William Silvers (born in

New Bremen, Ohio New Bremen () is a village in Auglaize County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,978 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Wapakoneta, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area. The village is adjacent to Minster to the south. The village ...

) is an American

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

, best known for his work in the field of

wildlife art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

Biography

Inspired by his father, who was also an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, Silvers studied arts at the Bowling Green State University and earned a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

at the age of 21. After working for advertising agencies in New York City and an illustration studio for several years, he co-founded the art studio Live Wire Studios, located in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, as Vice President and Creative Director in 1990. Six years later Silvers started to work for the Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios in Orlando, Florida and painted backgrounds for

animated feature These lists of animated feature films compiles animated feature films from around the world and is organized alphabetically under the year of release (the year the completed film was first released to the public). Theatrical releases as well as ...

films such as ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...

'', ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

'', '' Lilo & Stitch'' and '' Brother Bear''. In 2004 he worked for Industrial Light and Magic on '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' and '' Day After Tomorrow'' as a matte painter. He moved back to Florida and worked as Associate Art Director on the sports game '' NCAA Football'' of

EA Tiburon EA Tiburon is an Electronic Arts video game development studio located in Orlando, Florida, United States founded in 1994. It was formerly known as Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by EA in 1998. EA had already purchased a minority eq ...

. In 2008 he authored the book ''Painting Realistic Wildlife in Acrylic''. From 2009 to 2014 he created matte paintings at DreamWorks Animation SKG on the films '' Shrek'', '' Kung Fu Panda'', '' Puss in Boots'', ''

How to Train Your Dragon ''How to Train Your Dragon'' (abbreviated ''HTTYD'') is an American media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the eponymous series of children's books by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three feature films: ' ...

'', '' Mr. Peabody & Sherman'', '' The Croods'' and '' Rise of the Guardians''. In 2016 he worked as a matte painter in Vancouver BC on '' Storks'' for Sony Pictures Imageworks and

Warner Brothers Pictures Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Dis ...

. Silvers is continuing his strong two-decade long relationship with Disney creating Licensed Disney Gallery Art to this day.

Awards

In the 2001 Arts for the Parks competition of the National Park Academy of the Arts, Silvers won the Founder's Favorite award, which was endowed with a prize money of $1,500, for his painting ''King of the Swamp'' showing the head of a swimming

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

. Four years later, in 2005, his painting ''Going Fishing'' was awarded with the Region I award (all entries east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

), which came with a prize money of $3,000.

References

External links

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''Painting Realistic Wildlife in Acrylic: 30 Step-By-Step Demonstrations''
at Amazon.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Silvers, William American illustrators 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Animal artists Bowling Green State University alumni Living people People from New Bremen, Ohio Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American male artists