I moved
to LA in 2015 to storyboard for animation studios. I get a lot of
questions from artists who are interested
in making similar career moves themselves. I wanted to make a comic
about my experience, half for me and half for anyone looking for
information about LA / storyboarding for animation. It took a LOT of my
weekends over the past year, but I turned all of my experiences and
feelings and things I wanted to tell my younger self into a graphic
novel!
The 96-page graphic novel is out now in comic shops, bookstores, Comixology, the BOOM! Studios app, and online retailers! Find our more about the book, as well as links to where you can buy it, HERE.
Thank you to everyone who sent me your questions when I put the call out earlier this year, and
thank you to Molly, Diana, Matt, Paul, Lissa, Erika, and Luis for the
proof-reading and encouragement. ❤
Note: Please do not send me your portfolio or your work; I cannot look at
it. I wish you all of the best, and I hope that this
comic and the resources below will help you, but I cannot mentor you
or give you individual feedback. I do volunteer as a mentor for Rise Up Animation, and I highly recommend signing up for a portfolio with them if you are a BIPOC artist. Thank you for understanding. Good luck!
ANIMATION LINKS AND RESOURCES
(Let me know in the comments if any links are broken or if you think I’m missing something important here. If you are more interested in resources for a career in comics, check out this post. If you are more interested in resources for Animators, check out this post.)
Basics you should understand about Animation:
How Does Animation Work?: LINK
How Does Animation Work?: LINK
Dreamworks Animation CGI Studio Pipeline: LINK
PIXAR in a box: LINK
Different Story artists’ personal advice:
Madeleine Flores' extensive guide to breaking in and pitching shows: LINK
Latoya Raveneau's PDFs on the basics of what a Storyboard Artist is, and how to make a great Story portfolio: LINK
Sam
Spina's comic about moving to LA to work in animation: LINK
Sam Spina's comic about working on Infinity Train: LINK
Sam Spina's comic about working on Infinity Train: LINK
Lissa
Treiman’s tips for becoming a story artist: LINK
Stu Livingston's advice to struggling board artists: LINK
Anthony
Holden's comic about gaining life experience before working in a
studio: LINK
Jen Bennett's advice for storyboard artists: LINK
Kris W. (Disney TV director) made a very relatable post that I love: LINK
Bill
Peet: An Autobiography: LINK
Exercises to build your Story skills and portfolio:
- Next 5: This is one of my favorite exercises to give people, because you can do it in half a day, and it's totally something you can put it in your Story portfolio! Grab a photo that inspires you somehow (I use Explore | Flickr) as a starting image. Redraw that image in your style, come up with a story based on that starting point, and then draw out the next 5 panels of that story. Here’s a site that explains Next 5 and includes a bunch of examples: LINK
- Film studies: Do thumbnail sketches of existing films. It's a good way to study light, composition, staging, and how to effectively tell a story. Example: LINK
- Lifedrawing: This is very important. Get lots and lots of pencil mileage in by lifedrawing! You can do traditional figure drawing classes with a model, or use the online resources I list further down in this post, or just draw the real people you see while you are on the bus or sitting in a cafe. I have a tutorial about figure drawing for cartoonists here: LINK
- Fan storyboards: create the storyboards for a story that already exists. For example, Charis JB storyboarded scenes based on the Hamilton soundtrack. Louie Zong storyboards jokes from the MBMBAM podcast. Stephanie Stine storyboarded a scene from The Golden Compass book (before it was adapted into a film and a TV series).
- But the absolute best thing you can do? Storyboard a short, original story from your imagination! Try to tell a story in 100-200 panels, with a beginning, middle, and end. You can pitch your story to a friend and ask if they understood what was happening, and if they felt any emotions based on your scene, and see whether or not your jokes made them laugh. To really test your work, hand it to a friend and ask THEM to tell you what they think is happening as they read through the scene, with no explanations from you! This will reveal areas that are not clear enough yet.
