I've never accepted "formal" commissions before, so I hope this works out.   I am posting this for about a week and after that, it will be done and I'll start doing the commissions.  I'm accepting 10 commissions on a first come basis.  NOTE ME if you are interested and be ready to pay via paypal.  Thanks!  Tom

TERMS:  
- I won't start the commission until you've put the money into my Paypal account (with shipping included).
- Yes, I am creating this for you and you are going to own the original art, shipped to you.
-I will not draw nudity or anything I wouldn't show my wife.  That keeps things simple on my side.  
- I WILL draw your original character, my version.  
- I may not have time to post sketches, so you may only see the final (because of time reasons).  If you don't like it, I will give your money back (once I figure out how).   Look at my gallery and decide if you like my work first though.  
- I keep permission to reproduce the artwork as I see fit (on DA, Facebook, protfolio, sketchbooks, etc.).  If its your O.C., you still retain copyright of the character, naturally.
- IF you only give me a description (not a previously created drawing) of your character, I am only doing ONE version of your character- like it or not.  You are not hiring me as a character designer where I will do multiple versions of your character for you to own/use.  
- Final will be in COLOR- markers and colored pencils with Ink lines.  

COST:
(Sorry, I'm not super cheap)

-  $125 for one full body character in color, some color in BG or a limited BG for setting.  (Up to me.)  
-PLUS Flat Shipping:  $7.00 US  or $13.00 international.  (I do my best to ship with sturdy packaging, which is part of the shipping costs.  I have not had a complaint yet.)
-SIZE is 81/2" x 11"

Let me know if I left anything out and I hope this works out for all of us!  Best, Tom B.

Man, what an adventure I had this weekend!  I JUST got back in from my trip to Costa Rica and their first-ever BOOM CON!  I went with a friend, Chuck, because my wife couldn't get off work.  It was sad seeing some of the incredible sights of CR without her, but- I have to admit- there were plenty of things I did that "non comic" wives just don't have the attention for.   First off, to all my new friends in Costa Rica- HOLA!  A bunch of you are now "watchers" here on DA and friends on Facebook, so its nice to stay in touch.  The con was small (I heard around 2000 people over the two days?) but not too small.  It really gave all of us artists a chance to interact with the fans that came to our tables.  I already knew pals Tim Townsend [link]
(and his great wife Molly) and Phil Noto but also got the chance to become friends with Ya Ya Han (THE cosplay artist of the world) and her boyfriend Brian [link]
some Star Wars actors, a few rockers and another great storyboard artist/ animator, Angelo!  Not to mention Troy and his wife Gio who were our hosts, they did such a great job making us feel comfortable.  The convention had tons of talented local CR artist there too!  I couldn't believe the talent of some of them, they really should be making comics for Marvel or DC.  One, John Timm, is an incredbile animator and comic artist that NEEDS to be discovered by the big two or someone that wants to pay him and make money off of him!  (I mean that in the good way, we all want.)   We swapped drawings, but I feel like I made out better in that deal!  I just discovered he has a DV page here (go see it NOW) [link]
He has a new sketchbook he put together for the con and it is awesome!  Another thing we had in common was that we both have senior high school daughters.  His daughter was a huge help to me since their table was right next to mine and I don't know much Spanish and had never heard of Colones (or whatever their money is called).  It was a real learning curve.  I brought a little over 50 of my new sketchbooks and sold them all out!  I was doing fairly detailed sketches if you bought one, so that helped.  I think at bigger cons I wouldn't have the time to do that.  I still plan on going to CTN EXPO and SD COMIC CON and will have the last of the sketchbooks on sell there (one or both, we'll see).    A lot of you have asked if I'll sell them online or here on DA, and I just don't think I will at this time.  One day, I will have something available online, I'm just thinking about the best way to do it.  We'll see.

EDIT:  Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had a Drink and Draw get together on Saturday night and all the great Costa Rican artists came to draw together with me, Phil, and Tim.  Or visa versa, actually!  It was great fun.  I only did a couple in my sketchbook, then got asked to do an Ariel for someone, then a Simba, then another Ariel, and, well, it was like that the rest of the night.  

