{"id":53335,"date":"2021-01-13T15:09:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T23:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/?p=53335"},"modified":"2021-01-13T15:09:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T23:09:37","slug":"understanding-the-role-of-the-storyboard-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/understanding-the-role-of-the-storyboard-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Role of the Storyboard Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you a comic book fan? Love graphic novels? Storyboard artist might be the career for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Storyboard artists work with directors and producers to visually interpret a script or concept by creating a series of illustrated image panels called storyboards \u2014 similar to a comic strip. They are the visual translators of a story, and their work becomes the roadmap for production.<\/p>\n

It’s a vital role because storyboard artists guide how others perceive the project. All<\/em> members of a production or development team look at storyboards for reference \u2014 which is why the boards’ clarity is so critical. Storyboards also convey the energy and style from which art directors take their cue. The storyboard artist needs to give the look and feel of what will become the finished product, from a character’s gestures and emotions to the production design, while using minimal language. Storyboards are used by directors and producers to put a visual narrative in place that informs other departments \u2014 from camera crew to costume design to art direction \u2014 what they have to do in the production.<\/p>\n

What does a storyboard artist do?<\/h4>\n

Storyboard artists are essential for many different types of productions \u2014 from animation to films, television commercials and ad campaigns, video games, app games, music videos, instructional videos, and more. The storyboard artist enters the picture after a concept or script has been created. The actual storyboard presents the \u201caction\u201d via a series of scenes depicted by individual panels that let filmmakers, marketing and advertising executives, producers, and directors \u201csee\u201d the project before commencing production. Storyboards are also used to give direction during the actual production.<\/p>\n

In animation, storyboard artists create the “raw footage<\/em>\u201d of a project. They birth the vision of a script \u2014 pretty cool, right? Storyboard artists take a script and begin visualizing it by making drawings that depict each beat of the story, drawn in sequence on a timeline so that a visual structure is scaffolded to the script’s words and there begins to be something to “watch.”<\/p>\n

How do storyboard artists create their work?<\/h4>\n

There are many different modes of creation \u2014 storyboard artists might draw scenes by hand or use computer illustration. Some might sketch in black and white while others produce full-color storyboards. Storyboarders work with a production or team from concept to project completion, sketching scenes during initial meetings and editing scenes as the project progresses.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, storyboard artists are given a radioplay \u2014 an audio file with stand-in dialogue \u2014 so that they can fine-tune the timing to how the episode or project will actually play. Eventually, these illustrated montages are edited together to create a rough draft that is sometimes referred to as the “animatic.”<\/p>\n

Methods vary from artist to artist \u2014 in many cases, the rest of the development or production team will influence the storyboard artist’s processes. For film or animation projects, the director may affect how a storyboarder renders their scenes. It’s great to have your own style, but flexibility is essential when working with a larger team. And if there is more than one storyboard artist on a team, often the various artists will mimic one another’s styles because the uniformity of the storyboards helps maintain the clarity of the vision.<\/p>\n

Here are some key things that storyboard artists have to convey in their storyboards:<\/strong><\/p>\n