The Art of the Storyboard: Storyboarding for Film, TV, and Animation

By John Hart

Book Overview

The Art of the Storyboard shows beginners how to conceptualize and render the drawings that will communicate continuity to the cinematographer, set designer, and special effects supervisor, or to create the skeletal outline around which an animated program is developed. Using sketches of shots from classic films, from silents to the present, The Art of the Storyboard covers the history and evolution of this craft and discusses the essentials of translating one's vision onto paper, from the rough sketch to the finished storyboard. Over 100 illustrations from the author's and other storyboard artists' work illuminate the text throughout. Exercises at the end of each chapter help students to develop essential drawing and visualizing skills. The Art of the Storyboard teaches basic drawing techniques and illustrates the use of perspective, light and shade, and depth of field needed in order to render the human figure in motion. In this book students are introduced to essential components of storyboarding, such as framing, placement of figures, and use of camera angles

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0240803299
• ISBN13: 9780240803296
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Focal Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.3" x 0.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Pretty good book

This book was very helpful to me. I am a professional animator and storyboard/layout artist, even though I have a very good grasp of drawing, this book helped me improve my composition(balance, contrast, flow, etc) and cinematography skills. The illustrations are from great old time classics like Battleship Potemkin (which is frequently used as examples in top film schools across the world) and an numerous other examples. The simplicity of some of the drawings illustrates how you don't have to be the best artist to draw a good storyboard, other drawings show how you can do pretty psimple but photorealistic renderings in a few minutes. Although this is not the all in one stop for storyboarding, it is a must have for aspiring storyboard artists. The one thing that could use improvement is the discussion on perspective drawing, but this book helped me improve so much that I still give it 5 stars. Note: This is not a how to draw book, If you have a solid foundation in drawing, you will benefit more from this and similar books.

Storyboarding from the simple to the complex

This book covers storyboards ranging from the most basic to the most detailed. The author recreates frames from classic films--old and new--to illustrate how a storyboard can include light, movement, perspective, and shadow to offer a more complete view of the scene. I found this book to be as much about the art of observing, which is essential to anyone involved in the filmmaking process.

Storyboarding illustrated with storyboard-style drawings

John Hart's book is the very best I've seen on storyboarding. He skillfully draws shots from every camera angle, relates them to story context, and offers his rationale for many shots from classic films--which he draws as a storyboarder would. Also very interesting demonstrations on use of light and shadow.