AND I just found this picture from a girl that caught me lecture:  [link]

When will I ever be able to say that again?  Well, today, right now, I CAN.  I leave for Costa Rica tomorrow for their first-ever comic book convention- BOOM CON!  [link]

I will be a guest of the con and doing some panels (translated, I hope!) as well as doing some sketching and selling my NEWEST sketchbook- #3! [link] That's right, I made this just for this convention, but I will also be selling them at the CTN EXPO later on in the year.  That's the goal anyway.  Sorry, I don't have plans to sell it here at this time.  I hate mailing stuff.  I hope to have some online presence in the near future that may have these and my comics, so hold your breath- starting now.  

Other great artists that will be at Boom Con this weekend-  Tim Townsend and Phil Noto!  (I don't have their DA links, can someone put them in the comments? )    Both good friends that I never get to see so I'm excited to hang out with them!  Also a CosPlay girl that is very popular, YaYa(something).  I'm sure some of you have heard of her.  Come on down (or across or up, I have no idea where I'm going.)  Be back mid-next week.  If you are so inclined, please say a prayer for safe travels.  Thanks.   

God bless, Tom B.

My brother, Tony, creator of Kronk and Pumbaa and animator on even more for Disney is having an animation drawing Ebay sell!  This is some nice stuff, so check it out and bid the night away!  (I don't get anything from this, I'm just passing this along because I thought you guys would like this.)  

[link]

I'm starting to do some publicity and marketing things for my publisher, Focal Press, for my new book "Character Mentor".  I shot a few things yesterday (that sounds more professional than it was since its just me in front of a webcam in my studio) and they will start posting them soon.  Here's the first one, a video of me introduction CHARACTER MENTOR and why I wanted to create it.  I hope you like it!  [link]

It comes out in March, 2012 and is available to pre-order now at Amazon.com.

I haven't taken the time (nor have I had the time) to write a "animation story" for about a year and a half!  If you look back at some of my earlier Journals you can find some of the 'animation story' series.  Anyway, this is one I have been meaning to write for some time since its kind of the final "chapter" to a series I started called "Breaking into Disney".  Its the story of when i first started working for Disney animation at the just built Disney/MGM studios in Florida back in 1989.  (If you want to review, here's the link to pt. 2, my Disney internship story: [link]

As I mentioned in the earlier posted Journal, my twin brother, Tony, and I had just gotten selected (along with about 10-or so-other interns) to move from California to Florida to help staff the new (just built, but not opened yet) Disney/ MGM animation tour studio (later to be called Walt Disney Feature Animation, Florida).  We were 20 years old and leaving the place we grew up (California) and our family /girlfriends behind to live on our own for the first time (if you don't count CalArts dorm rooms).  Along with that, we had to buy a car, find an apartment (we lived together for the first 6-8 months, till I got married), and start a new job at a new Disney studio!  It was stressful but exciting as anything!  

First, a little background on the Disney Florida studio:

All the way till opening the doors of the Disney Florida studio, Disney didn't know what they wanted to do with that studio.  First and foremost, they needed a "working studio" for the animation tour that was going to go through there everyday 365 days a year.  Because the studio was designed to have windows all along one side of the wall, the Florida studio got the nickname of "The Fishbowl" even before we left CA.  The animators in CA couldn't understand why any "serious animation artist" would want to work in a place where people would watch you work all day long.   On top of that, Disney wasn't sure what we should work on.  Early on, they thought they would just staff the studio with animation students and some "fake animators" that would be training managers essentially.  We would work on "tests" and 'busy work' so it looked like stuff was happening- for the tourists.  It was intimidating as a young animation student, to roll the dice and say yes to working at the Florida studio with so many nay sayers at the California studio.  These were the experienced masters, the guys we looked up to that were just (at the time) finishing up the animation on "The Little Mermaid", which looked like it was going to be a huge hit!  Tony and I wondered  if we were throwing our careers away if we left what was obviously the MAIN studio to go off and work at this little studio tourist attraction in the swamps of Florida!  For that reason, many of us that moved there thought we would only stay for a year or two.  Get your feet wet, then move up the "big leagues"- to the Calif. Disney studio.  That's where it all happens.  (NOTE: That way of thinking didn't go away for many years.  It took our "little animation studio that could" a good 6 or 7 years to convince the Ca studio management that we could make our own feature films instead of just working on pieces of their films.  In the meantime, we all fell in love with living and working in Florida so many people stayed for the long run.)  

