Confessions of a Post-Grad Story Artist By Yuen Wang :-)

Nice to meet you! - Yuen (Yui) Wang - Chinese-American, queer (bi) - RCAD 2022 babey! - BFA in Computer Animation - (did not like computer animation, went into it anyway… and walked out with a 3d film) - was introduced to storyboarding sophomore year, but vaguely knew about it beforehand - Storyboarded through college - No ‘storyboarding’ major - NO Job experience (but had a lot of cool mentors :D ) - Storyboarded during summers - (since I was unemployed through all of them)

Why Story? Frankly, because I hate RENDERING. - I really, really like drawing! - (been drawing since as long as I can remember) - Love comic books and manga - Love animated films!! (duh) - Collaboration is my forte! - … but mostly because I hate rendering. - I <3 trash

!!! ALL SLIDES WILL BE AVAILABLE ON SPEAKERDECK!!! https://speakerdeck.com/yuenwang ( there’s a LOT. of. Information i’m going to shove down your throats. oops ) If ur taking notes… that’s so sweet of u to do… thank u But you don’t HAVE to. Moving on.

What is Storyboarding? - The very first time that a script is VISUALIZED!! - Wow very cool - Script -> Screen! - Used for: - Games - Live action - Animation - TV - Feature

What is Storyboarding? The Storyboarding ~process~ 1. Ideation (usually takes the longest) a. Premise 2. Planning!!!!!! (also long) a. 7 Sentence Story / Theme / Story question b. Rough Script OR Treatment (optional, but recommended esp if you have dialogue) c. Story Beats 3. Thumbnails 4. Rough Pass 5. Clean Pass (optional) 6. Pitch! 7. REVISE, REVISE, REVISE! Storyboarding is a LEARN by DOING process (like most things)...

IDEATION (Part 1: What makes a good story?) - PERSONAL (shows flaws and relatability) - MEMORABLE + ENTERTAINING (wacky characters, setting, etc) - SUBVERTS EXPECTATIONS (solves story problems in an interesting way) **** ALL that matters is that a story is ENTERTAINING for SOMEONE. A “good story” is always subjective, and SHOULDN’T appeal to everyone!*** Steve’s Rule: If it makes people laugh, we can’t take it out.

IDEATION (Part 2: Let’s get personal) Why does YOUR VOICE matter? What do you want to say? What makes you unique, and what do you CARE about? 1. Figure out WHY you like what you like (make a list, do some studies) 2. Lean INTO what your interests, not OUT 3. Don’t put yourself in a box! → film genres, tropes, archetypes, you name it!! I like… - Cute girls - Cute girls in cool fight scenes - Cute girls killing people - LGBTQIA+ stories - AAPI stories - Culture specific cooking montage - Fat and dumb animal sidekicks - Himbo……. - Sci Fi Gear - Slow burn romance/crushes - Fashion forward quirky characters - Psychological Thriller - Slice of Life - Action comedy - Sarcastic Comedy - When people stare straight into the camera - Family stories - Brother/sister relationships - Best friend dynamic - Close girl friends dynamic - Dancing montage - Training montage - Children doing adult shit - Adults doing kid shit - That one scene in bad guys where the crimson fox beats up the guards

IDEATION (Part 3: How to Make an Idea High Concept) - USE TROPES. - A storytelling convention the storyteller can reasonably assume the audience will recognize. - Can also be archetypes / stereotypes! - Tropes are not the same thing as cliches!!!! - Cliche: a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought. - They may be thousands of years old but seem fresh and new It's pretty much impossible to create a story without tropes. Here’s an example you might know…

IDEATION (Part 3: How to Make an Idea High Concept) Basically, a trope should be well-known by most people so that the creator can allow the audience to make ASSUMPTIONS about a character, place or thing. When you SUBVERT those expectations, you get… STORY.

