Reflective Research
Storyboard Artist Job Description
Looking into my job role I looked up certain skills and requirements that a storyboard artist needs. Storyboard artists have to create a graphic representation of a script that is written by the show writers. They need a good understanding of the principles of storytelling such as the hero’s journey.
Solid and good knowledge of camera angles and cinematography. Keep the camera moving and knowing where to place it in the scene. Also having good compositions skills. Having good drawing skills which can be used in various styles and genres. Not every project looks the same. Storyboard artists should know the principles of animation, basic drawing skills, understand perspective and interrupting ideas of others onto paper.
Every studio uses different programs for their projects and films so it’s good to know the industry standard programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe illustrator and Toon Boom Harmony.
https://www.cgspectrum.com/career-pathways/storyboard-artist
Responsibilities and Roles
Being able to read and interpreting scripts so that they get an idea of what to draw for the scoreboards. It’s important to break down the script with director or writer to identify keyframes in the story and plan them visually.
Understanding the look, style and detail needed for each storyboard, this also includes dialogue and scene direction for each board.
Fixing up and mending boards during production stage as the not every scene will be used and cuts will be made. Storyboard artists will make hundreds of storyboards until they can get the right one the director approves of.
Planning is an important element to storyboards and its their responsibilities to translate the storyboard best to the best of their abilities.
Junior Storyboard Artist
A junior storyboard artists usually help the story team to visualise the script and develop the story. This job involves cleaning up and adding detail to boards made by the senior crew. It’s also a good opportunity to develop your skills with storyboards artist that have more industry experience.
Junior storyboard artists should have a strong portfolio and drawing skills. Ability to adapt styles, strong sense of designs, layout and composition. This should be shown in your portfolio which should include projects and your own storyboards. It should show you know how to draw storyboards at an industry standard. Other type of works such as animatics, 2D animations, concept art and character design are a bonus as it shows off your variety of skills.
Also having great communication skills and being able to work in a group and independently. Having a strong work ethic and positive attitude can help with working on projects with multiple people. It can help you preform tasks better, form strong relationships with colleagues and develop a positive image to your work. It shows you have a passion for the job and are committed to do the job to best of your abilities.
Portfolio
I needed to find out what type of portfolio I needed for my portfolio. I look at some videos on Youtube about storyboard artists portfolios and what they included. Also gave me tips on what to include in mine and how to make mine stand out from others. For example using my best work at the start, making the layout clear and readable.
I also look at their storyboard artists websites and ArtStations to get inspiration for how my portfolio should look. This also includes show reels what they included and how it could help me. https://www.tonikopantoja.com/ https://mewtripled.wixsite.com/portfolio
Stevie Borbolla
I looked at another artist in the industry, Stevie Borbolla. They studied at California Institution of Arts in 2013. Stevie Borbolla is a storyboard artist and character designer that has worked with OK K.O! Let’s be Heroes!, Harley Quinn and DC Super Hero Girls.Twitter – https://twitter.com/stebvi
Website – https://stevieborbolla.com/
They have a big blog on twitter and tumblr with a big collection of character illustrations and designs. This has helped for there work to get out there and reach businesses and clients. They got a job at Cartoon Network doing storyboards for OK K.O!.
They have big portfolio of work and illustrations that have kept over the years. Including school and recent work. Their journeys tell me that I need to get my work out there and show everything off including rough and finish pieces. . If I keep a portfolio now I’ll be able to show my progress with personal and educational work.
Showreel
I looked at another video of do’s and don’t for my animated showreel. Make sure it has your best and strongest work as employers don’t want to see the same shot or character movement. Include work that matches to the job description. For me I need to add animatics, character animation and variety of shots. Even if your reel turns out short it should be quality or quantity. Make sure the sound doesn’t have lyrics and isn’t too loud. If a scene has dialogue make sure the music is edited to be low at that part.
Example 1 – Rebecca Reynolds
I first looked at a storyboard artist / revisionist Rebecca Reynolds. I found this most recent showreel of their personal work. I found it on her ArtStation account https://www.artstation.com/brobexx. They have worked as a storyboard artist with Studio Meala on related properties and advertisements. Another studio they have worked with Boulder Media providing backgrounds and props for series and short films. With 8 years of experience they have good knowledge of the industry pipeline.
This is a good example of a show reel as is clean and edited well together. Theres a wide range of different shots and scenes which shows off character acting, different camera shot, backgrounds and perspective. This showreel shows off her storyboard and animatic skills which she specialises in in the industry. It mostly their personal work with different video game properties showing they can draw different characters. The video is a good length and isn’t too short or long. The clips aren’t too fast and you can tell whats going. It grabs your attention and keeps me interested. Its got a clear starting title and ending card with the artists name, what type of reel, what year they were made, email and contact information.
Example 2 – Patrycja Cmak
For my next example I looked at Patrycja Cmak who is a visual artist and animator. She specialises in visual development art, character design and character animation. I found this showreel on their portfolio https://paticmak.portfoliobox.net/showreel. She is a bachelor of animation at The Animation Workshop. She has worked for on character design for the “Rebirth” project by Juice and an animator for “Catsaway” by the same company. They were also director for the “Wolf 359 Trailer” project based on a podcast.
This showreel shows off the finished animations and also the process with rough animatics. I love this as it shows off their process. It gives a range of studio and personal work, it shows off their ability to animate in different styles in 2D and 3D. The reel has a good number of different projects and shows off their best work. It’s not too long and theres just enough information for employers to see what she’s capable of. Theres a title card with her name and what year the showreel was made, also at the end it has her contact information. The showreel is very well edited and its very simple with clear information.
Job Interview
To prepare for my mock job interview I made sure to look up the all the questions they may answer me. Even though they may not ask me all of them it was a good idea to have a rough draft of what to say. I looked up some questions before hand to prepare. Such as
- Tell me about yourself?
- What skills are required to be a storyboard artist?
- What media inspires you such as movies or tv shows?
- Do prefer working in a team or independently?
- If you were given a script how would you prepare to make storyboards?
- Whats your experience?
- Who did you get yourself out of creative situation?
- If you were a cartoon character who would you be?
Whoever there are so many more questions and they could ask me anything.
After the interview I was relieved it was over, for my first time I think I did an ok job. Whoever at the start I was very nervous and completely forgot what to say and messed up some of my answer. When the interview continued on I did become more confident but some questions I answered them in the wrong way. I need to keep positive when answering and make sure to alway turn it back to storyboarding in some way.
Conclusion
Finally after doing my research into the storyboard job role I think I’m ready to create my showreel, portfolio and understand what the position requires. I need to work on my interview skills more and try to improve for next time. Remember to prepare questions and to keep calm. Personally I think my portfolio turned out great and took inspiration from different industry professional to create a standard portfolio. Only thing I could improve would be to make more projects with storyboard’s for the future. They have to be clean and have a good flow. Keep it exciting and different to stand out from the crowd. My showreel should be short, show off my best work and be well edited. I could however have made more cleaned finished animations. Overall I’m confident in my research that I can go further with my picked career choice.