At some point before the start of our internship, Michael Eisner (the CEO of Disney back then) made the decision- he wanted an actual, working studio in Florida.   It wasn't important to him what we did though.  "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" had come out the year before, and we were a small studio (only about 40-60 people in the beginning) so animated shorts made sense to the suits at Disney.  They decided we would do a Roger Rabbit short and then probably move on to making Mickey Mouse shorts.  Our first project was to be a Roger Rabbit short cartoon.  It was called "Roller Coaster Rabbit".  But even that didn't go right.  The short had story problems and wasn't completely ready to go when we all go set up in the studio.  So, Disney threw us another short project:  The Little Mermaid McDonald's commercial (Mermaid was about to come out and McDonald's-at the time- always did a toy tie-in to the Disney films, and always did a new commercial to show off the new Disney film Happy Meal tie-ins)

To back up a little though, Tony and I reported to work early so we could see the studio for the first time.  One of the training managers gave us a tour and we were blown away.  They had custom-made the animation desks and other furniture all to match the style of the original 40s Disney animation desks in CA.  All the chairs and side pieces of furniture were top-notch.  The lamps, everything, was in a retro 30s/40s style.  It looked awesome!  As soon as you walked into the studio you could look across the room to a wall of glass and HUNDREDS of people watching you!  All day.  (Back to that in a bit.)  One of the first things we discovered was that Disney was going to bring back the old 'shorts unit' studio system much like the animators of the forties would have worked back in the days of the Donald Duck or Mickey shorts.  They had set up desks in groups of 3 "pods".  Meaning, three desks in a row.  At the front desk would be the animator, the second desk behind him would be the Assistant Animator, and the third desk behind the assistant would be the Inbetweener.  The idea was that that group would be in close contact and that the flow of a scene was made easier since it was literally passed back to the next guy.  Since Tony and I scored exceptionally well in our internship, we were made Assistant animators on day one!  Our other intern peers were all made inbetweeners.  That meant someone I went through the internship with was going to 'work under me'.  That was an odd way to start a new job.  The cool thing, though, was that Disney had decided that since the majority of the Florida studio was going to be staffed with new, just out of art school, young artists, then they would pair them up with at least one experienced animator or Assistant animator.  A few experienced Assitant animator clean up people as well as experienced animators had decided to move to Florida and help start this new studio.  That first day, Tony and I were excited to hear who we had been paired up with.  The manager showed us the seating list and there I was at the second Assistant Animator seat, with a good friend Trey Finney (if I remember right) behind me as inbetweener and in front- MARK HENN!  One of the world's best animators was going to be my mentor/animator!  I was thrilled.  Tony got another good animator, Dave Stephen, who had worked on Scuttle in Mermaid.  Tony was excited too.  Both Dave and Mark were known to be very "rough" animators- meaning very sketchy drawings- and since our job was to do cleaned up, on model drawings over their KEY drawings, that meant we were going to have our work cut out.  (Our keys would then get handed over to the inbetweener to add drawings INBETWEEN (thus the name) the key drawings we did to flesh out the movement and timing more.  I'm not going into it the process of animation here because this is already a long Journal.)  Besides lerning a ton about animation, clean up, and drawing in general from Mark Henn through the years, another great part of working with him was that he got all the best scenes.  Assisting him meant that I got to work on his drawings of all the best characters and scenes so it was always exciting to see what would wind up on my desk!  