When I coach people on what to put in their Story portfolios, I recommend having 2-3 short, original storyboard samples. I think it's a good idea to make at least one of the samples a comedy (to show off your sense of humor and gags), and at least one of them a serious human drama (e.g. two people having a difficult conversation). The idea with the drama sample is to show off your dramatic sensibilities, your ability to draw "realistic" people (think How to Train Your Dragon or Frozen), and your ability to convey complex human emotions in how your characters act. Try to show emotions beyond just "happy", "sad", "angry". Try to get subtle and complex. Even if your character is showing a basic emotion like "happy", can you draw them in a way that feels unique to THAT character? Like they show "happy" in a slightly different way than other characters?
Expert mode: try boarding a scene with no dialogue, no written descriptions below your panels, and no arrows. Communicate everything in your drawings and in your characters' acting.
Some examples of great Story portfolios:
Yon Lee: LINK
Andrea Walker*: LINK
Yon Lee: LINK
Andrea Walker*: LINK
Bosook Coburn: LINK
Matt
Jones’ Dreamworks Feature story test: LINK
*My favorite tool for formatting your boards to be "clickable" is Speaker Deck. It's free - just make a profile and you can use this tool and embed Speaker Deck in a blog post or portfolio. If you see Andrea Walker's portfolio above, she has Speaker Deck PDF slideshows embedded in her Blogger portfolio, and then she also posts .jpeg sheets of her boards below each one. This is my absolute favorite way to see boards formatted in someone's portfolio, because I can click through and see subtle movements from one board to the next. It helps me feel camera moves and see more easily what your boards will look like in an animatic. You can also format your boards to be "clickable" with Google Slides, but there is a flash of white between boards that is jarring to the eye, at least for me.
Free online resources / tutorials:
Flooby Nooby: a crash course in storyboarding for animation: LINK
Flooby Nooby: a crash course in storyboarding for animation: LINK
StoryboardArt - free visual story course: LINK
Violaine Briat's 150-page tutorials for art and animation (pay what you want): LINK
Intro to Storyboarding with Rajen Ramkallawan: LINK
Kris W.'s free faux storyboard test: LINK
Mia Calderon's how to start storyboarding: LINK
Brad Bird on how to compose shots for storyboard and layout artists: LINK
Storyboarding the Simpson's way: LINK
Stu Livingston's Craig of the Creek boarding tips: LINK
Mike Moloney posts tons of good tips on his Instagram: LINK
^Mike Moloney also published a $10 TV Boards Survival Guide on Gumroad: LINK
Ariel VH's tips for storyboard revisionists on Amphibia: LINK
Nic Parris on how to use shorthand: LINK
Nic Parris on how to make a short more cinematic: LINK
Jim Mortensen's storyboard tips (pay what you want): LINK
Jim Mortensen gives a demonstration of how quickly recruiters look at portfolios: LINK
Portfolio advice from The Animation Guild: LINK
Ash's storyboard tips zine (pay what you want): LINK
Ben Juwono's advice on storyboarding speed/efficiency: LINK
Megan Ann Boyd's A Guide to Storyboards (pay what you want): LINK
Colin Jack's how to storyboard in Procreate: LINK
Matthew Humphreys on how to avoid over-posing / animating your boards: LINK
Stephan Park's intro to Storyboard Pro: LINK
Stephan Park's intro to Storyboard Pro: LINK
Toniko Pantoja's tips for Story Portfolios: LINK
Emma
Coats’ 22 Story Basics: LINK
Bianca Siercke's tutorial posts: LINK
Cartoon Network Studios - the art of storyboarding: LINK
Cy's tutorial on the benefits of tracing: LINK
Corey Barnes' Gumroad storyboarding tutorials (pay what you want): LINK
Karen
J Lloyd’s tips for storyboard tests: LINK
Corey Barnes on the importance of thumbnailing: LINK Corey Barnes' Gumroad storyboarding tutorials (pay what you want): LINK
Next
Five story game: LINK
Purge Theory's Story/Design tips: LINK
Evan E. Richards' blog dissecting cinematography in films: LINK