IDEATION (Part 3: How to Make an Idea High Concept) Dumb blonde x Law School, Dumb Blonde x Magical Girl, Dumb Blonde x Superhero “What if a dumb blonde was also a ____________ ???” NOTICE HOW ALL OF THESE CONCEPTS GO AGAINST THE DUMB BLONDE TROPE. = DEPTH

IDEATION (Part 4: How to Brainstorm!!) - MASHUP - Mash two ideas that already are established together! - Ex. Kung Fu Panda (Animals and Kung Fu) Zootopia (Animals and City) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Food and Disaster Movies) Monsters Inc. (Monsters and Factory) - GAGS + MONTAGE - Gags = jokes! - Always be asking yourself, “what are we watching” ? When figuring out your “middle”. - A to B (going from one place to another) ? Chase scene ? Training montage ? - BUILD FROM YOUR THEME. BEGINNING AND ENDING - Your ending should always be the OPPOSITE of the beginning! - IF YOU CAN’T FIND AN ENDING, JUST REVISIT THE THEME OF YOUR FILM!!!!!! - If you change your ending, you have to change your setup. They’re LINKED! Idea generator: https://ideagenerator.creativitygames.net/ !!!!!!!!!!! USE THIS DAMN WEBSITE !!!!!!!!!!! TV TROPES: https://tvtropes.org/

LIMITATIONS = CREATIVITY Too much shit mashed together is confusing. Plus, this way the way you solve story problems has to be CREATIVE. - My story teacher always says, you only have ONE ‘rule of the world’ ticket that you can use PER STORY that you don’t have to explain. Everything else, YOU DO. - so don’t blow it on something useless. - “In a world where…” - Ex. Rats can communicate (Ratatouille) Toys come alive when people aren’t watching (Toy Story) Monsters have to scare people for power supply (Monster’s Inc) Elle Woods gets into law school (LB) … this should be your hook. If you do all of this, then CONGRATS! Your story will be……… High concept: clear, easily-communicable premise. EASY TO GRASP! Ex. CARS! People understand CARS and understand SPEED RACING, so when you mash them together, your story becomes a high-concept story.

Planning (Part 1: Structure, Structure, Structure) Having a story with no structure is like telling a joke out of order.

Planning (Part 2: POV and Motivation) Who’s story is it? Main character shouldn’t be SWAPPABLE. SPECIFICITY = RELATABILITY Story moments that are SPECIFIC to a certain group, wouldn’t work if he wasn’t a RAT. Rats have good sense of smell = STORY DEVICE Rats are considered pests in kitchens = STORY DEVICE Rats are small = STORY DEVICE Rats love food = STORY DEVICE Rats eat trash = STORY DEVICE Rats have big families = STORY DEVICE

Planning (Part 2: POV and Motivation) How to cast a main character… and how to make us care about them. - Don’t CAST a character before you’ve figured out the story. The CHARA should fit the STORY, not the other way around. - A good main character should be someone who… - People can identify with - People can learn from - People have a compelling reason to follow - I believe deserves to win - Has stakes that are primal and ring true to people - BONUS: Is likable! (even if just a little bit. This is where the title ‘save the cat’ comes from - your main character needs to have a moment doing something GOOD so that we’re rooting for them from the beginning.)

Planning (Part 2: POV and Motivation) Now that you have your IDEA… let’s make it make sense. 1. What does the character WANT? a. This is usually the STORY QUESTION. b. Ex. In Kung Fu Panda, Po DOESN’T WANT to be the dragon warrior, or fight Tai Lung, so the story question is: Will Po be able to avoid being the dragon warrior? 2. What does the character NEED? (opposite) a. Po needs CONFIDENCE. 3. What does the character learn? a. Po learns that he had it in him all along! 4. How do they learn it? a. Sick training montage, power of friendship, support of family (dad), support of a mentor (Shi Fu) ***Usually, the main character will experience the biggest CHANGE in the story.*** The answer to the story question: NO, Po is NOT able to avoid being dragon warrior… BUT he proves himself worthy of being the dragon warrior.

Planning (Part 2: POV and Motivation) Let’s talk LOGLINE. - What’s a logline? It’s basically a one sentence (or two) elevator pitch. - When your friend asks… “what’s the movie about?” you reply w/ a Logline. - A good logline should… - Be ironic. - Ex. “A businessman falls in love w/ a hooker he hires to be his date” - Pretty Woman - Have a compelling mental picture - Ex. “She’s the perfect woman, until she has a drink” - Blind Date - Pulls you in and promises more - Get a hint at who your Audience / Demographic is - Have a Killer Title! - [WIP Title, you can always change it later] Pulled from Ch1 of ‘Save the Cat’ - Go read this book, it’s really funny + useful

