Storyboarding Books
I decided it’d be nice to follow-up the previous storyboard handoffs post with one about resources for people interested in learning to board.
There are far, far fewer books about storyboarding than there are about screenwriting, and there is no real classic in the field that you must read because everyone else has. For animators, one of the books cited below is essential — The Animator’s Survival Kit — but board artists don’t yet have their own crucial pedagogical text. The upside is that for aspiring board artists there are fewer repetitive books to buy, and there are few if any “structure your boards exactly how I tell you to or you will fail” types of books out there.
I’d say the one true essential reference for boarding is Derek Thompson’s DVD. But there is no substitute for drawing boards every day, and if you really want to pursue boarding as a career, trying to get into a top story school like CalArts (or a mentorship with someone respected in the field, if school isn’t your bag). The advice I gave about using screenwriting books can be easily modified for storyboarding books:
- Don’t read more than a couple of the “how to” books. They’re all saying basically the same things, so just try to actually understand the one or two that seemed most appealing to you from the get-go before trying another one.
- Anyone who says that following their pet technique is a necessary condition for success is lying.
- When you read (or, for that matter, are taught by a mentor) that you’re always supposed to do (or not do) something, come to deeply understand the reason for it rather than taking it as axiomatic. Once you have that understanding, then you’ll be able to figure out when you can actually get away with not doing it (or doing it).
- Some advice and technique that other people swear by, you’ll absolutely hate. And vice-versa. It’s all a matter of what works for you, and what doesn’t.
- There’s no substitute for actually drawing. You’re not really going to learn all that much about storyboarding by reading about it. Frankly, you won’t even know what mistakes you need to get advice about how to avoid until you make them.
With all that in mind, here is my storyboarding book round-up (click continue reading below, or the headline above, to get to the full post from the front page):
Ok, so it’s not a book, but Derek’s DVD is one of the best tutorials out there. Every aspiring board artist should own it. His approach really emphasizes the story in storyboarding, and how to tell one visually. He’s also got terrific technique. Essential. (Disclaimer: Derek is a friend. But I’d recommend this tutorial even if he weren’t.)
Cinematic Storytelling is really aimed at Directors and Cinematographers, but it’s also an invaluable resource for storyboarding. It has examples and discussion of a wide variety of shots, and is both informative and inspiring (they chose a lot of good shots, unlike some “how to shoot” references).
Also not strictly a storyboarding book, the Animator’s Survival Kit is found on the bookshelves of pretty much all professional animators because it is an excellent guide to motion and emotion through illustration. Board artists need to convey action dynamics and emotional impact, not just framing and camera movement. And with the increasing popularity of animatics (storyboards cut to time by editorial, as a test cut of the whole film) even outside of feature animation, it’s becoming essential for board artists to understand something about animation.
A good book that helps develop skills in visual storytelling more generally, and is applicable to Directors as well as storyboard artists working in both animation and live action. This book combined with Derek’s DVD, Animator’s Survival Kit, and Cinematic Storytelling would make a pretty complete beginning library for an aspiring story artist.
Also a good book that develops visual storytelling, though it’s more board-centric, and focused mainly on animation.
Almost entirely focused on boarding composition mechanics and the translation from script to boards, and not very in-depth about storytelling.
The size of this book is because it is more focused on the business of being a storyboard artist, and the art and craft of storyboarding is only a portion of what this book covers. Others of these books are better in terms of the actual art of boarding, but could be useful to you in terms of a career approach.
Another book more focused on the board mechanics and business, and less so on the story process.
This book also covers the business, and has substantial sections on animatics and new media technologies, but the story development process gets short shrift in favor of board mechanics. Not a bad book for technique, but should be rounded out with a more story focused text.
A good animation boarding book from well known animation Director Don Bluth. Some people don’t like Bluth’s style, but if you do, this is a good, albeit terse, book about boarding for animation.
I’m happy to add new books to this round-up, as well. If you’d like to send me a review copy of your book (or your favorite book by someone else), send it here:
Stephan Vladimir Bugaj
The Indie Auteur
P.O. Box 5041
Richmond, CA 94805
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