Toby Shelton's blog: LINK
The Amphibia crew Tumblr has lots of good behind-the-scenes stuff: LINK
Flooby Nooby breaks down cinematography in The Incredibles: LINKRian Johnson breaks down a scene from Knives Out: LINK
Mark
Kennedy’s blog Seven Golden Camels: LINK
New
Masters Academy Youtube tutorials: LINK
Toniko Pantoja's animation tutorials: LINK
Alex Small-Butera’s Flash tutorial
series: LINK
Alex Grigg: animating in PS (“phantom limb”) LINK
Ross Plaskow: After Effects LINK
Bill Plympton's production vlogs: LINK
Aaron Blaise animation videos: LINK
Justin Oaksfield's mini tutorial on environment painting: LINK
Emel's mini tutorial on how to emulate paints in Photoshop: LINK
Tamra Bonvillain's mini tutorial on how to color bookshelves in your comics quickly: LINK
My thread on how to loosen up and get bold/gestural while sketching people: LINK
Every
Frame a Painting: LINK
Chris Oatley's website: LINK
Collected film lessons from Alexander Mackendrick: LINKBrandon Sanderson's BYU lectures on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy: LINK
Paid courses
/ academic programs:
If you have the money....I think the top programs in North America are probably Cal-Arts, Sheridan, USC, Ringling, SCAD, and Art Center
Schoolism (I recommend Alex Woo's gesture drawing class!): LINK
CGMA - Storyboarding for Animation: LINK
Skill Share: LINK
Brainstorm Burbank: LINK
LinkedIn Learning (previously Lynda.com): LINK
Kevin Reed's storyboard mentorship: LINK
Rad Sechrist's classes: LINK
Leo Matsuda's Skillshare classes: LINK
Lyndon Ruddy's Art of the Storyboard: LINK
Steve Ahn's workshops:LINK
Storyboarding with Kris Pearn: LINKConcept
Design Academy: LINK
Animation Mentor: LINK
Gobelins character animation summer
program: LINK
The Animation Guild offers periodic
classes: LINK
SILA
classes: LINK
California
State Summer School for the Arts' animation program: LINK
CalArts' extended studies (check out the summer Animation intensive program): LINK
Oatley
Academy: LINK
Animsquad: LINK
iAnimate: LINK
Aaron Blaise's Fundamentals of Animation course: LINK
The Animation Collaborative: LINK
The Story Whisperer: LINK
Bloop's Animation for Beginners: LINK
Tron
Mai’s story classes (normally at CDA, but do your own search for
the latest info)
Software:
"Storyboarder" (free!): LINK
Toon Boom's "Storyboard Pro" (WIDELY used in studios, especially in TV): LINK
Photoshop: LINK
Procreate: LINK
Animation
organizations:
Women
In Animation: LINK
ASIFA: LINK
The
Animation Guild: LINK
Events:
Lightbox Expo: LINK
CTNX: LINK
Los
Angeles Animation Festival: LINK
Gallery
Nucleus: LINK
Center
Stage Gallery: LINK
Pop
Secret Gallery: LINK
Model
Drawing Collective Empowering Models/Inspiring Artists life drawing: LINK
Spirit Drawing (costumed, often spooky/sexy themes): LINK
Contemporary
story artists to follow / study:
Johane
Matte: LINK
Samantha Vilfort: LINK
Lissa Treiman: LINK
Kellye Perdue: LINK
Maddie Sharafian: LINK
Pete Sohn: LINK
Fawn Veerasunthorn: LINK
Allen Ostergar IV: LINK
Donna Lee: LINK
Stephanie Stine: LINK
Mia Calderone: LINK
Leo
Matsuda: LINK
Rob Porter: LINK
Wesley Fuh: LINK
Yon Lee: LINK
Domee Shi: LINK
Stu Livingston: LINK
Toby
Shelton: LINK
Normand
Lemay: LINK
David
Derrick: LINK
Dave
Pimentel: LINK
Steve
Ahn: LINK
Louie
del Carmen: LINK
Chris
Sanders: LINK
Anthony Holden: LINK
Alex
Woo: LINK
Michael
Yates: LINK
Madeleine
Flores: LINK
Clio
Chiang: LINK
John Ripa: LINK
Griz & Norm: LINK
Jeremy
Spears: LINK
Rad
Sechrist: LINK
Colin
Jack: LINK
Valerie
LaPointe: LINK
Matthew Luhn: LINK
Dean Kelly: LINK
A
few story art masters:
Bill
Peet: LINK
Chuck
Jones: LINK
Kiraz: LINK
Quentin
Blake: LINK
Hayao
Miyazaki: LINK
Norman
Rockwell:LINK
Storyboards and
animatics to watch and study:
You'd be surprised how much stuff is publicly available online - try Googling any of your favorite animated shows / films and seeing if the boards or animatics are available to watch! Try searching "(show name) storyboards" and "(show name) animatic". The links below may not work anymore because this stuff does tend to get pulled down. But just do your own searching and I'm sure you can find them again!
