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Advice

Hi all!

I am a traditionally trained senior animator with more than 10 years in the animation industry. I've been working with Flash for 7 years in Toronto. I've been away from the industry since 2011 taking care of my 3 daughters and will be going back to work within the next few years.

I've been recently thinking on switching to story-boarding. I've been doing some research and asked some of my former colleagues to try to figure whether this could be the right job for me. My idea is to work freelance, from home.

- Is it possible to work from home? I've noticed that in animation the studios ask animators to work in-house and this is not an option for me right now.

- Is there as much work in story-boarding as there is in animation?

- I would really like to pursue this new challenge but I have to be realistic, I have 3 young daughters. In your opinion, do you think with my current lifestyle I can still work as a story-board artist?

-I haven't been drawing much in the past years, I know I have the talent but will need to improve my drawing skills. I have a couple of years before I'm able to work full time so training is an option. Is there an on-line course I could do to improve my drawing skills?

Thanks a lot in advance!!
Violeta

Violeta--

Violeta--
As much as I want to encourage a fellow artist to jump back into the biz........I think you are looking at a very steep uphill climb.

Storyboarding is VERY time-consuming---even when working at home.
Drawing skills are critical of course, here, but being able to storyboard properly is what will get you the gigs.

The linch-pin here is your home-life. If your daughters are demanding of your time, it WILL impact on your freelancing.
Freelancing for 'boards is entirely possible and quite common.  The key to landing such gigs is to be able to demonstrate clearly that you can do 'boards properly, with very minimal or no "supervision".
The best training you could undertake is to see if you can get a sample storyboard script from a show a colleague has worked on, AND a sample of their 'board.  preferably a copy of one of their approved/revised 'boards. Get some models too, if you can.
The test for yourself is to do the board blind.......do it your way from the script, doing maybe the first few script pages --as "pro" as you can.  Treat it like a dress-rehearsal. Draw it, put in all the camera moves, all the labelling, page numbering etc.
Then when you get it done...take a look at their approved 'board to see how yours compares. Maybe even get the colleague to look it over, if you can arrange that.

You might find you need more posing, more labelling or other technical things.  You might need to study how and why they made their choices for shots & staging.
But you can get a sense of what is being looked for this way and prep yourself accordingly.
Take the next few pages of the script and try it again.

Make note of the entire experience. How the kids react to you working, how you react--and run the thing as if it were the actual job.  Give yourself a typical quota---say, a script page worth boarded in a single work day. Fit it in with all the regular routines and stuff that encompass your lifestyle
Then you'll have a better idea of how this will work out for you.

Good Luck.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Hi Ken,

Hi Ken,

Thanks SO much for your reply! Your advice on how to learn story-borading was excellent! I'll definitely do that!

It is dissapointing of course but I have to be realistic so your view really helps.

I have a few more questions:

-Is Story-boarding more time consuming than animation?

-By the time I go back, my daughters will be in school all day, when I asked if I was going to be able to work around their schedule I meant if I'll be able to spend family time after school and weekends. When I was working in animation I used to work during the day, regular work hours and then after everyone was sleeping I would go back to finish whatever was needed. But after a while most studios wanted me to work in-house and that is something I don't want/can't do for sure.  I don't mind working long hours as long as I have time to spend with my fmily and can work on my own schedule. Knowing this, do you think this is achievable?

-You might not know this question but I'll ask anyway, is there any other industry that would require story-board artist? (i.e. advertising) If so, do you know which ones?

What worries me the most is what you said about going uphill. That I don't know how to figure out :P

Ken, once again, THANKS A LOT for your advice!

All the best!

Violeta

To answer your questions:

To answer your questions:

How long does it take you to do about.......20-50  2-panel storyboard pages?  That is anywhere from 40 to 100 panels, or drawings.....in a working day.  That's the gauge to go by for TV animation.
A sane pace is usually about 2-3 panels per hour......or about a 10hr day.  If you can do 4-5 panels an hour.......and make them look good, then you are starting to hit that realm I mentioned a sentence or two ago. Take a look at the script, at the page count......break that up per the number of days you have before deadline......THAT is how much you have to get done in a given day. It can be a lot.

See it's not just the drawing time, it's also the thinking time as well.  Being able to make conscious choices about the shots--what will work, what will not.  What is entertaining, what is dull.....what "sells" a shot, what makes a bit of staging dramatic or interesting.  How to get from something close up to something further away and not make it too jarring.  How to avoid mistakes, like jump cuts--or breaking the 180-degree rule.
If you are a beginner to 'boarding, you WILL second-guess yourself frequently.   Developing the intuition about what works and what doesn't can take years to develop.
Also understand this: there's added pressure for beginners, because if they blow their first board........chances are a second one isn't forthcoming.
Board supervisors look for artists that can solve problems with their boards--who can make a episode work AND make it entertaining.
A LOT of beginners struggle with just visualizing the script itself.
This is where things pile up...........if the drawing is weak......it stacks against the 'board artist. If the storytelling is weak, if the staging is weak......if the continuity, if the posing isn't there.......if the expressions or gestures aren't there........if..........if..........if...........the variables are many.
if you get a sympathetic board super/director, you can get a few 'boards to do.  
If you can get 5 done........you should be golden.
If you get them done with minimal revisions/corrections and lots of positibe comments, then you'll be the golden girl.
Expect 50% or more corrections on your first board starting out..........that is expect to revise at least HALF of the work you do.

