A Master Piece with Stephen Silver

Article Transcript

I was born in London, England, in 1972 and am one of five children, including my twin brother, Graham. In 1981, at the age of 9, my family moved to San Diego, California. I lived there until moving to Los Angeles in 1997. I have always loved to draw. At the age of 6, I found an artist’s sketchbook lying in my backyard. I picked it up and carried it everywhere I went. From that moment on, I have never stopped drawing.

I was never a good student in school. I received poor grades in all of my classes, including art. In high school, I drew cartoons for the school newspaper (as well as on all of my homework). At the age of 17, on a family vacation in Las Vegas, I found a direction for what I wanted to do with my life. I spent my time watching caricature artists draw in the casino we were staying in. The manager of the caricature concession stand noticed my fascination. He told me to practice drawing caricatures and submit my work to him if I wanted a job. When I got home, I drew every famous person I could think of, as well as half of the people in my high school yearbook. When I was 18 years old, I heard that Sea World was looking for caricaturists. I showed up for my interview with a torn plastic bag containing my artwork. They seemed desperate for an artist and hired me on the spot. During the first week at Sea World, I was offered the job in Las Vegas. I politely declined and decided to stay in San Diego.

After my second semester of junior college, I quit in order to work full time at Sea World. I could no longer focus in school and I knew that if I wanted to be a successful artist, I would need a good portfolio, not grades. My parents always encouraged my art but had no idea what I should do with it. They weren’t thrilled with my decision to stop going to school and told me if I dropped out I would have to financially support myself on every level. It was the best thing they could have done for me. It gave me the drive and motivation to succeed in the art field.

During my caricature days at Sea World, I became fascinated with the work of artists who drew for Mad Magazine, Mort Drucker and Jack Davis. Through their great work, they would become my motivation, and my mentors. I learned from Mort to get a better understanding of structure and form. When I had the pleasure of meeting him at the San Diego Comic Convention in 1996, he reminded me that, with art, there is no magic, that everything takes time and practice. Jack Davis’ work taught me to stay loose, animate and create energy within a drawing. In the winter of 1992, I ended up in Minnesota, where I worked in the Mall of America. I drew caricatures almost seven days a week. On my day off, I happened to stumble upon Tom Richmond (who is now prominently featured in Mad Magazine) drawing in another mall. And within the next couple of days he offered me a summer job working for him at Valley Fair Amusement Park in Minnesota.

Upon returning home, I set up my own business called Silvertoons. The business mainly consisted of drawing caricatures at events and cartoon commissions. I also set up caricature concession stands in shopping malls during Christmas for the next three years, and had a concession stand at the Barona Casino in San Diego.

During Christmas of 1996, as I was drawing caricatures at the mall, the art team from the clothing company No Fear approached me. They asked if I would like to work for them when Christmas was over. So, in January of 1997, I showed up with my drawings at their office in Carlsbad, California, and was hired.

That year, my parents gave me a newspaper article about the animation boom. I decided to submit my work to Warner Bros. Animation Studios. I made some copies from my sketchbooks, put in some life drawings, made my own portfolio case out of wood and drove to Los Angeles to drop off my work. It was at that point that my art career took a different direction. I had an opportunity to take a character design test for the show “Histeria.” It was caricature heavy, my specialty. My assignment was to design three historical characters of my choice, and I was told to bring them back the following week. I went home that night drew King Henry the VIII, Al Capone and Adolf Hitler and showed up at the studio two days later with an armful of drawings. The following week I received a phone call and was hired.

In August of 1999, I left Warner Bros. to work for Disney Television Animation on “Clerks: The Animated Series.” I had the opportunity to take a test designing the main characters; Dante, Randal, Jay and Mr. Plug (Silent Bob had already been designed). After several meetings with the show’s director, Chris Bailey, I was hired. Unfortunately, the series was cancelled after airing only two episodes out of the six that were produced. The show, however, connected me with the creator, Kevin Smith. He put out the whole series on DVD, and later I was contacted by him to design the “Clerks” Inaction Figure toy line. In 2000, I received a call from Chris about developing the characters for a brand new show at Disney called “Kim Possible.” For this show, I turned to another of my artistic influences, world famous caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. I have always been moved by his rhythmical line and tried to bring that sensibility to “Kim Possible.”

In November 2001, after the first season of “Kim Possible,” I received a call from Nickelodeon. They were in the process of developing a brand new show called “Danny Phantom,” created by “The Fairly Odd Parents” creator, Butch Hartman. I dropped off my portfolio and within a few days got the call to come in to meet Butch and take a test. I have been working on many projects, studio, commercial and licencing ever since.

