Storyboards, Motion in Art, 3rd Edition by Mark Simon.

The new edition of Mark Simon's Storyboards, Motion in Art is a pretty comprehensive book. Not just about animation storyboarding, it also covers live action, gaming, theme-park boards, laser show boards and advertising storyboards. He has written 64 chapters, appendices, a preface, an intro and actually starts the book with two pages of acknowledgements that include not only names and addresses, but websites and emails too. This author does his research! The entire book is just as comprehensive and reads somewhat like a textbook with a sense of humor. Exercises are grouped at the end of the book rather than with each chapter. Everything is illustrated very well, in both B&W and color. At the end are some wonderful interviews.

Simon's qualifications are listed in the blurb on the back cover, saying he is a storyboard artist, director, producer and animator. He has his own company, Animatic & Storyboards Inc., which did storyboards for Lonely Hearts, The Waterboy and SeaQuest DSV. He has worked on projects for Disney, Fox, Universal, Nickelodeon, Coke, M&M, AT&T and many others. A quote from Stephen Sawra of Cartoon Network says, "Definitely a person who understands all aspects of the business…" The book is the product of someone who really does just that.

A Valuable Tool
Simon starts out with a short history of storyboards and why they are such valuable tools. The first few chapters deal with what it takes and what you need to be a storyboard artist, with drawbacks and pluses. Under education, he lists classes in life drawing, sequential illustration, film directing and editing. He also says, "The more you understand about marketing, licensing and rights, accounting, contracts, writing, math, etc. the better your business will run…" He gives you a complete list of the materials you will need to storyboard.

A Subject per Chapter
Each chapter is devoted to one subject. There is a chapter on drawing quick thumbnails where he gives you advice on why they are necessary and how to make them readable. Simon says a great many people need to be able to do thumbnails, and you don't have to draw well to do them. Besides storyboard artists, directors, special effects people, cameramen, producers, writers and CG people need this skill. One chapter talks about perspective as it relates to camera angles. Simon stresses that every artist works differently, from drawing with different pencils to storyboarding on the computer. He says, "The best way to get better and faster at storyboards is to simply draw fast, constantly."

The chapter on coloring a storyboard talks about both markers and computer color and goes into some detail. Then you have a chapter on presentation boards vs. production boards. There are quite a few differences, depending on who the client is. He talks about comps, which are used primarily in print medium. Simon then gets into Animatics, calling them video storyboards and then the computer equivalent, the 'previz.' He talks briefly about the different styles of artists, and then gets into directing on the storyboards and dives into the storyboarder's relationship with the director. He gives you a lot of tips on how to understand where the directors are coming from. He says, " It is important that the storyboard artist understand industry lingo and how shots work…"

Staging and Camera Moves
The chapters on staging deal with line-of-action, camera positions, horizon lines, visual balance and depth. He includes a chapter on gathering reference material and using it. Then he gets into showing camera moves on a board, and then explains why everything has to be numbered. Next he talks about contrast and mood, and then special effects. Everything is very well illustrated. Speaking of which, Simon's next chapter is on conceptual illustration, which he says storyboard artists are often called upon to do.

"Computers and Software" is the name of the next chapter, and Simon gets quite detailed in his explanations and illustrations. He mentions PowerPoint, FrameForge 3D Studio, StoryViz, SketchUp and Mirage Boardomatic. He also talks about good old PhotoShop (the backbone of the industry), CoralDRAW, Wacom Tablets and says don't forget a good 300 dpi printer. He recommends getting a few USB jump drives and always carry one with you when on a job.

The Business of Storyboarding
In "Tricks of the Trade," Simon gives you dozens of practical tips; from what pencils and erasers to use, to what not to do with a copier, to how to use computer layering, to using a camera. He talks about what to do with revisions and approvals and how to organize your business and invoicing. This chapter is packed with useful information from someone who has been doing art for a long time. He then talks about presenting your boards to the client and what information to put on each page.

Part three is titled, "The Business of Storyboarding." Here Simon covers resumes, listing common mistakes and enhancements you can make. He talks about portfolios, saying draw one of your own if you've never done one for a client. Then Simon gets into education and follows that with an essay on how he got his start. The next part is six pages of the type of places you can go to get hired, very helpful. The next chapters are on how to find a job, prepping for that job and how a production team works. Then he gives you hints on what producers look for, pricing, estimating, billing, licensing and trade practices. He has a chapter on the various screen formats. In the last section of lessons Simon tells you a bit about agents and artist reps, unions and some hints on how to sell yourself and be professional.

Eight Great Interviews
Now comes a really interesting part of this book. There are eight interviews with storyboard professionals giving you insight to how they think and work. Among their other talents, Alex Saviuk does comicbooks, Mark Moore is a vp at ILM, Sean Cushing is a previz specialist, Josh Hayes does live action, Tim Burgard does a lot of commercials, Woody Woodman is in animated features, Lyle Grant does commercials and Jeff Dates is the creative director of Janimation. Wow! What a lot of talent crammed into these pages!

Five Versions of a Storyboard
So coming to the end of this 434-page book, you have the exercises to do for the lessons. Then Simon gives you a storyboard you can do, with versions by five different artists to show you some variations. The appendices include various storyboard blanks and an invoice, a list of books with a short one-sentence description and some resource guides. At the end are storyboard samples, a glossary and an index.