A method I prefer, is a combination of acting out and overhead projection. Animation students project their material on a large screen as they act out each panel, (as seen in this picture). This allows all students to clearly see the storyboard, without interference, or having to strain to see a corkboard presentation.

Once the director approves a storyboard, the next step varies from studio to studio. For television animation, props and characters are created before the storyboard is started. Ideally most second or third season television shows that have established characters, locations, special effects and prop designs need only small amounts of new material created for each completed storyboard.

After the design department, the support material is then shipped with the storyboard to the layout department to start production.

What is a storyboard?
A storyboard is much like a very detailed comic book. Storyboards must have clear visuals to explain what the scene, or even entire board is about. Many studios ensure there are no visual questions by having the storyboard artist take the drawings to finished clean drawings.

In fact, artists that have a background in either animation layout, or comic book art, create most storyboard work. Motion film, advertising, and especially animation, rely heavily on creating a sequential visual plan of major actions, long before the main production starts.

Storyboard art is created from a written script. This visual interpretation of the story can range in length from 12 panels long in advertising to well over 1,500 panels for a 22 minute animated show. Feature films conservatively start at 3,000 panels.

What determines the length? The amount of action in the sequence does. Consider a small sequence where a dog runs around a corner and knocks over a vase that was sitting on a table. The storyboard would contain an image of the room first and have the next panel showing the dog running around the corner. The next panel shows the dog hitting the table with the vase wobbling. The final frame has the dog exiting the scene while the vase falls to shatter on the floor. We need four panels to describe the action.

A sequence where a car chase progresses through a city street, just missing bystanders, then ends in a fiery crash may require up to 15 or more panels depending on the length of the car chase.

No matter what the sequence is about, the storyboard must clearly show a strong and dynamic visual, coupled with a written explanation as to what is happening in each panel.

Who uses them? Are they important?
Everyone from the director, to the layout artist, to the animator, uses the storyboards. How important is it? The best way to explain the importance of the storyboard is to explain it the way I was taught by Zach Schwartz and Kaj Pindal.