As an artist, I continue to search for new ways to draw. Uninhibited by style or rules, I am constantly motivated to improve my craft. It is exciting for me to look back at my sketchbooks from year to year and see how my artwork is developing. I believe that what Mort Drucker said is true: “There is no magic in art.” The dedication and desire that I have as an artist will help me reach high artistic goals.

I believe the success I have achieved as an artist can be attributed to my ability to draw in many different styles. In the animation industry, versatility is an asset. Committing myself to becoming a full-time artist at a young age was the best decision I ever made. As long as I keep drawing, I know I’ll keep improving. Drawing has become an addiction for me, a habit I cannot break. I feed my addiction by drawing in my sketchbook every single day. It feels great!

DESIGNING CHARACTERS
When I develop characters in the animation industry, I am designing off a script. The script will call for, let’s say, an angry bus driver or a bodyguard in a Jamaican nightclub. It is up to me at that point to use my imagination and start drawing. I will usually try to grab as much photo reference as possible to help me base my drawings with a reality, such as a bus driver’s uniform or a Jamaican outfit. It is very important for me to constantly draw from life. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I draw at the coffee shop with a couple of friends during our lunch break. It is a great way to break up the day. And on Fridays, at lunch, I go to a life drawing workshop. Drawing from life gives me lots of ideas as well as lots of body types and faces to draw, which inevitably comes out in my work when I have to design people.

Caricature and character design, to me, are one in the same. They both deal with using contrasting appealing shapes and sizes as well as squashing and stretching the characters’ proportions.

I will usually start my drawing by using a red or blue col-erase pencil, and when I am happy with the look of the piece, I will tighten it up with a graphite pencil. I will then lay a new sheet of paper on that and clean it up using a brush pen. I am still experimenting a lot with color, but I feel myself using prismacolor markers and colored pencils. I am also experimenting a lot with watercolor right now. It seems to be a lot faster and looks real good. I am one of those artists who likes to experiment a lot, and not be so constricted to doing something only one way.

I will try any medium or technique at least once to see if it works for me. I feel it is important as an artist to be inspired by other artists, but I realize that we are all individuals and must find our own voice and what works for us. I enjoy sharing with other artists what I have learned, and hope that that inspires them to experiment themselves. I have learned a lot from studying other artists, but have consciously made an effort to learn and not to copy their styles.

Styles are too personal and can only be found by drawing what you know how to draw. It takes time, but it comes. When designing characters, the most important part is building up the foundation, making sure there is solid construction underneath all the accessories. Without that basic fundamental, I feel that is where most designers fall apart. Always think of the general shape to the particular details. Character design, to me, is very rewarding, I feel it is my strength, the thing I do best. Therefore, that is all I will put in my portfolio.

It is my hope to continue my career in this direction. I also am very passionate about teaching other artists what I have learned. A lot of that is in my books. I have found myself, lately, going to a lot of animation schools and giving my presentations and lectures on how I approach character design. My advice to aspiring artists is to carry a sketchbook, draw from life as much as you can. Learn from others and have fun. If you would like to learn more about the work I do and have done, please visit my website at www. silvertoons.com, and if you are interested in learning more about drawing tips and techniques, you will find that in my Online class at www.schoolism.com. If you are interested in learning with me in a face-to-face hands-on session, you will be able to. I am building a physical art school, coming soon. www.silverdrawingacademy.com

“The road to success is paved with failure” – English proverb

I was recently in Japan doing a seminar, and I find that as I do more lectures, I learn something new as I explain things in different ways. The more I speak, the more I learn to simplify my points in order to get them across.

As I was discussing about my journey as an artist, I explained how I have never seen failure as failure in my life but as a learning lesson to make sure I don’t repeat what I have done, or completely change direction from what I thought was the right approach. I was trying to think of what to use for a title; for instance, “Failure is the stepping stone to success,” or “Failure will lead you to success.” – proverbs that, for whatever reason, are retained in my mind, possibly a past life. And then, a day later, this proverb, “The road to success is paved with failure,” which is well known, came out of my head. I then realized that I have heard this many times in my life but never really knew what it meant back then like I do now.

If you accept the fact that there is always going to be some kind of obstacle in your life, maybe the wrong job, the wrong relationship, the wrong friends, the wrong school, the wrong teacher, FOR NOW, then you will truly understand the meaning of this phrase and the truth it holds. Yes, there are hiccups in life, divorces, deaths, loss of work, rejections, wishes not coming true, phone calls not being returned, not getting accepted for a position or other desire. But as long as you keep going and keep trying, you will eventually succeed in what it is you truly want to do. I have had so many failures in my life, but the reality is, many people will never know of them, nor do they need to know, because I have always prevailed and succeeded in other ways. This is so important to grasp. It will open your eyes and make your life clear. It will give you hope, a vision and a feeling that you are never alone and that this life is yours. How do you want to live it?

To learn more about Stephen, visit his website at www.silvertoons.com.

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