Planning (Part 2: POV and Motivation) - A good logline should… (CONT) - Conflict should be about a PRIMAL URGE! - Survival, hunger, sex, protection of loved ones, fear of death. BASIC WANTS! - Creates higher STAKES + more relatable. - Use words like… “in order to” “before ___” “or else” “until” Should cover your who, what, when, where and why. https://screencraft.org/blog/101-best-movie-loglines-screenwriters-can-learn-from/

Let’s take a look at some you might know…

Planning (Part 3: WE <3 CONFLICT) We are the gods of our stories, and we want our main characters to SUFFER

Planning (Part 3: WE <3 CONFLICT) Let’s give our protagonist a hard LIFE. How to create conflict… - Other Characters - Antithesis (opposite) of main character - Villians, bullies, overprotective mothers, etc) - Setting - Barren land, world full of predators, social injustice, robot uprising) - Other sides of Themselves - Harder to figuratively portray, but works - Ex. Inside Out

Planning (Part 4: WE <3 FUN AND GAMES) The middle is also sometimes called “Fun and Games” THE POWER OF THREE! - Middle should have at least 3 parts to establish a lesson… - Ex. Mei is found drawing sexy boys - Mei goes to a party and gets in a fight - Mei ditches her ritual for 4Town concert - Which leads to the CLIMAX/ Turn - NOTICE how the severity escalates with EACH step! Once is a coincidence, two is chance, three is on purpose

PLANNING (Part 5: We <3 BUT’S) Actions have CONSEQUENCES! Your story should DOMINO! Replace all your “AND”s with “BUT”s or “THEREFORE”s So… Because of that… Consequently… Due to… For that reason… Thus… Accordingly…

PLANNING (Part 5: We <3 RESOLUTION) When creating stories, TRY to avoid answering the story question like this… - YES, AND… - Character GETS what they want, and even more! - Character’s life goes from Good → Better - NO, AND… - Character DOES NOT get what they want, and… they’re in for it. - Bad → Worse And instead, create these!!! - NO, BUT… - Character doesn’t get what they want, BUT they get what they NEED. (Most stories use this format for the protagonist) - Bad → Good - YES, BUT… - Character gets what they want, but it’s not what they NEED. (Most villains get this format) - Good → Good and bad (Ex. Mother Gothel GETS Rapunzel’s hair, BUT it loses it’s power and she dies. Lmao bye hag)

PLANNING (Part 6: Mix it All Together) And u know u got the best of both worlds 1. Premise What if a Panda learned Kung Fu? 2. Theme Everyone learns differently / Anyone can be a Kung Fu Master 3. Longline When a chunky Kung Fu fanboy gets chosen to save China from evil, he struggles to prove to others and himself that he is worthy of being the Dragon warrior. 4. Story Question Will Po avoid being the dragon warrior? 5. 7 Sentence Story a. Once Upon a time… There was an insecure Panda who loved Kung Fu, but was unmotivated to chase his dream. b. Until one day… The Panda was chosen to become the Dragon Warrior. c. Because of that… There was outrage, and the Panda was bullied by the Furious 5. d. Because of that… The Panda became sad, and did the splits in order to reach a cookie jar. e. Until… His master finally learned that FOOD was how he would motivate Po. f. Finally… Po learned kung fu, beats Tai Lung in his own way, and earns the respect of others. g. And since then… Po is accepted as the Dragon Warrior, and is the best Kung Fu Panda of all time.

PLANNING (Part 6: Mix it All Together) And u know u got the best of both worlds - Make a script! (OPTIONAL) - Can use templates online, but doesn’t have to be super neat or tidy as long as you yourself can understand it. - Ex. PO: Take this, you bad cat!!! - Tai Lung: No! - PO: ( Grabs Tai Lung ) - Make a treatment! (OPTIONAL) - Treatments are like your movie written out in novel form! - Ex. Po then goes on fighting Tai Lung, booty jiggling feverishly, and claps him off the cliff. “Take that you bad cat!” Po then blows a raspberry at Tai Lung. - MAKE A TIMELINE! - I find that this is the easiest way for me to process how many boards i should be doing for each story point, and is visually easier to understand. - Here’s an example…

