Stephen Silver

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bupaje
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Stephen Silver

Post by bupaje »

Hey. Stephen Silver of Kim Possible http://www.silvertoons.com/silvertoons/ is going to be popping in to our schoool tonight. I'm excited to hear what he has to say and plan to pick up his book.

For those considering an animation school you should really look at Brooks College. I have had a wonderful experience at this school. The pace is a bit fast -they basically try to cover the material of 4 years in 18 months, which means that sometimes we blaze through some things and I wish I had a bit more time to refine it and absorb stuff but there are some excellent teachers and support staff. There are also a lot of cool events for those who can make time to attend - if I didn't also work full time I would have been to another dozen or so 'meet the artist' and animation shows.
[url=http://burtabreu.animationblogspot.com:2gityfdw]My AnimationBlogSpot[/url:2gityfdw]
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J. Baker
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Post by J. Baker »

That's pretty cool bupaje. Let's us know what you discuss or learn. :wink:
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

Just got back and it was as useful as I hoped. Really great to hear from someone who has worked their way up and be able to ask questions and get insights.

What struck me most of all was his dedication to honing his craft. He says he draws and draws all the time. He will sit at Barnes and Nobles and pull books while drinking his coffee and draw from the books, draw people at the cafe. He'll then push thier proportions, playing with their shapes (he started out doing caricatures). He showed us his life drawing as well -which he doesn't show the models- and how he sometimes pushes the body making a slim person fat etc to extreme exageration but still believable because he is doing it based on an understanding of the real structure.

He showed pages of black silohuettes. he said developing a strong profile is important so he practices that. He showed the development sketches of Kim Possible characters and tons of media. He challenges himself when he is practicing by using different mediums even or especially those he doesn't always like at first -ink, gouche, water color, crayons, sharpies, pens. He does the same thing with paper. He says that he often buys lots of different types of papers (vellum etc) and colors and takes them to Kinkos and cuts them then binds them mixed in one pad. Then he'll experiment paper with different mediums as it comes up.

He also showed how he uses a figure 8 -exaggerating one lobe or the other, angle, etc - and fill pages with variations of heads and bodies based on the basic '8' shape.

We asked lots of ideas and there was lots of other useful tidbits but these are the things that struck me the most. I've been worrying as I'll soon be doing an internship and graduating by March and I feel my art -while better- isn't quite there. You'd think it obvious but he sold me on the idea of adding an extra hour or two a day of just drawing and drawing beyond my assignments.

Cool.
[url=http://burtabreu.animationblogspot.com:2gityfdw]My AnimationBlogSpot[/url:2gityfdw]
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Rasheed
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Post by Rasheed »

bupaje wrote:We asked lots of ideas and there was lots of other useful tidbits but these are the things that struck me the most. I've been worrying as I'll soon be doing an internship and graduating by March and I feel my art -while better- isn't quite there. You'd think it obvious but he sold me on the idea of adding an extra hour or two a day of just drawing and drawing beyond my assignments.
Thanks for the report of your meeting. You now know there is a difference between knowing something and really understanding something, from first-hand experience. Knowing that drawing is important and understanding it, are really two different things.

How cool is that. I'm very glad for you and your class mates that you're having these great meetings.
Bones3D
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Post by Bones3D »

I see he's also worked on Danny Phantom, another show quickly gaining popularity in the Nicktoons universe. (From the same group that created the better know "Fairly Odd-Parents" series.)

And I agree with the silhouette concept. A successful character design should almost always be recognizable by its shape alone. For example:

Image

You can do this with just about any major character from any popular animated show you can find on TV.

Come to think of it, something that could show you a silhouette of a character you've designed as you develop it further, could make for an interesting design tool in future Anime Studio releases... specifically for this purpose.
8==8 Bones 8==8
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ingie01
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Post by ingie01 »

Hi Burt,
Great to see your enthusiasm has not waned.
Thanks for posting this information. All these tid-bits add up......
You'll know when you get there! My Dad
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