Character mentor

Once a character design is finished, the next challenge is making her act. Whether she will appear in an animated feature, a TV series, a video game, a webcomic, or a picture book, she needs to move and react convincingly. Her costume and appearance hint at who she is, but posture and gesture often say more. This guide covers posing a figure, building emotion through facial expression, and arranging a scene so it carries dramatic weight.

Bancroft works through each subject in plain, economical text. He then illustrates his points by critiquing and redrawing sketches made by student artists. Readers can take part in the exercises, which move from specific technical methods to broader discussion of why certain choices work.

The book also gathers commentary from working professionals in several fields, including Marcus Hamilton, known for Dennis the Menace; Terry Dodson, who has drawn X-Men; Bobby Rubio, a Pixar artist; and Sean "Cheeks" Galloway, who worked on the animated Spider-Man series. A foreword by comic book artist Adam Hughes, whose work has appeared for DC, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. Pictures, introduces the material.