knowledge of design and I have the confidence to really push the envelope.

Your critiques were very clear and precise, very easy to grasp. From looking at the other student videos, I could see that you really got through to everyone on their own level, and really honed in on what the needs of the individual were.

Your enthusiasm is infectious – it really doesn’t matter that that its coming from a computer screen! I think your very honest, and encouraging with your suggestions, I have to say, I would have no problem recommending this coarse, to anyone, at any level – I’m only sorry I did’ent start it sooner.

-Sandra Ni Chonaola

The Daily Zoo

My long time friend Chris Ayers has just published his first book. Chris created this book while he was in the hospital after being diagnosed with Leukemia. His goal was to draw an animal a day for a whole year to help him in his healing process. This is a really nice book with some great animal art. You can see by clicking the title.

Another fun night at the drawing club. Every pose creates a new challenge and because of that I try to find different ways to draw the subject. There is no rhyme or reason, just a gut feeling. And sometimes I will just sketch the other artists if I see something.

Artcast 14

Artcast Show 14 Download

This Artcast is about the fear of having kids and raising them while being a full time artist.
www.SCHOOLISM.com - Register today

The Drawing Club

These are some sketches from the other night @ Bob Kato's Drawing Club. He does this every thursday from 7pm- 10pm it is a great time, not to mention you get to drink some nice cold beer while you draw. check out the site @ www.thedrawingclub.com

ASIFA STUDENT ANIMATION FILM FESTIVAL

I will be here selling books and doing portfolio reviews.

CTN is proud to be one of the sponsors for the first annual student film festival co-hosted by the Animation Educators Forum. Held at a different location each year with this years event being held in our own backyard on campus at Woodbury University in Burbank.

Free to the public this event coincides with the Woodbury University Founders Day that includes a variety of activities on campus beginning at 11am with free games and carnival attractions, musical entertainment and local food vendors. Everyone is invited so bring the whole family for an afternoon of fun!!

Some CTN specials are a screening of "An Animated American" directed by
James Baker and Joe Haidar with panel discussion to follow and CTN members Stephen Silver, Glenn Vilppu and more will be on hand signing their sketchbooks.

CTN is also hosting a wine and beverage reception and raffle to win one free pass to the upcoming CTN Animation Expo to be held Nov 20-23, 2009 in Burbank.

Come and help us support the future storytellers of animation.

SEE YOU THERE!!

Artcast Show 13 Download

This Artcast is about not waiting.
“Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”
Mark Victor Hansen

Thanks for listening
" Character Design by Silver" www.SCHOOLISM.com - Register today
Too order any books signed with original sketch. please visit silvertoons.com