Biography
Tom Bancroft brings nearly 25 years of experience in the animation industry, with 11 of those years spent as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation. He has received nominations for Annie and Reuben awards, presented at the Kennedy Center, and earned recognition at the Chicago Children's Film Festival. During his time at Disney, Bancroft contributed to 10 animated feature films, five animated shorts, and numerous special projects and commercials. His work includes classic films such as "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King," "Aladdin," "Mulan," and "Brother Bear." Additionally, he served as a character designer and director for Big Idea Productions, creators of the family-friendly "Veggietales" video series.
In 2005, Bancroft published the widely acclaimed art instruction book "Creating Characters with Personality" through Watson-Guptill Publishers. The book has become a leading resource on character design for animation, video games, comic books, and cartooning, and is used as a required textbook at many art schools worldwide. His second book, "Character Mentor," released by Focal Press in 2012, quickly became one of their top-selling art instruction titles.
Bancroft has illustrated over 50 children's books, art directed a major children's educational website (ABCMouse.com), authored and illustrated multiple comic book series, and created character designs for TV, film, and video games for clients including Lego, Disney, Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, CBN, Random House, Big Idea Productions, Marvel, and others.
Currently, Bancroft is the Head of Character Design for seasons 2 through 4 of the animated TV series "Superbook" for the Christian Broadcasting Network. He is also the President of his online art instruction platform, TaughtByAPro.com, serves as Artist in Residence at Lipscomb University, lectures at video game companies and art schools globally (such as EA Entertainment, SCAD, Ringling College, and Nemo Academy in Italy), and provides art and art direction services to clients worldwide. Bancroft and his family live in Franklin, Tennessee.