Lissa Treiman boards for Raya and the Last Dragon: LINK
Hannah Ayoubi's pilot animatic for Monsters Abroad: LINK
^Don't miss her Twitter thread sharing behind-the-scenes art and insights!: LINK
Johane Matte boards for Trollhunters: LINKhttps://twir.com/rodrigoblaas/status/817061000331431936
Craig of the Creek boards by Lamar Abrams and Charmaine Verhagen: LINK
Joe
Johnston "It's over isn't it": LINK
^Don't miss Joe's behind-the-scenes look at how he crafted this scene!: LINK
A big free, online archive of Adventure Time storyboards: LINK
Lego
Movie clips by various artists: LINK
Kiki’s
Delivery Service: LINK
Wreck
It Ralph deleted scenes: LINK
Glen
Keane thumbnails from Tarzan: LINK
The
Boxtrolls: LINK
Star vs The Forces of Evil: LINK
Penguins
of Madagascar: LINK
Ratatouille: LINK
Steven
Universe: LINK
Frozen: LINK
Dan Abraham's boards for Lost in the Woods from Frozen 2: LINK
Legend of Korra book 3 chapter 1: LINK
Legend of Korra book 3 chapter 1: LINK
Storyboarding (and related) Books:
Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts by Nancy BeimanStoryboards: Motion in Art by Mark Simon
Art of Storyboard by Don Bluth
Professional Storyboarding
100 Tuesday Tips by Griz and Norm (I believe it is sold out at the moment, but please take the time to dig through their original Tumblr with all of the Tuesday Tips posts - this is really a goldmine for Story artists.)
Studio Ghibli's storyboard books (even in Japanese these are incredibly useful to study)
Studio Ghibli's storyboard books (even in Japanese these are incredibly useful to study)
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri
Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach by Paul Joseph GulinoThe Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri
Movie Storyboards by Mulligan
The Visual Story by Bruce Block
Shot by Shot by Steven D. Katz
Five C’s of Cinematography
Master Shots by Christopher Kenworthy
The Visual Story by Bruce Block
Shot by Shot by Steven D. Katz
Five C’s of Cinematography
Master Shots by Christopher Kenworthy
Framed
Ink by Marcos Mateu-Mestre
Framed Perspective by Marcos Mateu-Mestre
On Film-Making by Alexander Mackendrick
Animation
Writing and Development: from Script to Pitch
Directing
the Story by Francis Glebas
Setting Up Your Shots by Jeremy
Vineyard
Projections 5: Film-makers on Film-makingThe Big Lebowski by Robertson Cooke
Casting a Shadow: Creating the Alfred Hitchcock Film
Kingdom of Heaven: the Ridley Scott Film and the History Behind It
My Life, Drawing by Matt Jones: LINKThe Animator's Survival Kit
Drawing People: How to Portray the Clothed Figure
Andrew Loomis's books
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists
How to Draw Anime & Game Characteres (volumes 1 & 2 in particular)
Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes
Drawing People: How to Portray the Clothed Figure
Andrew Loomis's books
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists
How to Draw Anime & Game Characteres (volumes 1 & 2 in particular)
Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes
Story by Robert McKee
On Writing by Stephen KingForce: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators
Color and Light: Life Drawing for Animators
Color and Light: Life Drawing for Animators
Dreamworlds by Hans Bacher
Online figure drawing sites:
Line of Action: LINK
Quick Poses: LINK
Sketch Daily: LINK