Because of the tour being there all the time,  just standing in the studio talking to someone felt odd because people were watching.  In the beginning, it was hard not to shake the feeling that you should be doing something useful all the time since people paid to come see you work.  The heads of the studio actually encouraged us to have rubber band fights and socialize a little bit because they knew it was good for our creative juices and not to feel so structured.  They even made it part of the announcement on the other side of the glass.  The Disney Tour guides, if they saw a rubber band fight break out, would say "Oh, you're lucky, this is a rare occurance, a rubber band fight has broken out among the artists!  This pastime dates back to the early days of animation and has a long history at Disney animation!"  HA.  The tour ate it up.  

After the Roger Rabbit short, the Disney CA studio fell behind on the film "The Rescuers Down Under", so we were quickly thrown onto a number of sequences in that film.  Tony got to work with Dave on the albatross character (Orville?)  and I worked with Mark on  Bernard, Bianca, Cody and McLeach.  Mark was not only one of the top animators but he was also the fastest in both Disney studios.  He could do the work of about 3 top animators!  Because of that, I had to work extra hard but even then, I would get behind and have to give Mark scenes to other assistants and inbetweeners to help out.  He was a mini studio all by himself!  Mark would give me little things to animate from time to time (mostly because I bugged him to give me stuff).  On Rescuers Down Under, I got to do my first (uncredited) animation at Disney: the scene were McLeach's foot kicks the pot of boiling water.  It was a scene that was "cast" to Mark, but he wanted to go onto other (more important) scenes so he tossed it to me.  I probably redid that scene 5 different times with Mark telling me how it could look better after every pass!  After helping CA Disney out on Rescuers, they saw that our studio did good work- as good as was being done in CA.  So, more features came and we did pieces of Aladdin, The Lion King (lots of diff parts but one sequence "Just Can't Wait To Be King" was done entirely in FLorida), Pocahontas, Atlantis (very little, it was just me and another animator), Hunchback, and maybe a few I forgot.  We also did a few shorts (another Roger short "Trail Mix-Up" is also one of my early animation films), commercials, and special projects for the theme parks.  I even got to animate Tinkerbell for a Disney World parade float.  It was always something new in Florida.  

To sum up, our studios first feature film that was made entirely in Florida was MULAN.  It was a great film that we all threw ourselves into for about 2 and a half to three years.  We were so proud of that film.  Disney saw that it was good and let us keep doing more films all to ourselves so we also did "Lilo and Stitch" and "Brother Bear" out of that studio.  (Note: I didn't work on Lilo, unfortunetly.  I left the studio for a couple years to work for Big Idea Productions on Veggietales- something I was passionate about doing.  I came back for the end of Brother Bear to help finish up that animation.)   Our little Florida studio grew from that original 40ish people to about 450 people through those 12ish years!  Disney shut the studio down in 2003 and layed off all 450 people! (A couple went to work at the CA Disney studio, but only a handful.)  Everyone went in different directions and different studios.  I came here to live and work in Nashville, TN (by choice, I love it here.)  It was a sad ending to a studio that was really at its prime.  The death of the Florida studio and the "death" (not completely, but close) of traditional animation went hand in hand.  Still, we did some great work and made life-long friendships.  

I hope you all get a chance to have that in your lives and careers!    

God bless, Tom B.

The winner of the random 'watcher' for my 10k watcher contest has picked a character he wants me to draw.  Remember, he (LazyYS) had the choice to have me draw an original character of his or any other character from comics, animation, etc. - my version of them, at least.  

He picked: (drum roll):  THE HUNTRESS

I haven't drawn her before, so this should be fun.  I've pulled my reference and I'll post some sketches within the next few days, hopefully.  I have a few projects I have some work I have to knock out first!  Stay tooned!

-Tom B.