PLANNING (Part 6: Mix it All Together) And u know u got the best of both worlds

PLANNING (Part 6: Mix it All Together) And u know u got the best of both worlds - STORY BEATS: Story beats are points of action or reaction that occur in a basic story. - Every. Single. Action. Is. A. Story. Beat. - DON’T FORGET THAT REACTIONS ARE ALSO BEATS! - Write that shit out! It helps a lot in figuring out what you need to draw. - These become the BREAKDOWNS of your drawings (yes, every single story beat is a separate drawing) - Breakdowns: in-between frames / boards that you use to convey an action. - Ex. A blink would have three breakdowns, eyes open, eyes closed, eyes open. - Example of what written story beats look like… - Po’s eyes dart to look at the cookies - His eyes squint in focus - He inches towards the cookies - He jumps midair - He does a split between the two cabinets - Po reaches towards the jar of cookies - Po opens it and grabs one - Shi Fu opens the door behind him - Shi fu is surprised! - Po looks at shi fu - Po slowly puts the cookie into his mouth

THUMBNAILS (Part 1: Finally, some good effin’ food) - Finally, we can start drawing. Lol. Thumbnails are LOOSE and SMALL. - Don’t you dARE use a whole canvas!!!! - Fit at least 10 on a page. - As long as YOU can understand YOUR thumbnails, that’s all that matters - Don’t second guess yourself right now, just go - If you don’t like it, trash it and edit it later!!! - Not every story beat needs to be a new shot. Try to group the beats together - LESS IS MORE. Less shots that encapsulate more action is always BETTER! Let the movie play god damn it! - use SHOTDECK.COM for shot reference, or reference a preexisting scene!

ROUGH PASS - Pretty drawings don’t matter - but proportion and depth DO. - USE Z DEPTH!!!! - Makes staging dynamic and cinematic - KEEP TO THIS RULE: Foreground is always darker, background is always lighter - SCREEN DIRECTION. - 180 Rule: Don’t let the camera cross between the “invisible line” between two characters. - A character on screen left should always stay on screen left, unless we SEE THEM CROSS SIDES. - Screen LEFT and screen RIGHT = CONTINUITY - People read things left to right, so usually characters/chase scenes happen from left to right of the screen. - Thirds - Generally more appealing, but also where our eyes naturally look - The more centered a character is, the more we relate - Golden Egg - Important information goes in the center!

CLEANING - CLARITY does not equal CLEAN. - Develop a shorthand! - Shorthand = abbreviated drawings! - Mitts for hands, dot eyes, triangle feet, suggested background …. blob in the distance - Only erase what you need, try to keep your base drawing if you have to “clean” up boards - AVOID. DRAWING. ARROWS!!!!! - Breakdowns > arrows - Motion blur or speed lines to show motion! - Don’t go overboard with shading!!!!!! - 3-5 gray tones MAX in a storyboard, and only if the LIGHTING is a story point! - Or for clarity of fg/ bg/ middleground

But at the same time… I find that spending time doing BASIC SHADOWS helps an image gain more clarity than if I were to fix up the lineart. (and it’s way faster!)

CLEANING - EYES. EYES. EYES. EYES. - Avoid dot eyes if a character is emoting (we want to see what direction the pupils are looking!) - Eyebrows are just as expressive as the eyes! - TIP: Eyebrows connect! For more appeal, make sure brow line is cohesive with each brow.

CLEANING - GRIDS GRIDS GRIDS! - Hate drawing backgrounds? I have news for you! Just draw a vague BG and some LINES! - Always put your horizon line (ground line) slightly above your character so that they look like they’re standing on something! - Try to avoid using PERFECT straight lines! - Avoid using the shift button in photoshop to draw straight lines.

TIPS N TRICKS - How to board in TIMELINE! (Photoshop) - Trust me on this. Once you start boarding in timeline, you don’t go back. - https://ajaiken.com/2018/03/04/tutorial- storyboarding-in-photoshop/ - I can do a demo this if we have time!

PORTFOLIO 101 WEBSITES 101: - Portfoliobox (this is the one I personally use!) - If you email them saying you’re a student, they discount premium. - Weebly - Wix SLIDESHOW / Embedding 101: - SpeakerDeck (this is the one I personally use!) - Scribd - Slideshare

PORTFOLIO 101 NECESSARY - Click through boards!!! - CONTACT SHEETS!!! OPTIONAL (but a good idea)… - Ideation pages - drawn gags, character exploration, script, thumbnail sketches, anything that shows process - Figure Sketching / