A question from Robert

Robert asked, " I'm just in high school, and I was wondering what I could do to possibly prepare myself to become a storyboard artist."

Personally, I never went to school for it, but if I could go back in time, I definitely would have. It would have saved a lot of time and work, and it just sounds so awesome to be surrounded by students excited about art and animation. Art Center in Pasadena and Cal Arts are both great schools. If you are able to get into Gobelins in France, that is, in my opinion, the best school for animation in the world. Another good school is Sheridan in Canada. Other than schools, just study films and break them down shot by shot into storyboards. that's a really good way to learn. After you learn, studios have training programs where you can get in and learn on the job. TV also has something called a storyboard revisionist. You can basically just show up to any studio with a portfolio of storyboard samples and they will usually call you back and give you a test. Doing the test for the job is actually a great way to learn. I did several test for studios before I finally got a job. every test, I would take to someone in the industry and ask them to look at it and I would try to make less mistakes the next time. that is sort of how I learned to storyboard. Try it, make a storyboard portfolio and drop it off at Nickelodeon.

Making a pose better

Someone asked about making a pose better. The biggest one for me is using the z axis. So many times all the parts will be straight up and down and don't go in or out. Adding a little head tilt also makes a huge difference.

Drawing from your head

Here is another one. Someone asked about drawing from your head, or drawing people in action. I usually imagine what I will put down one piece at a time or imagine the arm in a new spot and decide if I want to move it. i can't quite imagine the entire pose clearly like some people do, but I'm working my way towards being able to do that. For quick sketch, or action poses from life, I try to remember 1 or 2 important things and make up the rest.

Balance

Here is something I posted on the art center blog. If you guys have specific questions, post them here, or on the art center blog and I'll try to do really quick explanations like this.

Simple cartoon pelvis

Someone emailed me and had a question about drawing the pelvis of a character like mulan. This is how I draw a simple cartoon pelvis. In this case, I drew over an Andrew loomis drawing to show where it comes from anatomically.

shadows

Start by getting a clear 2 value system. The edges of the value can be soft firm or hard. After that, you can add half tone, core shadows, and dark accents. The key to making your drawings look solid is to have the shadow pattern relate to the contour. Sometimes you can't even see the change in the contour, but because you see the change in the shadow patter, you know it has to be there, so you look for it and find something you didn't see before.

Hey folks. My buddy Erik Gist started a cool forum. He asked me to judge a character design contest that anyone can join. Go over and check it out.
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