Hi Dana! I really dig your work, especially your storyboards. Are there any tips or books that you recommend for people who want to improve or learn essential boarding skills? Thanks for your time!
Tips! Sure I have a few of those.
If you’re interested in boarding then you have to study film. And I don’t mean cartoons or even animated movies. Study actual films. I’m talking Indiana Jones, Rear Window, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Citizen Cain, Rushmore, North by Northwest, Moon, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, There Will Be Blood (there are a million more, you get the idea). Study things by Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Stephen Spielberg, PT Anderson, Orson Wells, David Fincher, again, you get the idea. Do little thumbnail studies of screen shots, note where they decide to put the characters and how they may balance out the compositions. Study Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton and how seamlessly they interact with their environments. 100 years old and still 100% relevant to today’s film students.
If you have trouble drawing backgrounds then it’s a great time to start learning. You can pick up a cheap book on beginner perspective at any art store. Being able to convincingly put your characters in a space is VERY important, and you better be ready to draw that space at any angle. Do studies of your own room or places around you. Try to compose an interesting shot. Can you make your room feel hostile? Can you make the same place feel safe and warm? How does the angle of your camera and the lighting affect that? Experiment.
Don Bluth’s Art of Storyboard is one of the best storybooks I know. Sadly it sells for like.. 70-80$, not very affordable for the average student. Ask your parents for Christmas or something. Star Wars Storyboards : The Original Trilogy is worth taking a look at (and is much more affordable). It’s not so much a how-to but a collection of the boards used for SW. You can see how professionals can describe space in a few marker strokes, how they can lead the eye depending on where they place things in environments. It’s really lovely to look at and study. There are more books on the subject on amazon but these two are the only I’ve come across and would suggest.
These are just a few things that can help punch up your boarding abilities, but they’re some of the most important. Draw clearly, make expressions readable, know where you are in space, don’t be afraid to move the camera. I’m still quite new at it but I’m learning everyday. Keep at it!
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