I just gradutated with a double major in Film and Video, animation emphasis, and Art and Design. I would really like a job as a character layout artist or storyboarder. I'm particularly interested in storyboarding- I love cinematography but am not that great with cameras, and I LOVE drawing. I have really worked on life drawing, animation exericises, and short films.
I was looking at nickelodeon's requirements for a storyboarder portfolio and they want to see all boards, no reel, and maybe one page of life drawing. This shocked me. I thought all studios wanted to see lots of life drawing and a reel. I guess it makes sense that a boarder wouldn't have to animate.... but no life drawing??? So I may have been focusing on the wrong things. Oops.
So I am wondering if anyone can give tips of what to focus on in storyboards for a portfolio. I know about all the books there are out there, but it seems they are mostly geared at feature animation. Please give any ideas for what is in a knock-out tv animation storyboard portfolio. Any sites with good examples or ideas??
Thanks guys!!!
Hi. As someone who has worked for the last 15 years as a freelance board
artist, I can tell you that now is a VERY HARD time to be trying to break into the storyboarding market. Many studios that employed board artists (either
in-house or freelance) are now either closed or sent their work our of the country. Also, NICK is a very hard place to get into, especially for a recently grdauated student with little experience.
Have I discouraged you enough? Sorry...boarding is in many ways the most creative, difficult and rewarding (as in $ money) part of the animation process. A good board artist can make a poor script better, and can make a godd show GREAT. Poor boarding is.....well, painful.
When I was getting into the board area of the business, I was lucky enough to have a few established TV directors who had been board artists in the past take me "under their wing" and give me some advice and pointers, as well as let me "learn" on their shows. Hopefully you are in an area where there
may be a small animation production studio nearby,where you could get some experience on some actual projects.
Also, each major studio has certain ways they like their boards done..and certain things they look for. Many major studios will ask you to do a board test...which as a newcomer you should take on as a valuable learning experience.
Boarding has so many components...it can't be discussed in a few paragraphs. If you are still interested, I can send you a few sample pages from shows I've done.
By the way, I've worked on shows for Klasky/Csupo, W/B, Fox, Sony, Film Roman, DIC, etc....but never directly for Nick.
can any tell me,do storyboardists get paid more than animators?
i heard sumone say that once,probably sum in experienced ass
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That would be awesome. I'm still interested. :)
Actually, the reason I started thinking about storyboarding was because a soryboard artist at nickelodeon kind of recommended it to me. From what he said, it sounds like one of the few areas in animation that is actually still done in the U.S. When I started learning animation, my dream was to be a character animator on features. Then, when Fox closed and Dreamworks and Disney switched to 3D, I thought character layout seemed the next best thing. But this man told me those jobs don't really exist anymore and the closest thing to what I wanted to do (create the motion and emotion of the characters in tv animation) would be storyboarding. Thinking about it further, I realized I love editing and cinematography and boarding seems to have a lot of that stuff in it. My movements in my animation weren't always the most impressive (the ones I actually put in were fine, but I had a tendency to use limited animation a bit too much), but I think I have a good sense of camera angles, shot composition, screen direction, all that jazz. I think those things are fun. And, like I said, I love drawing. However, if you think something else sounds right for me, or I've been led astray, please feel free to advise. I really don't care what I do, as long as it's animation. But I should have a goal, right? A specific area I'm working towards? Thanks for all your comments. They were a little disheartening, but I've gotten used to that kind of talk when it comes to animation job markets. ;) I would love to see some of your boards. You have an impressive list of work!
Meleponine- I don't mean to discourage you that much...it's just that boarding oppourtunities were MUCH GREATER 5-6 years ago. Then there
were more mid-size studios utilizing freelance board artists. Now there are
fewer studios that still board in the U.S., but your friend is correct..it is
one of the few portions of production still done here. Unfortunately, now more studios want you on-staff to supervise closer (and for endless revisions). And getting a staff position right out of school is harder than getting a freelance board job was 6 years ago.
One thing you can easily do is to watch and study both GOOD and BAD
tv cartoons. (New ones....although studing classic WB cartoons is great...
not much is really done that way nowdays. Tape a show you like and think is well done....then study each scene. Why this camera angle? Why a close-up here? How is suspense (or comedy) set up by what the camera shows, and
what it doesn't show? Most board artists on normal TV cartoons function as
"mini-directors".....you are free to set up the shots as you see fit...there isn't
time in the production for massive changes unless a segment just doesn't work.
If you want, send me a private e-mail with your e-mail address, and I'll scan a few board pages for you to examine. And contact some of the larger studios, (like Nick, K/C, W/B, etc.) and ask to take a storyboard test. The
experience you'll gain will be great. The first job I got 15 years ago was from a director looking at a test I had done for another company, and liking it.
Once you get your first few boards done, and receive the directors comments, everything will fall into place. Another thing you might try is
starting out as a storyboard revisionist. This allows you to do minor fixes
to someone elses board, and you can see how they structure a sequence.
Good luck.
Hello.
Last time I spoke to the Nick folks- last spring, they seem to want their board artists as semi -directors. They seem to want boards which could be transferred into layouts and the poses on the boards as key poses for overseas production.
Maybe they have pulled back on that position.
Thanks.
Larry
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Thanks everyone for all of the advice. This has been really interesting. I think I would like the security of an in-house position. I imagine you get benefits with those... I think so at Nick anyway. But, like you said, it's probably harder starting out. However, if I could do it freelance (like you said it used to be mainly done) that would have benefits, too. For example... not having to live in a big city! I can see how all the changes in the last few years can seem very negative to someone who was doing boards 5+ years ago. Still, it is something I am interested in. Storyboard revisionist sounds like a good way to start, too. Thanks for that information.
Larry L., that is also the impression I got about Nick's storyboards, but I haven't actually seen any to know for sure.
Thanks everyone for responding so far!!
sorry for double posting. artmaw- I'm not sure if you got the pm I sent you. It would be wonderful if you could send me some scans of your boards, and I would be very grateful. At you leisure, of course. Thanks again! If you did not get my pm, I will send you another with my email. Thanks again for all your help.
Here is a new storyboards site - shooting storyboards, film & advertising: Film Storyboards
storyboards portfolio in a single pdf document
Hello everyone ,
I am a fresher in Animation field and i want some words of experienced advice from you guys. I have just recently finished my Animation course from Bangalore, India & i've started working as a Concept Artist and Storyboard artist in Animation studio here in Bangalore. Since i'm new to this and it's my first Job i would like to know more about storyboard since i'm the only storyboard artist in my studio and i donot have any experienced person to guide me or teach me about this. i know the basics of it but since it's my first time workin in a studio. it would be helpful if i got some tips and refernces on how and what is expected from us..
thanking you
:D:o
Most studios use cintiq or tablets to do thier boarding now. Make sure you are proficient with that. Keep your drawing style simple and clear. Communicate one Idea per panel and make sure each drawing has a focal point. Do a search for storyboards and look at what other professionals are doing. There are tons of good boards posted online.