Now, how much time, effort and spirit does this consume? It's up to the individual.  Your priorities are your family. if you can work fast and efficiently, then you should be able to pull it off...........but...............BUT............
You need to account for..........well........"drama".
 Personal life crisis.......shit that happens.........whatever you want to call it.
 It's easier to do this line of work as a single-person with no attachments--because you can devote your full phsyical and emotional energy to the task.
Once you add family, pets, other committments........it increases the distractions.
One of the kids gets knocked down at school.......busts an arm.......or something like that, and you have a deadline for the board..........there may be sympathy ( and sometimes there is), but it CAN affect future work.  I'm not saying it's a given, but it needs to be a consideration.
To do this well, takes a LOT of focus, a lot of emotional energy.  If your homelife is conductive to creativity, then you've solved half of that.
If "stuff happens" often.......then it's not likely to be fun.

As for other industries that use storyboarding:  advertising, live-action, gaming (for cinematics and such), beat boards--and the various genres of TV animation.
Let me add something about genres......pre-school shows dominate, so do comedies.  But be prepared to be able to do action-adventure, and adult-age material.
In my professional opinion, as a 20+ year-career board artist........you NEED range.  Have the sensitivities to do gentle kid humour, raucous slap-stick, dramatic material, and thrilling action set-pieces. if you can muster that, you should never hurt for work.

 

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Hi Ken,

Hi Ken,

Thanks again for your reply!

I now have the tools (or at least more than when I just started thinking about it) to make a decision. I have to admit that my love for animation/drawing/creativity doen't help much as I'm biased. If I didn't have to invest money on more training, a cintiq (I was told), I would just give it a try for a few years and if it doesn't work I can just switch careers (not sure doing what, as I love the creative side)

Thanks again Ken, I really appreciate you taking the time to write to me.

 

Hi Violeta,

Hi Violeta,

I have worked in both the production side of animation features and have work in the corporate advertsing world for 4 years ( in producer and project management roles). If you're not in an immediate rush to get an income, then i think you can pursue your dream of being a storyboard artist. If i were you i would concentrate on the corporate world, and would approach it like this:

- Make some fake storyboards for films in the coporate world. i.e - just to build up your portfolio. Look on Vimeo and find some films that have both live action and graphics in them.

- Create a behance account, and put your work on the site. ( be sure to add contact info in your about me section)

- Once you have built up say 5 lots of storyboards

- Approach small video production companies. Easy enough by looking through google. keep to smaller companies first, send them an email and offer your services for a rate that would be beneficial to them at first ( whilst you build up your portfolio and show them you can do what they are looking for ). From experience here, a very top storyboard artist, who can board a 90 sec video in one day would charge approx £300-£400 per day, so perhaps go in at £150 per day to start.

- keep doing this till you build up your connections, then when you feel confident enough, raise your rates.

My suggestion here is based on exeperience of working with storybaord artists in this field. A production company would be looking for someone who can clearly show the shots, but many aren't looking for amazing images, this isnt the point, it's obviously about making it easy for them to communicate the idea to their client, and also communicate effectively what they will be doing when filming, and what they need to design/add in post. ( but you know all this!)

here, you will be able to work from home, but it's all about the realtionship with the production houses you connect with. In most cases, the work would need to be returned within 2 days. 

hope this helps,

 

Let me know if i can help in any other way,

www.produsive.com

 

advice

Hi Violeta,

I have worked in both the production side of animation features and have work in the corporate advertsing world for 4 years ( in producer and project management roles). If you're not in an immediate rush to get an income, then i think you can pursue your dream of being a storyboard artist. If i were you i would concentrate on the corporate world, and would approach it like this:

- Make some fake storyboards for films in the coporate world. i.e - just to build up your portfolio. Look on Vimeo and find some films that have both live action and graphics in them.

- Create a behance account, and put your work on the site. ( be sure to add contact info in your about me section)

- Once you have built up say 5 lots of storyboards

- Approach small video production companies. Easy enough by looking through google. keep to smaller companies first, send them an email and offer your services for a rate that would be beneficial to them at first ( whilst you build up your portfolio and show them you can do what they are looking for ). From experience here, a very top storyboard artist, who can board a 90 sec video in one day would charge approx £300-£400 per day, so perhaps go in at £150 per day to start.

- keep doing this till you build up your connections, then when you feel confident enough, raise your rates.

My suggestion here is based on exeperience of working with storybaord artists in this field. A production company would be looking for someone who can clearly show the shots, but many aren't looking for amazing images, this isnt the point, it's obviously about making it easy for them to communicate the idea to their client, and also communicate effectively what they will be doing when filming, and what they need to design/add in post. ( but you know all this!)

here, you will be able to work from home, but it's all about the realtionship with the production houses you connect with. In most cases, the work would need to be returned within 2 days. 

hope this helps,

 

Let me know if i can help in any other way,

www.produsive.com