{"id":9420,"date":"2021-05-27T05:09:01","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T12:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/us\/?p=9420"},"modified":"2026-06-05T13:37:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T20:37:56","slug":"meet-unsung-marvel-hero-anthony-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/meet-unsung-marvel-hero-anthony-francisco\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Unsung Marvel Hero Anthony Francisco!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Header: Concept for the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/s2QEb2SHozc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vision\u00a0vs. White Vision<\/a> battle from <\/em>WandaVision<\/p>\n\u201cYou might not know him, but you know his work,\u201d is often hyperbole, but in the case of Anthony Francisco, it\u2019s just the truth.\n\nAnthony is a senior visual development artist for Marvel, responsible for some of the most iconic characters in the MCU: the ones you\u2019ve seen on t-shirts and all over pop culture in general.\u00a0 In his eight years with them, he\u2019s designed Baby Groot from <em>Guardians of the Galaxy,\u00a0<\/em>The Dora Milaje elite bodyguards from <em>Black Panther,\u00a0<\/em>and Loki's costume for <em>Thor: Ragnarok.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>In this video, he\u2019ll take you through the basics of his work and his influences\u2014many of which are realer than you\u2019d think:\n\n<iframe title=\"Meet the Filipino-American that designed BABY GROOT, Loki Ragnarok , the Dora Milaje  and many more!\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v6XLhddqOVE?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\u201cWhen I create these characters, I draw from personal experiences,\u201d he says.\u00a0 Starting in childhood: There was a time when things weren\u2019t so good in the Philippines,\u201d he says, referring to the dictatorship, conflicts, and coups throughout the eighties.\u00a0 He grew up in close proximity to the violence in a suburb of Manila, where \u201cComic books became my outlet,\u201d letting him believe in a world where good prevailed.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9488\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-1024x436.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"383\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-1024x436.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-300x128.jpg 300w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-768x327.jpg 768w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-1536x654.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-1080x460.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-1280x545.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-980x417.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco-480x204.jpg 480w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Thor_BIG_Lightning_AFrancisco.jpg 1692w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Concept art for Thor: Ragnarok<\/em><\/p>\nHe still sees them that way, describing the MCU's whole art team as \"such fans of Marvel, the 'true believers,' if you will.\u00a0 That is why there is so much care and respect when translating the source material from comic books to the screen.\u00a0 We are usually off designing the main characters even before the script is done or the costume designer has been chosen.\"\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9491\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/DoraMilaje_AFrancisco_Final-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"487\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/DoraMilaje_AFrancisco_Final-1.jpg 954w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/DoraMilaje_AFrancisco_Final-1-300x292.jpg 300w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/DoraMilaje_AFrancisco_Final-1-768x748.jpg 768w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/DoraMilaje_AFrancisco_Final-1-480x467.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Dora Milaje designs for Black Panther<\/em><\/p>\nAnd the better parts of his background still drive him too: When crafting costumes for the Dora Milaje, he drew from not just Africans, but the Igorot natives of the Luzon mountains.\u00a0 He was heavily influenced by his own kids when designing Baby Groot.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9487\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/016_A-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"467\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/016_A-1.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/016_A-1-300x233.jpg 300w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/016_A-1-768x598.jpg 768w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/016_A-1-980x762.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/016_A-1-480x373.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Relatable<\/em><\/p>\nBut while drawing from experience, he draws\u00a0<em>on\u00a0<\/em>a Wacom.\u00a0 \u201cI still remember purchasing my first Intuos in 1998,\u201d he says via email.\u00a0 Before that, he would have to slowly composite pieces from multiple paper drawings in an image editor.\u00a0 \u201cBut after I got [it], all of that got so easy, and eventually I started painting directly into Photoshop.\u00a0 That was magical!\u201d\u00a0 Today, he still designs superheroes on an Intuos\u2014but a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wacom.com\/en-us\/products\/pen-tablets\/wacom-intuos-pro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pro Medium<\/a>, along with a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wacom.com\/en-us\/products\/pen-tablets\/wacom-intuos-pro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cintiq<\/a>\u00a0and an earlier version of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wacom.com\/en-us\/products\/pen-computers\/wacom-mobilestudio-pro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MobileStudio<\/a>.\n\nWhile you\u2019re here, check out this amazing timelapse of Tom Holland\u2019s Spider-Man, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/lAjO0Zp1Zvk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one of his character design breakdowns<\/a>, for an insight into his process:\n\n<iframe title=\"Time-lapse TOM HOLLAND Spiderman FAR FROM HOME\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CxHJP5hbLaE?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u2014<\/p>\n\n<h3>Where to find him<\/h3>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-9425 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Anthony-Francisco-_-MARVEL-STUDIOS-_-Senior-Visual-Development-Artist-_-chinese-subtitled-0-43-screenshot-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Anthony-Francisco-_-MARVEL-STUDIOS-_-Senior-Visual-Development-Artist-_-chinese-subtitled-0-43-screenshot-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Anthony-Francisco-_-MARVEL-STUDIOS-_-Senior-Visual-Development-Artist-_-chinese-subtitled-0-43-screenshot-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Anthony-Francisco-_-MARVEL-STUDIOS-_-Senior-Visual-Development-Artist-_-chinese-subtitled-0-43-screenshot-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Anthony-Francisco-_-MARVEL-STUDIOS-_-Senior-Visual-Development-Artist-_-chinese-subtitled-0-43-screenshot-480x480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/05\/Anthony-Francisco-_-MARVEL-STUDIOS-_-Senior-Visual-Development-Artist-_-chinese-subtitled-0-43-screenshot.jpg 628w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>The rest of Anthony\u2019s Youtube channel is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/AnthonyFrancisco_ConceptDesigner\/videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.\u00a0 His Twitter is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/art_af_?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Art_AF<\/a>, his Facebook is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AnthonyFranciscoArt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AnthonyFranciscoArt<\/a>, and his Instagram is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/anthony_francisco_art\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the same, but with underscores<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/art_af_?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">.<\/a>\u00a0 He also did a takeover of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wacom\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wacom\u2019s account<\/a>\u00a0on May 21st, so look for anything posted that day.\n\nHe'll be coming out with a book on character design, as well as doing online classes for it\u2014including workshops for Wacom\u2014\"in the near future.\"\u00a0 We don't have the details yet, but if you like what you see here, make sure to follow him.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2337],"tags":[1180,1181,56,675,1182,157,1183,1184,1185,1186,1187],"class_list":["post-9420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-arts","tag-avengers","tag-black-panther","tag-character-design","tag-concept-art","tag-guardians-of-the-galaxy","tag-intuos","tag-marvel","tag-movies","tag-superheroes","tag-thor","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}