Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Drawing
Storyboards are created to plan one's own fi lm. Other times they are created in collabora-
tion with story teams to “work out” and realize how a fi lm is going to play. These “process
boards” can be simple thumbnails one creates to keep things ordered. Scribbles, stick fi gures
with words, diagrams, and arrows may suffi ce as long as everyone who needs to know
what is going on can understand their meaning. “Presentation storyboards,” on the other
hand, are made to show others how the fi lm is expected to look. Presentation boards may
need to be drawn well enough to be understood by people who are not artists or fi lmmak-
ers. Presentation boards carry information about style and content of the fi lm. One may need
to create a sense of volume, structure, and weight in the drawing but detail is not usually
important. Simplicity and clarity are important. Frank Gladstone, a 35-year animation
veteran, Producer and Training Director at several major animation studios including Disney,
DreamWorks, and Warner Brothers, said, “I actually fi nd that fi nely detailed boards are
often diffi cult to read. Better to be clear than polished.”
Visual Imagination
Those who have learned to draw well have not trained their fi ngers so much as they have
trained their minds. Drawing requires heightened visual powers. Those who draw well are
usually more able to visualize and imagine images and are obviously more capable of
communicating their vision to others. Those who struggle with drawing sometimes struggle
with visual ideas and have diffi culty illustrating those ideas clearly.
It is important that the storyboard artist can show form and descriptive detail with clarity.
The ability to draw varied perspectives and spatial relationships is also critical. Storyboard
drawings need to communicate specifi c and often complex angles and action. Drawings of
humans and other characters must move and act and be believable. Drawings of landscapes,
architecture, machines, props, and natural elements such as wind and water may be
required. It certainly helps if you love to draw and are fairly good at it.