I'm kind of weird in that I get kind of excited about the new year.  Not like Christmas excited, but it really gets me thinking.  I'm the type of person that likes to dream but also likes to make goals to try and accomplish those dreams.  Not all of them stick (because I think it through and it makes less and less sense as time goes on) but I try and accomplish SOME of them.   That week between Christmas and New Years I always get very introspective of what happened over this last year and what I'd like to accomplish this coming year.  I'm an optimist, so to me, it all looks rosy and exciting.  I'm enough of a realist to realize they all won't work out they way I dream them, but being an optimist means you can also flow with change fairly well too.  

Some things that I want to accomplish this year are an on-going "bucket list" of things I want to do, while others are a little closer to the surface and more doable this year.  As artists, I think its important for us to have/make goals.  We need something to shoot for.  Look back at the first drawing you did in last years sketchbook....did you get better?  Thats what goals do, they give us a reason to look at our progress from time to time.  That's important to do.  Sometimes its a bit depressing- revealing a weakness; sometimes its the shot in the arm you need to keep pushing forward.   I've done a lot in my career-lots I'm proud of-but believe me, there's a ton that I look back on and wish I would have done more.  

And, even though I'm an old guy, I feel like I still haven't accomplished that one thing/project that I look back and say, "That was my best work".  Maybe you never do, that's how you keep striving to get better.  I may never find out.  

What are your goals for this year?  I'm really only talking about the creative ones, since that's what DA is about.  (I am trying to loose 20 pounds this year, but I'm not mentioning it!

I'll be bold and tell you a few of mine.  I really haven't told anyone about these.

I want to write and draw a comic strip.  I know this is stupid to pursue with newspapers going down the tubes, but its a bucket list kind of thing for me.  I have an idea and I've already written a bunch of gags, designed the characters and have 6 strips done!  Once I get a months' worth, I'm going to submit them to a syndicate.  I know webcomics is an option these days, but I really want to try syndication first.  Its very autobiographical strip, so its been fun to do with my small amount of free time.  Because I don't have much time to do it, I'm trying to develop a "quick" style so I can keep it up in the future if I decide to stick with it.  Who knows?  

I'd like to do a comic book again.  It may be an original idea of mine or a writer partner, or I'd love to draw a short comic for Marvel or DC.  This may be a longer-term goal since comics aren't the easiest thing to do with a short amount of free time.  

I want to start doing some online character design and character drawing "mentoring" workshops.  This is hopefully less far off for me.  With the release of my book "Character Mentor" in April, I am already planning on doing some web-based videos, etc. to tie into that.  A workshop (for starters) could tie into that nicely.   I have even bigger goals for online schooling past that, but a workshop or two is a good place to start.  Yes, there would be a charge, but hopefully a fair one.  

There's more, but they get either more crazy or just less impossible to get done in the next year.  So, that's a good start.  Now that I wrote these down, I can look back in a year and see if I got the ball rolling on any of these.  I sure hope so.  God may have other plans (and probably does) and I bet they're even better than I could imagine anyway!  I'm just thankful for what He has given me and for my family.  That's my real goal this new year- to be the best father/husband/servant I can be in His name.  God bless you all!  -TomB.

I hit the magic 10,000 Watchers number so that triggered the end to the Tom Bancroft get to 10K contest!  I used an online random number (or "integer", I learned a new word) selector from 1 to 10,000 and it selected 1957!  I'm glad its an earlier number because I really wanted one of my older 'watchers' to also get some Tom B. love.  

But first, As I mentioned last night, the person who was the 10,000th person WINNER was GodsJazzAngel: [link]
Go to her page and tell her congratulations also!

Annnnd, without further ado.....

The SECOND (randomly-picked)WINNER is:  LazyYS!   [link]
Go to his page and give him a hearty congratulations!  Tell him (not me) what he should have me draw him too, he'll love that.   Careful, some of his stuff on his page is NSFW.  LazyYS, note me and let me know what you'd like me to draw you (within reason and no nudity).  It could be your own OC, via a description you provide or a traditional character that you give me reference for.  Depending upon what it is, I may do one or two more characters, but lets keep it not too tough, thanks.  This is a "free time" kind of thing, which I don't have much of.  

I will post his request and my sketches so you can all follow along with the project.  

Thanks to you all for being such great, loyal, and comic/animation/cartooning geek-loving folks- all 10k and counting of you!  

God bless, Tom

I just hit 10K watchers few moments ago and as promised, the 10 k person gets this artwork :  [link]

The winner is GodsJazzAngel: [link]
Go to her page and tell her congratulations!

Come back here tomorrow for my random choice of the SECOND winner!  This will be of one of you and the winning drawing is of a character of your choice!

I just put the two recent Harley Quinn illustrations I did recently onto Ebay.  If you are interested in them, have a go at bidding on them and let others know if you think they might like to own one of them.  

The first is of Harley Quinn in a "retro" pose as seen here:   [link] is on Ebay here: [link]

The second one is Harley Quinn holding onto a pole as seen here:   [link] is on Ebay here:   [link]


Good luck and Happy New year to you all!

Hey all.  I added my new animation reel to Youtube.  Its clips from a bunch of the stuff I did while at Disney Animation.  See it here: [link]


AND...I just wanted to mention that I haven't forgotten that a couple of you are going to win some artwork from me soon!  My contest for the 10,000th "Watcher" and another RANDOMly picked Presently Watching Watcher is ON!  I just checked and I am up to 9,905 people!!  Dang, that's cool!  Are you trying to make hitting 10k my Christmas present?  I'm gonna count it as one, so thanks.  Keep it coming!

ALSO, and to semi-celebrate, I'm posting my cover for my next book "CHARACTER MENTOR" .  WAHOO!  Here's to 2012!

The webinar I did live last night is up on the AnimSchool website archive and you can watch it!  Many of you here on DA showed up and asked some awesome questions.  Thanks for joining me.  So you know, its about 2 hours long, give or take.  In the webinar, I talk a little about my career, at the start, you see a little tour of part of my office (the first part got cut off, sorry), I show my new animation reel and discuss some of the scenes, I show some of the early Mushu designs by Chris Saunders, Dean Debeau (can't remember how to spell that), Chris Williams, Peter Dese've, Chen Yi Chang, and myself.  In the second half, I teach a little lesson on posing your characters to heighten their Flow, Rhythem, and Tilts- complete with some live drawing demos!  AND, I premiered the cover art for my "CHARACTER MENTOR"  book!   

What?  All that for FREE?  You bet.  

Here's the link to the webinar, you just have to register and then you can watch it:  [link]

Many of you have asked if and when I would do an animation webcast and that time is now!  I have been asked by the cool online Computer animation school, "ANIMSCHOOL",  to lecture on animation and drawing/posing next TUESDAY, DEC. 13 at 9PM (eastern)!   

AND IT IS FREE!!  YOU CAN SEE MY UGLY MUG AND CHAT WHILE I TALK TOO!  Here's the thing though- its ONLY OPEN TO 100 PEOPLE, so go quick and get more info/ sign up here: [link]

Check out ANIMSCHOOL here: www.animschool.com

After getting some good input from lots of you, I think I have a plan for how to "award" the 10,000 watcher and a friend.  

Here it is:

1)  The person that is number 10,000 will win the "poll drawing" I just did with Pocahontas, Simba, Iago, Mushu, and Roger Rabbit: [link] will ship them the original art (I will pray you live in the US).

2) A second person will be chosen from someone that is ALREADY A WATCHER!  That person will get a drawing OF THEIR CHOICE (within modest reason) of my version of their own OC or whatever they want.  I'll post it so all can see it, then mail the original to that person!  This person MAY be the person that got #10K to sign up (and others) OR it may be just a random watcher.  I haven't decided that and may not until I see how this all goes down.  Good?  

No one is ALLOWED to get mad at me.  This is for fun.  If I don't know for sure who was number 10k and select the one I THINK is it or I randomly pick the other person by just scrolling the list and putting my finger on someone- don't be mad, that's still random- just not scientific.   I can promise it will  be as fair as I can do it.  (Or want to put the time into.)  K?  

