Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Animation Storyboards
Despite the advances in technology for animation production, animation is usually a
slow, labor-intensive process. Shots lasting a few seconds can take months to execute.
Unlike live-action fi lms, animation editing is mostly done up front. Animation shots need to
be carefully planned so you know what you want to see in the fi lm before many hours
are invested in creating it. Storyboarding is how this planning is done. Good animation
storyboards also propel the entire process by inspiring the other artists in the production
pipeline. Storyboard drawings of action poses, facial expressions, and environments may
become the fi rst “key poses” of an animator's scene or suggest background and layout
possibilities.
Animation, Action, and Exaggeration
Pushing action is the essence of animation and of storyboarding. The drawing has to
“emote” as much as the animation and more since it doesn't move around.
Jim Story, former Disney Feature Animation story artist and instructor of story,
University of Central Florida
Much more than live-action, animation storyboard drawings often need to show exaggera-
tion and caricature. Animated characters can move at lightning speed or have their eyes
pop out of their heads, perform impossible physical feats, and defy gravity. The storyboard
artist is bound only by his or her imagination and ability to draw. Animators have been
making animals talk and characters fl y long before the live-action guys fi gured out how to
do it. Even something as primitive as Pat Sullivan's fi rst animated short of Felix the Cat (1919
“Feline Folies”) shows Felix pull musical notes out of the air and make them into a scooter
on which he rides away. Today and in the future, digital fi lm technology will be providing
more choices to every aspect of fi lm, so limitations keep disappearing for the fi lmmaker.
This is where the storyboard artist's creative vision can excel.
Professional Story Artist
Can you express a series of thoughts visually? To be a successful storyboard artist, you
need an overworking brain and plenty of imagination—you need to understand acting
and staging, mood and lighting. You must be able to write dialogue and create char-
acters. A storyboard artist creates the blueprint for the fi lm. Storyboarding is the foun-
dation of a fi lm—a building will not stand without a solid foundation.
Nathan Greno, Walt Disney Feature Animation Storyboard Artist
and Story Supervisor
Professional storyboard artists are a rather small group. However, there is always a need
for good storyboard artists because the heart of a good animated fi lm and many live-action
