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Designing the Male Superhero

with Tom Bancroft
4.8 (148)
In this stand alone lesson, you'll learn the basics of how to create an animation style male superhero character using traditional media.
English English, French [Auto], 3 more Spanish [Auto], German [Auto], Portuguese [Auto]
1+
hours
1
lessons
Beginner to Advanced
level
Tom Bancroft

Your Instructor

Tom Bancroft is an animator who has worked with Disney Studios for over 25 years. Films he contributed to include Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Pocahontas and Mulan.

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1+
hours
1
lessons
Beginner to Advanced
level
English
English, French [Auto] , 3 more
Subtitles
  • Spanish [Auto]
  • German [Auto]
  • Portuguese [Auto]

What you’ll learn

  • Learn to sketch and design on paper a male superhero (in an animated-style)
  • Cheat the learning curve by creating several superhero body types and positions using the “lightbulb” concept
  • Learn about movement and different types of dynamic posing
  • Learn how to make the silhouette of your character exciting
  • Prepare to take your final character from paper to photoshop. And colouring.
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Description

In this stand alone lesson, you’ll learn the basics of how to create an animation style male superhero character using traditional media.

Who is this course for?

  • This lesson is suitable for beginners as well as advanced students who need some refreshing.
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This course includes

  • Free 50 minute video lesson
  • Certificate of Completion
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Used in course

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What you'll need

  • Just a paper/sketchbook and a pencil
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Lesson Plan

with Tom Bancroft
01

The Male Superhero

49:07

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Part 1: After a brief introduction, I’ll give you some things to think about before you start to build your male superhero. I’ll start off by showing you how to create rough sketches of a normal proportion male, and then briefly discuss the differences in proportion to the superhero body type. I’ll outline my idea of the “lightbulb” that I use to show you how to build the core of the body and explain how this can be manipulated to create different body positions.

Part 2: Next, you’ll learn a number of different superhero body types, from a slim “flash” type character up to a muscular suerohero type. You’ll learn how to use different shapes to create these body types. I’ll show you how to select a particular body type and start to work with that to create a final design.

Part 3: You’ll also learn about movement and different types of dynamic posing, as well as making sure the silhouette of your character is exciting. I’ll also briefly discuss things like clothing and accessories and some important things to keep in mind when you add them to your character. Finally, you’ll learn how to take your final character and create some clean lines helping you to prepare your character for photoshop and colouring.

Student Feedback

148 customer reviews & ratings

4.8

Course rating

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5 star
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4 star
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3 star
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2 star
1 %
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Best Suited for
Beginner
The level is determined by a majority opinion of students who have reviewed this class. The teacher's recommendation is shown until at least 5 student responses are collected.

(Based on 148 reviews)

Most Liked
Clarity of Instruction 103
Great step-by-step process 96
Helpful Examples 96
Showing 10 reviews of
148
reviews & ratings
KC
Keelmy C.

5 years ago

Verified Purchase
Thats a mighty good free sample!
6 people found this helpful
M
Martin

4 years ago

Verified Purchase
Great free sample, with a lot of information and tons of good tips!!
2 people found this helpful
ID
Irving D.

5 years ago

Verified Purchase
ive always had trouble drawing dynamic poses, but your lightbulb technique makes it so easy! thanks for sharing
3 people found this helpful
I
Isengard

5 years ago

Verified Purchase
This was great. Tim seems like a really awesome guy, kept me engaged. Would he be interested in perhaps doing some more tutorials?
1 person found this helpful
JA
John A.

4 years ago

Verified Purchase
Was very pleased with the first time us from this course. Gave me ideas with my own drawings to attempt the lightbulb format.
I recommend it for Beginner
1 person found this helpful
DS
Donald S.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
This course was enjoyable, easy to follow and great explanation of cartoon drawing. The sample illustrations were extremely useful.
I recommend it for Beginner
1 person found this helpful
PA
Pamela A.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
This course gave me a lot of good ideas.
I recommend it for Beginner
Richard P.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
No additional comments
I recommend it for Intermediate
RC
Ron C.

4 years ago

Verified Purchase
I would certainly like to see more courses from Tom! I enjoyed this one very much!
CG
Christian G.

4 years ago

Verified Purchase
It helps to see how the artist is paining. As he uses tradional media it was easier to follow and see how he is working and what was in his mind while he was doing this. This is a great course for starter
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About the Instructor

Tom Bancroft
Animator & Character Designer 2 courses

Tom Bancroft has more than 25 years of experience in the animation industry, much of which was for Walt Disney Feature animation where he was an animator on four animated shorts and eight feature films of which Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Brother Bear were part of the list. He has been nominated for Annie and Rueben division awards, spoken at the Kennedy Center, and awarded an entry into the Chicago Children’s Film Festival.


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