I wasn't so sure I should be doing this now because its a bit of a distance from 9k to 10k (yep, that's a thousand people) BUT, then I got about 150 watchers yesterday- IN ONE DAY!  (It MAY have something to do with me posting Disney characters?)   So, maybe not so impossible.  It just might take a bit.  I'll do my part and try and post stuff you will like, you do your part and get people to look at it.  I hope it won't be a hard sell, those people will just "unwatch" later.  This is supposed to be fun.  I'm in it for the interaction with you all- and the loss of funds when I ship the artwork to China or wherever it ends up going!  

As of this writing, I am at 9,442, so a long way to go, but its up about 400 people from my last journal post, what, a WEEK ago?  Doable.  


Questions.  Since I don't know DA that well.  Can you guys see my "watcher" number as it goes up or do I need to post updates now and then?  Is there a way to know for SURE which person was # 10k?  I assume the people listed in your "friend" list are in the order they "signed up", right?  Is there a "random number" generator online that I can use?  

BTW, my brother Tony and I are doing a similar thing on our Facebook page [link] for #1000 (see, we BOTH like rounded numbers), so "friend" us there when you "watch" me here and double your odds!  Wahoo, its raining Bancroft drawings!

Okay, I shouldn't care about this, but I do.  My DA page has OVER 9000 watchers/friends!  That's super cool already, so thank you all for watching me (still hate that term)-  BUT I WANT TO GET 10,000 now!  Greedy?  A bit.  But I'm also the guy that can not stop topping off the gas tank at the station without rounding the price up to the nearest 5 cents.  Nearest 50 cents, preferably.  Its kind of weird thing I do, for no reason.  At any rate, I'm at about 9,200 people so I NEED 800 MORE.  I'm willing to work for it too!  So, what are your suggestions on a prize, contest, whatever to get you all to get your friends to "watch" me?  Let's have fun with this.  Don't work me too hard though, I got stuff going on too you know.  Should it be TWO awards?  One to the 10,000 person and one to the person that got them to join?  OR one to the winning number and one to a random watcher so everyone gets a chance?  Should I draw whatever they request or do a cool color piece that I like?  A video of some kind?  A signed piece of original Disney art?  Whaaaat?  Did I say that?  I take it back- unless it works.  Ideas?  

And- then you or your friends can't turn around and UN-watch me because you didn't win, that hurts.

Wahoo!  As of Saturday, I finished the final tweaks to the manuscript and last four illustrations for my CHARACTER MENTOR book!!  It will come out around February of 2012 from Focal Press publishers.  

I'm excited about you all seeing this book.  After 2 to 2 and a half years of working on it, I'm excited to hold it in MY hands too!  Many of you here on DA contributed artwork toward the assignments that I posted here.  As a matter of fact, this book really could not have had the "interactive" feel that it will have without DeviantArt and the amazing, talented, artists here!  Everyone that I gave notes on their artwork will be named in the book and their artwork will be reproduced for all to see!  I thank you all.  I ALSO thank those of you who created artwork that I could not use!  Some of it was heart breaking not to include, but there just wasn't room or I didn't have the time to review them all.  The good news: this book will be thicker, more meaty in text and artwork, and (in my opinion) more well drawn than my first book, "Creating Characters with Personality".  Even the graphic design of the fonts, page layouts and more should be better!  I've asked Focal Press to use Leonardo Olea, a graphic artist in Mexico that works with Humberto Ramos and others quite a bit.  He's awesome and super excited to work on the book.  I've seen his first pass on the cover image and its GREAT!  Can't wait to see his first pass on the interiors.  I will post the cover when I get permission from the publisher.  Of course, I' will give updates to all of you as they come in.  There is a pre-order page on Amazon.com already!  Its here: [link]

The OTHER exciting element to this book that I want to mention is the website!  We are just now starting to discuss what will be on it, but I have big plans for it!  It will, of course, tie into the book but my hope is that it will also become a place for me to post additional "mentorship" instruction.    Maybe even some back and forth interaction with you all.  Definetly, some "how to" videos from me - something I've been meaning to do for some time.  AND....maybe, just maybe...the beginning of some online classes from me!  Let me know what you think should be on this website and what you'd be willing to pay for- if anything.  

