Going from caricature artist to character designer to teacher, Stephen Silver has had a wildly creative professional life. Learn about the intertwined nature of observation and art in this conversation with him.
Read on the thoughts of “Kim Possible” character designer and Silver Drawing Academy founder Stephen Silver as he talks about working in the industry, nurturing your craft, and inspiration.
Matthew Chen (Founder, Editor-In-Chief) sat down for a Zoom meeting with Stephen Silver to discuss his profession and journey to get to where he is today.*
*This interview has been edited for clarity and length
Q: What form of art do you specialize in?
Silver: The majority of art that I’m doing is character design. That’s really what I’m known for. That was what I started doing in the industry when I got in around 1997, but a lot of times now, what I specialize in is teaching. Teaching the fundamentals, teaching how to draw, teaching how to observe, but as a whole, my title for many years has been character designer.
Q: When did you start character design, or just design in general, and when did you decide you became interested in it?
Silver: When I was in high school, I was drawing for my high school newspaper. After that, I went to junior college where I started to take some life drawing classes, but found very quickly that school wasn’t my calling. My mind was just too into the arts. At that point, I was in there for about a year, and I dropped out to start working as a caricature artist. I ended up getting hired at SeaWorld in San Diego when I must havxe been around 18 years old, 19 years old, doing caricatures. And then from there, I was probably around 24 years old when I got hired as a character designer in the animation industry.
Q: Is there anything in particular that made you decide that you wanted to pursue design?
Silver: You know, caricature is very similar to character design, and I was a fan of animation. I didn’t know about a job for animation or even what a character designer was because I never went to school. I was just drawing caricatures. I was very active in joining organizations. Groups would meet once a month, [like] the Cartoonist Society, and I’d meet other artists there. I kept in contact with one of them and then from there, he said, “Hey, come show me your stuff,” and I took my stuff to him at Warner Brothers in Los Angeles. He said, “Hey, let me take your portfolio and show it to someone else,” and he showed it to them, and they liked what was in my portfolio and they gave me a test. That’s usually how you get the job, they’ll give you a test in those studios. I had to design famous people, like King Henry VIII and Al Capone, and that was my test. That’s what got me into design, and I realized, “Wow! This is very cool! Getting to draw characters, and do design,” and that’s where the interest came. But it really came from a love of drawing caricature.
Q: What was your experience working as a character designer for Warner Bros./Disney?
Silver: The show that I was on at Warner Bros. was a show called “Histeria!”. I left Warner Bros. and went to Disney, and from there, that’s where I got hired to do several other shows. There, I was asked to do some designs for this new show that was coming on called “Kim Possible.” I was on this show called “The Weekenders” at the time. I went and did a bunch of drawings and the directors liked what I was doing, and that’s what got me hired onto “Kim Possible”. They liked the overall direction I was creating.
Q: What would you say one of your favorite and one of your least favorite things is about being a character designer?
Silver: I think it’s really the best job in the industry. It’s amazingly creative, I mean, a lot of positions are, but when you get to design, what’s fun about it is that you get to potentially design a franchise. You get to design a character that everyone’s going to recognize. You get to be a part of that, and again, it’s just a lot of fun in that area. Designing, coming up with new looks, new styles. You get to dig up your imagination a lot and really make something out of nothing.
You get to dig up your imagination a lot and really make something out of nothing.
I think the least favorite, sometimes, is the deadlines. You don’t often get a lot of time. Some shows are longer than others, and I think when you have to do all of the production stuff, like the turnarounds, you’ve moved on from the creative aspect of designing new characters. Now you’re doing all the technical stuff, which is required of a character designer, and I think that’s the sort of stuff that becomes a little uninteresting.
Q: Do you have a particular story you want to share about your experience working as a character designer?
Silver: I think all I would like to share is that if anyone else is interested in getting into this field, it’s just very important that you make sure you learn to observe. Make sure you’re observing people all the time, and animals, and just life. You want to be extremely versatile. You don’t just want to stay drawing one style of cartooning because it’s going to limit your potential to get jobs in the animation field or as a character designer. The more you broaden your horizons and are able to diversify, that’s going to give you more opportunity. That’s just what I would want to offer in regards to working in this field as a character designer. Just always be learning. Don’t stop learning.
Just always be learning. Don’t stop learning.
Q: What was a major setback in your career and what did you learn from it?
Silver: I think it was a setback early on. When I was around 18, 19, I didn’t give myself the ability to truly study art and truly learn and truly dive into books. I wish I would have done that when I was younger. That’s the thing that I regret and I wish I would have done, because then it took longer to learn things. I would have decided to learn a lot faster and not think I knew it all, because I really had no idea.
Q: What advice would you give to young people who are pursuing art as a passion or as a career?
Silver: I would say to just have a focus. If this is something you want to pursue, just try to define what you truly enjoy. Do you love drawing buildings? Do you love drawing landscapes? What sort of things do you truly love? Just build towards that, and that way maybe you could be a background designer. Otherwise, maybe you love drawing props and you love designing gadgets, then that would be a prop designer. Or if you love drawing characters, do that! But don’t confuse what you’re trying to do. Maybe you’re saying, “I want to be a character designer or a prop designer!” then there’s no reason to be putting all your time, energy, and effort into studying oil painting. That’s not going to benefit you; that’s not going to move you in that direction. So if you have that feeling of, “You know, I really love doing this,” stick with that. Try to push through that element, or hardship, or whatever it may be, and try to see if it is truly what you love to do.
So if you have that feeling of, “You know, I really love doing this,” stick with that. Try to push through that element, or hardship, or whatever it may be, and try to see if it is truly what you love to do.
Q: What was your goal as a teenager, and have you achieved that, or what does it look like now?
Silver: I think when I was 18 or 19, my goal was to just make a living as an artist… if I could do that and maybe work for a company, be hired by someone, or work freelance. I was planning on doing caricatures and opening up caricature concession stands. I was working in theme parks and shopping malls doing caricatures, and I thought that was going to be my life. Then, I got sidetracked into animation. So, in regards to “Did it turn out the way I thought it was going to be?”, no. I thought I was just going to be doing caricatures my whole life. Then I became a character designer. That way exceeded my expectations. I was very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to design and develop on shows that became popular. That was the doing of the writers, team, and everything combined. I was there at the right place at the right time, and more so, I always thought that I wanted to be a teacher. That was something that I’ve spent a lot of my energy [on], really, the last 20 years of my life. Teaching. So now, my trajectory of where I want to go and be is evolving again, and that’s what led me to creating the Silver Drawing Academy, which is an online art school.
Q: Is there anyone or anything that inspires you?
Silver: I think everything inspires me, really. I get inspired by other people’s artwork all the time, through Instagram. I get inspired when I see a movie. I get inspired when I’m in a restaurant or any other place and I see people. It’s like, “Oh wow, look at that face! That’s something that’s really great to look at,” and those are the things that inspire me.
And then it’s just the artists. I’ve had so many influences in my life. One of my heroes was Mort Drucker from MAD Magazine, but then I fell in love with artists like Norman Rockwell. There’s a lot of different artists, so there’s constantly a different form of inspiration, but that’s the thing. As a designer, you want to be [inspired], you need to be, and if you’re not, maybe you’re in the wrong profession.
Thank you to Stephen Silver for allowing us to interview him! Check out his work down below.
Stephen’s Websites:
http://www.silverdrawingacademy.com
Our Socials: