Tom Bancroft has an extensive career spanning almost 25 years in the animation industry, with the majority of his experience being spent at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he worked as an animator for 11 years. Throughout his tenure, he has been recognized with numerous accolades, including Annie and Reuben award nominations, a speaking engagement at the Kennedy Center, and an entry into the Chicago Children's Film Festival.
During his time at Disney, Bancroft had the opportunity to contribute his talents to a wide range of projects, including 10 animated feature films, five animated shorts, and numerous special projects and commercials. Some of the classic films he worked on include "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King," "Aladdin," "Mulan," and "Brother Bear."
In addition to his work at Disney, Bancroft also served as a character designer and director for Big Idea Productions, the creators of the popular "Veggietales" video series. His artistic talents have also been showcased in his own art instruction books, including "Creating Characters with Personality," which has become the most recognized book on designing characters for animation, video games, comic books, and cartooning, and is a required textbook at many arts schools around the world.
Bancroft's second book, "Character Mentor," was published by Focal Press in 2012 and has already become one of their best-selling art instruction books. He has also illustrated over 50 children's books, art directed a major children's educational website (ABCMouse.com),written and illustrated multiple comic book series, and created character designs for TV, film, and video games for clients such as Lego, Disney, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, CBN, Random House, Big Idea Production, Marvel, and more.
Presently, Bancroft serves as the Head of Character Design for the animated TV series "Superbook," Seasons 2 to 4, for Christian Broadcasting Network, President of his online art instruction website (TaughtByAPro.com),Artist in Residence for Lipscomb University, and creates art and art direction for clients all over the world. He also regularly speaks at video game companies and art schools globally, including EA Entertainment, SCAD, Ringling, Nemo Academy-Italy, and more.
Bancroft and his family reside in Franklin, Tennessee.
