Storyboard Artist

A storyboard artist's job is to draw how the scenes in an animation film are going to work. They have to show what camera angles and shots they are going to use. This gives everyone a visual idea of how the film is going to look and allows them to get an idea of what the director wants before they start getting to work on the actual thing. Storyboard artists prevent wasted time on filming parts of a scene that the director does not wish to use. It also allows them to easily cut down on what they need and don't need beofre they start filming. Storyboard artists have to be able to show their ideas through drawings instead of verbal communication. Usually they are produced using pencil or ink but can sometimes be made as full colour drawings to show the director how it would look in the colours, backgrounds he has chosen. Storyboard artists need a good understanding of the terminology used in creating films as well as artistic talents.

I had a search on the internet for an example of a storyboard artist and found a storyboard for lilo and stitch produced by Armand Serrano.

This is the one of the scenes that he storyboarded for Lilo and Stitch which i really love as i love the film and find this really interesting. After looking at Armand Serrano's blog and website i found that he hasn't just done storyboards but has focused on alot of aspects of the layout and look of the film his job title is now Feature film animation environmental designer, visual development and layout journeyman. And looking through his work really fascinated me. His storyboards are probrably my favorite though.

Armand Serrano is currently an art director at sony pictures animation in california. He started off by studying engineering at the university of Santo Tomas in Manila. He then worked as an engineer but then gave up for drawing. He started in animation on May 1990 as in inbetweener for Filcartoons Inc. After 10 months he then moved on to the layout department and started his career as a layout artist. In 1994 he joined Phillippine animation studio where he worked on the marvel cartoons and supervised the layout for X-men, fantasic 4, Biker Mice from Mars and an animated music video for prince. In 1996 he moved to the U.S and started to work for 7th level, Inc. a multimedia company developing games in California and he finished Layout Visualisation and Background design course at Associates in Art in Sherman Oaks, California. He then joined Walt Disney feature animation studio in febuary 1997 and relocated to Orlando, Florida to work on Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo and Stitch and Brother Bear. He then joined Sony Pictures Animation and his work includes Visual Development/ Environmental Designer for Surf's up and Open Season 2.