Croquis Cafe: LINK
Senshi Stock: LINK
Proko: LINK
New Masters Academy: LINK
Love Lifedrawing: LINK
Bodies in Motion: LINK
Reference.Pictures: LINK
I also made a Youtube video with a bunch of figure drawing advice for cartoonists: LINK
Documentaries:
Walt
Disney (PBS documentary): LINK
Imagining Zootopia
Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II
Podcasts:
The Animation Happy Hour: LINK
^I HIGHLY recommend every artist listen to episode 8 of The Animation Happy Hour, which takes a deep dive into finances for artists, including art school, loans, etc. - LINK
The Culture: LINK
TonkoCast: LINK
Cartoon Saloon's The Speakeasy podcast: LINK
The Screenwriting Life: LINK
Black N' Animated: LINK
The Ink and Paint Girls Podcast: LINK
Minkyu and Shiyoon - An Animation Podcast: LINK
The Bancroft Brothers: LINK
The Visual Storytelling Podcast: LINK
The Animated Journey (now finished): LINK
Youtube channels:
Dwooman: LINK
Jim Mortensen: LINK
MewTripled: LINK
Laura Price: LINK
Toniko Pantoja: LINK
BaM Animation: LINK
ThirdChildFilms: LINK
The NerdWriter: LINK
Matthew Humphreys' Storyboards101: LINK
Other
resources:
Check out the tag #PortfolioDay on Twitter, and post your work to it
The Animation Guild (learn your rights, and check out the wages PDF!): LINK
The Animation Happy Hour podcast has their own list of resources, a little more geared towards Animators: LINK
LoopdeLoop: LINK
11 Second Club: LINK
Glassdoor
– employees review the companies they work for and report their
real salaries: LINK
Value
graphics tablets: LINK
Studios
/ job portal links:
Chris Mayne's Animation/VFX/Game industry aggregate site (it's INCREDIBLE; send him a few bucks to support the site if you can!): LINK
Disney
feature: LINK
PIXAR: LINK
Dreamworks: LINK
LAIKA: LINK
Sony
Pictures Animation: LINK
Paramount Animation: LINK
Illumination
MacGuff: LINK
SkyDance Media: LINK
Disney
Television Animation: LINK
Nickelodeon: LINK
Cartoon
Network: LINK
Titmouse: LINK
Bento Box: LINK
Blue
Sky: LINK
Cartoon
Saloon: LINK
Aardman: LINK
Spa
Studios: LINK
Shadow
Machine: LINK
Brown
Bag Films: LINK
LucasFilm: LINK
Base FX: LINK
Marvel Animation
South Park studios
20th Century FOX Animation
Fuzzy Door Productions
Warner Brothers, Warner Animation Group (WAG)
Blue
Spirit: LINK
Method
Studios: LINK
Nord-Ouest
films: LINK
Moonbot
Studios: LINK
ZAG: LINK
Teamto: LINK
ToonBox
Entertainment: LINK
Studio
Hari: LINK
Yapiko
Animation: LINK
Kawanimation: LINK
Quatre21: LINK
Go-N: LINK
Rooster Teeth: LINK
Ubisoft: LINK
Nintendo: LINK
Pretty
Simple: LINK
Liquid
Development: LINK
Bent
Image Lab: LINK
Game
Loft: LINK
Chez
Soi / Studio Soi in Germany: LINK
Film
Roman: LINK
Nitrogen
Studios: LINK
Atomic
Cartoons: LINK
Bardel
Entertainment: LINK
Reel
FX: LINK
Deep
Sky Studios: LINK
2
Minutes: LINK
BC
Wall: LINK
Mikros
Image Animation: LINK
Gaumont
Animation: LINK
Caribara
Animation: LINK
Studio
100: LINK
Knightworks: LINK
Wako
Factory: LINK
Man
of Action Entertainment: LINK
Aeria
Games: LINK
Kabam: LINK
Kobojo: LINK
Pocket
Gems: LINK
DONTNOD: LINK
Quantic
Dream: LINK
Big
Bad Boo: LINK
Nintai
Studio: LINK
Monster
(aggregate job site): LINK
Indeed
(aggregate job site): LINK
Entertainment
Careers (aggregate job site): LINK Creative Heads (aggregate job site): LINK
AFJV – French aggregate job site with primarily video game art positions, many of which seek English-speaking candidates: LINK