I'll let you know more about all of this as things develop.  IT STARTS NOW!

Thank you all for a great art sale.  Its the second one I've done (ever) and it went well.  I raised enough for a cheap or used computer, at least, so mission accomplished!  I may save some more and go for a new one, but we'll see.  I really appreciate all of you that bought something of mine, especially those that bought more than one.  I have artwork traveling all over the world right now- so say a prayer that it all makes it there safely!  (This is the part I don't like, the shipping and worrying.)  

I will more than likely do it again someday, so watch this Journal for that.  It will probably be awhile from now so I can get some drawings done to be able to sell!   All my best, Tom B.

I just wanted to mention that I added a bunch of new stuff and new folders in my Gallery section for my second (non- annual) TOM BANCROFT ART SALE.  Lots of DISNEY STUFF and comic book artwork!  I even threw in my first DCU Elementary page to sell- ever.  Kind of an experiment.  


Here's the details:

It's first come, first served.  NOTE me (don't put a message below) with a description of link to which one(s) you want.  I will not you back if you got it and what my Paypal email is so you can put the money (plus shipping) into my account.  Once its there, I will ship.   I will probably run this sale for about 2-3 weeks depending on how it goes.  

I have FIVE  folders in my GALLERY (on the left side, scroll down to the bottom) at $10, $20, and $40, $100 and $200.   You HAVE to buy two things out of the $10 folder, or you don't get it.  Sorry, its just not worth it to me to ship things for $10.  I did it last time, and said never again.  I may add some to the folder as this goes on, so check back.  I'll try and delete as things get sold.  I will ship within about a week of the money going into my Paypal account.  

NOTE:  If the artwork is digitally colored, you are buyiing the SKETCH or INKS depending on how it was created.   If what I posted has more than one sketch you are buying both for that price.  If it is a progression, then you are buying the first phase (the sketch).  Note me if you have a question.   


Shipping in the U.S.  is a flat $6.00.  Not a deal for everyone, but it gives me some cash to pack it right too.  
Shipping everywhere else is $15.00 flat.  For some countries, this is too much, but for most its probably too little, so it comes out even, hopefully.

Tommy needs a new computer soon, so please help!  Buy my sketches and stuff.  The last sale went well and I've created more artwork since then, so this should be mostly all new stuff.  See the details below for how this works.   I hope you all enjoy this and the pricing works for you.  I made sure I still had some $10 pieces for those that can't afford more than that.  (See the note below about the $10 folder, though.)


Here's the details:

It's first come, first served.  NOTE me (don't put a message below) with a description of link to which one(s) you want.  I will not you back if you got it and what my Paypal email is so you can put the money (plus shipping) into my account.  Once its there, I will ship.   I will probably run this sale for about 2-3 weeks depending on how it goes.  

I have three  folders in my GALLERY (on the left side, scroll down to the bottom) at $10, $20, and $40.   You HAVE to buy two things out of the $10 folder, or you don't get it.  Sorry, its just not worth it to me to ship things for $10.  I did it last time, and said never again.  I may add some to the folder as this goes on, so check back.  I'll try and delete as things get sold.  I will ship within about a week of the money going into my Paypal account.  

NOTE:  If the artwork is digitally colored, you are buyiing the SKETCH or INKS depending on how it was created.   If what I posted has more than one sketch you are buying both for that price.  If it is a progression, then you are buying the first phase (the sketch).  Note me if you have a question.   


Shipping in the U.S.  is a flat $6.00.  Not a deal for everyone, but it gives me some cash to pack it right too.  
Shipping everywhere else is $15.00 flat.  For some countries, this is too much, but for most its probably too little, so it comes out even, hopefully.


EDIT:  I Sold out of the $40 stuff right away and have replenished with some more in that folder, and the $20 and $10 has more stuff too.  I'm digging through piles of stuff!  Buy it!