Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
marker or at least a soft, broad-tipped pencil. More and more often, artists are scanning
their drawings into Photoshop or some similar program to enhance the clarity. Contrast can
be boosted, tones can be added, cropping and re-framing are easy, and layers can allow
you to use the same character or background drawing over several times and keep them
consistent without re-drawing.
Boarding Dialogue, Acting
It is often said that dialogue should be like background music. You should be able to turn
the sound off and still know what is happening in the story. This is mostly true and it sug-
gests, as I have been saying, that it is the visual information, a character's gesture, facial
expressions, and environment, that do the communicating. Imagine a wife is waiting for her
philandering husband, who is three hours late for supper. She may say, “Oh, I'm so glad
you decided to join us.” Of course what she really means is, “You thoughtless jerk, you
don't care how much inconvenience you cause me.” The words are only part of the story
and sometimes a fairly insignifi cant part. Your storyboard panels need to show us that a
character's body language communicates his true mood or state of mind as the words are
being spoken. Animation tends to use exaggerated body gestures and facial expressions.
Make a video of yourself or another actor delivering the lines or get a mirror and try to fi nd
the primary facial expressions you need and then caricature them. In animation all the acting
is created on paper, in the computer, or with clay, and so forth. As Frank Gladstone, pro-
ducer and animation artist, said, “This is one of the reasons many board artists were anima-
tors fi rst. Like animators, storyboard folks have to understand acting...and how acting
choices help to establish both narrative context and subtext. Of course, like actors and ani-
mators, board artists should develop good and consistent observation skills.” Observation
skills mean paying attention to real life and how people behave. Watch how a parent scolds
a child. Watch two children negotiate over a toy. Watch someone talking on a phone.
Become a student of acting, of human behavior.
What?
