[Cos]

This is some story boards I'm working on. My first attempt storyboarding
so its just to get some practise doing sequentials and painting really. Still
not too happy with some of the shots, mostly the metarmophosis section so I'll
probably change that some. Well opinions and advice is appreciated with it.

[Guy]

hey those look pretty nice. One thing you should do before you make the nice looking storyboards is to do some really ruff ones. and get them till they look right and then do the nicely painted ones. i had a storyboarding class and the teacher said they dont even have to be as good as the ones you have. you can keep them really basic, but i dont know for sure. Any one here do storyboard professionally?

anyways. i like the way yours look, just being in black and white

[Gecko]

I just wanted to say that you're making great progress with your paintings.

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Gecko
[email protected]
GeckoArt.Net

[KOryH]

I did a quick paint over with some lighting tweeks.

Just trying to keep it simple, THEN adding detail. So far I like the direction you were headed.
Sorry for the fixes, I am also ramping up for some storyboard work and thought this was good practice.
thanks for humoring me.


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KOryH
Concept Artist
Soul Reaver II
personal site: www.korysdiner.com

[This message has been edited by KOryH (edited February 21, 2001).]

[SouL]

nice story board. i'm just replying to ask, exactly who turns in the demon? the dead chick? the bald dude? or the guy in the hood (appears in upper left most pic of 3rd board)? i got lost!

[rdgraffix]

Your boards look great Cos. Maybe too good

Guy asked for a professional storyboarders opinion on the level storyboards generally need to be taken to. As a Studio Artist in an advertising agency, I do a hell of a lot of storyboarding at work, although it's always for commercials rather than film.

When I came into the advertising industry, I was amazed at how unfinished the visuals and storyboards needed to be. At TAFE I was generally taught to do my best on everything and make it look as good as I can. The thing is, with storyboards, one of the most important things is the amount of time each frame takes. To make it simple, if you need to storyboard three 10-frame commercials in one day, you can't afford to spend much more than 15 or so minutes on each frame. Any more time means you end up working late, the client ends up upset with how much the boards are costing and no-one is happy.

Sure, I've come across occasions where this doesn't hold true, and the quality is a big issue, but only rarely. In the advertising industry, storyboards are primarily used to communicate the concept of a proposed commercial with the client. They only need to be good enough for the client to get a general idea of what is hapening and how - any more is just a waste of your time.

Here are some examples of storyboarding I've done - although they are only extracts and single frames due to confidentiality issues:



As you can see, none of it is fantastic, it's just a quick setting down of ideas - often we don't even bother with colour, and just sent them loose pen scribbles. The main trick to them is the importance of keeping it loose and fresh - the more you tighten it up, the more work it needs to feel complete, and therefore it eds up looking incomplete unles you spend a stupid amount of time on each frame.

Another problem with making a storyboard or visual look to finished is the tendancy of the client to get bogged down in the details - they worry about the lighting or environments instead of looking at the concept as a whole and deciding if it's something they want to go through with.

I don't really consider this 'art' so to speak, and it's not the sort of work I would generally show off or post on this forum, it merely serves a purpose - it communicates an idea.

<rant> I see so many visualising portfolios that are no good to us, merely because the artist has put too much effort into his storyboards. It's all well and good that they have that sort of talent - but if they don't have further samples that proove they can do fast, fresh, visually appealing boards without reference, we often end up going with another artist, rather than take the risk. It looks like easy work, but in a tight deadline situation we have to be confident of the result we're going to get. </rant>

Of course, these are only my own observations from the advertising industry, and my opinions of the function of a storyboard. I still have the deepest respect for any artist like Cos who can render up a board so well, and only wish I had the opportunity to do the same with my work. It may well be a very different story for movie storyboards, and I'd be interested to hear from any artist who does them professionally.

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- rowan dodds
RD Graffix


[This message has been edited by rdgraffix (edited February 22, 2001).]

[Cos]

RD Thanks for your input, this is pretty much what I wanted to know. I thought these
were getting too worked for storyboards, but I was enjying the painting practise and
wanted to get something more noticably atmospheric going. I will still finish these at
the same level but I'll also do some diffeent quickfire storyboards like you've shown
here, and thanks for posting your examples too.

Guy, Gecko and KOryH Thankyou

Also if anyone here is doing storyboards for movies, etc proffesionally, I would love
to hear your advice too