When you look at a storyboard you are looking at a series of pictures that represent each shot in order. You have a new shot every time you change camera angle. Here are the basic camera angles. A finished storyboard essentially looks like a cartoon drawing of your video.
But I can't draw.
Everyone can draw. You may not be able to draw well or you may not like your drawings, but you can draw enough to make a basic storyboard. The purpose of a storyboard is to provide a visual script of your story. It's not art. It can be intimidating when you look at professional storyboards done by artists, but don't be discouraged. You do not need to draw like them. Your main purpose is communication. It's a lot easier to communicate what you want the shot to look like if you have a picture of it. It's also a good reference for you to make sure you get the shots you want and they show how the story unfolds using visual language.
Basic technique.
Let's face it, people are hard to draw. However, stick figures are not. If you can draw triangles lines and circles, you can draw stick people. Here is how I draw a stick person in full frame:
Draw the body. Just a triangle.
add some legs
add some arms
for a head, just draw a circle.
Just keep it simple. Here's a shot of this guy walking. I just bent the arms and legs.
.
Note the arrow.
What about facial expression?
Realistic faces are just about the hardest thing to draw. That's why we're going to draw smiley faces. All you need is a circle and a few lines.
neutral expression
You can still convey a wide range of emotions by altering the lines. See below:
Happy, angry, surprised, sad, interested, mildly annoyed
You can make the face look different directions just by putting the features on the side you want your person to look.
Looking to the side. Adding an ear helps.
Look up and down
How about some perspective.
Drawing perspective seems like a daunting task. Which way do the lines go? What should be big and what should be small? It can be challenging, but there is a simple trick to make it much easier. It's called one-point perspective. The basis of this technique is that you draw one point called a vanishing point and every thing seems to draw to it. It's usually located on the horizon. The drawings below demonstrate this.
I draw a vanishing point
I add my horizon
I draw 2 lines wide at the bottom that lead to the point. It's a path.
Now, for a box. I just draw a square and connect the corners to the vanishing point.
The point gives us perspective.
Now let's get rid of the extra lines.
We draw the side and top of the back of the box parallel to the front.
Now erase the extra lines.
It's path with a box.
Here it is with the vanishing point elsewhere with people on the path.
You'll notice in the last drawing that the people progressively get smaller as the get closer to the vanishing point. Try moving the vanishing point around and raising it above the horizon. Some nice examples can be found at this website: http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/ You will have to practice this if you want to get really good at it. A good way to practice is to take magazines with photographs and trace lines to find the vanishing point. Once you learn this, you will add another dimension to your storyboards, literally.
Now to draw your first storyboard. You need to know what frame size to draw in. This is also known as aspect ratio. We use 4:3. That is what I used above. You will also see 16:9 in video. Here is more on aspect ratios. Attached below is a template with frame boxes drawn in. Also there are lines for notes provided.
Once you have that, you need to decide in your story where you will cut to a new shot. This is something that is subjective, but you can pretty much use the concept of a shot being equivalent to a sentence as a starting point.
Another thing that will help you is to imagine the layout of your set/location. If you need you can draw a floorplan or map of the area can help you plan your camera angles. Also, taking still photos of the location can give you many ideas.
Basic Tips for Drawing Storyboards
1. Use a pencil and an eraser.
2. Keep it simple. Don't include detail that doesn't help the shot.
3. Look at cartoon drawings for examples.
4. Use a ruler or other drawing tools
5. Make notes. I even label my stick figures with their initials because I can't make their faces look unique.
6. Remember that they are a guideline to your video. Your video doesn't have to look just like them. They are visual notes for you and your crew.
Storyboarding is drawing what you want to see.
When you look at a storyboard you are looking at a series of pictures that represent each shot in order. You have a new shot every time you change camera angle. Here are the basic camera angles. A finished storyboard essentially looks like a cartoon drawing of your video.
But I can't draw.
Everyone can draw. You may not be able to draw well or you may not like your drawings, but you can draw enough to make a basic storyboard. The purpose of a storyboard is to provide a visual script of your story. It's not art. It can be intimidating when you look at professional storyboards done by artists, but don't be discouraged. You do not need to draw like them. Your main purpose is communication. It's a lot easier to communicate what you want the shot to look like if you have a picture of it. It's also a good reference for you to make sure you get the shots you want and they show how the story unfolds using visual language.
Basic technique.
Let's face it, people are hard to draw. However, stick figures are not. If you can draw triangles lines and circles, you can draw stick people. Here is how I draw a stick person in full frame:
Just keep it simple. Here's a shot of this guy walking. I just bent the arms and legs.
.
What about facial expression?
Realistic faces are just about the hardest thing to draw. That's why we're going to draw smiley faces. All you need is a circle and a few lines.
You can still convey a wide range of emotions by altering the lines. See below:
You can make the face look different directions just by putting the features on the side you want your person to look.
How about some perspective.
Drawing perspective seems like a daunting task. Which way do the lines go? What should be big and what should be small? It can be challenging, but there is a simple trick to make it much easier. It's called one-point perspective. The basis of this technique is that you draw one point called a vanishing point and every thing seems to draw to it. It's usually located on the horizon. The drawings below demonstrate this.
You'll notice in the last drawing that the people progressively get smaller as the get closer to the vanishing point. Try moving the vanishing point around and raising it above the horizon. Some nice examples can be found at this website: http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/ You will have to practice this if you want to get really good at it. A good way to practice is to take magazines with photographs and trace lines to find the vanishing point. Once you learn this, you will add another dimension to your storyboards, literally.
Now to draw your first storyboard. You need to know what frame size to draw in. This is also known as aspect ratio. We use 4:3. That is what I used above. You will also see 16:9 in video. Here is more on aspect ratios. Attached below is a template with frame boxes drawn in. Also there are lines for notes provided.
Once you have that, you need to decide in your story where you will cut to a new shot. This is something that is subjective, but you can pretty much use the concept of a shot being equivalent to a sentence as a starting point.
Another thing that will help you is to imagine the layout of your set/location. If you need you can draw a floorplan or map of the area can help you plan your camera angles. Also, taking still photos of the location can give you many ideas.
Basic Tips for Drawing Storyboards
1. Use a pencil and an eraser.
2. Keep it simple. Don't include detail that doesn't help the shot.
3. Look at cartoon drawings for examples.
4. Use a ruler or other drawing tools
5. Make notes. I even label my stick figures with their initials because I can't make their faces look unique.
6. Remember that they are a guideline to your video. Your video doesn't have to look just like them. They are visual notes for you and your crew.