Profile
PROFILE : DAVID SILVA
As an only-child in a single parent home, it didn’t take long for David Silva to find his two passions in life- art and toys. Drawing everything from dinosaurs to robots David found inspiration in toys, cartoons, and comic books. A few decades later not much has changed.
After completing high school in the small town of Crowley, Texas, David attended Savannah College of Art And Design majoring in Sequential Art. A huge fan of comic books such as Spawn and Superman, David was certain he wanted to draw comic books for a living. However one class in particular, Conceptual Illustration, changed everything. David found concept design to be much more appropriate to his talents and interests and began focusing on that path. Concept design also allowed David to develop his
sculpting skills which seemed trivial at the time, but would become very important later. After completing his Sequential Art studies and also finishing an additional major in Illustration, David graduated from SCAD in the summer of 2003 with two BFA’s. Three weeks later he began his first professional design assignment.
David worked as a full-time freelance designer for McFarlane toys for about eighteen months. During that time he worked on a variety of designs for lines such as Spawn, Dragons, and even The Simpsons. In 2005 David moved to New Jersey to be closer to the McFarlane Toys headquarters in Bloomingdale, NJ. After three months of working from home, David was asked to help out in the sculpting department. Although it was only meant as a temporary arrangement, David asked to be considered for a full-time position in the sculpting department. After six months of being a freelance in-house sculptor, David was hired on full time. During his three years sculpting at McFarlane toys, David showed a particular interest in the animal inspired characters and became a major contributor to lines such as dragons, Warriors of the Zodiac, and other in-house lines. Animal inspired creatures such as the Twisted X-Mas Reindeer, Zodiac Aries, Spawn Crocodile King, and Blade Hunters Griffin are just a few of David’s sculpts in addition to several of the Dragons figures.
Unfortunately, in 2008 many of McFarlane’s in-house fantasy lines were put on hold indefinitely and eventually cancelled. David felt it was time to move on and pursue his next goal- Hasbro. As the owner of over three thousand toys, the vast majority being Hasbro product (Transformers, Star Wars, GI Joe) this seemed like a very logical move. With the portfolio gained from McFarlane Toys, David earned a temporary sculpting term at Hasbro in Pawtucket, RI in the summer of ’08 and returned for another term in winter of ‘09. He now works full-time from his home in Hackensack, NJ as a free-lance toy sculptor/ dinosaur resin kit sculptor.
As an only-child in a single parent home, it didn’t take long for David Silva to find his two passions in life- art and toys. Drawing everything from dinosaurs to transforming robots David found inspiration in toys, cartoons, and comic books. A few decades later not much has changed.
After completing high school in the small town of Crowley, Texas, David attended Savannah College of Art And Design in 1998 majoring in Sequential Art. A huge fan of comic books such as Spawn and Superman, David was certain he wanted to draw comic books for a living. However one class in particular, Conceptual Illustration, changed everything. David found concept design to be much more appropriate to his talents and interests and he began focusing on that path. Concept design also allowed David to develop his sculpting skills which seemed trivial at the time, but would become very important later. After completing his Sequential Art studies and also finishing an additional major in Illustration, David graduated from SCAD in the summer of 2003 with two BFA’s. Three weeks later he began his first professional design assignment for McFarlane which just happened to be…transforming robots.
After working about eighteen months as a full-time freelance designer for McFarlane toys (on projects such as Spawn, Dragons, and The Simpsons), David moved to New Jersey in 2005 to be closer to the McFarlane Toys headquarters in Bloomingdale, NJ. After three months of working from home, David was asked to help out in the sculpting department and was eventually hired on as a full time sculptor. During his three and half years sculpting at McFarlane Toys, David showed a particular interest in the animal inspired characters and became a major contributor to many of the company’s in-house fantasy lines. Most notable is his extensive work on the McFarlane’s Dragons line.
Unfortunately, in 2007 and 2008 many of McFarlane’s in-house fantasy lines were put on hold and eventually canceled. David felt it was time to move on and see what else the toy industry had to offer. For the following year and half, David would work exclusively for Hasbro both from home and at their main facility in Pawtucket, Rhode Island contributing to lines such as Star Wars, GI Joe, Spiderman, and Jurassic Park. Then in early 2010, a new opportunity came along from NECA, (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) as an in-house sculptor. The New Jersey based NECA has been a good fit for David and he has spent the past year working on their various collector based toy lines including Predators, Terminator 2, Clash of the Titans, and Iron Maiden.
In addition to his full-time sculpting duties at NECA, David has also been creating his own line of resin model kits, focusing mainly on dinosaurs and prehistoric animals, since Oct. 2009 under his business name, Creative Beast Studio.
David currently resides in Hackensack, NJ and still can’t get enough of toys, dinosaurs, and transforming robots.