Hans Schwarz spent ten years training with his uncle, Stephan Schwarz, to be a sculptor. He then began making portrait medals of Augsburg's leading citizens. Schwarz first sketched his subjects with clear strokes, defining their individual features, then carved a wooden model with the profile and an inscription, finally casting a medal in bronze or lead. In 1519, after only three years of experience as a medallist, Schwarz was invited to Nuremberg in Bavaria. This important invitation came from Melchior Pfinzing, an influential art patron and high-ranking official. In 1520 Schwarz was expelled from Nuremberg for unruly behavior. Thereafter he lived an itinerant existence, dying sometime after 1521.

Remarkably, Schwarz produced 149 medals and wooden models for medals in his brief career, along with about 137 bust-length portrait drawings that served as preparatory sketches for medals.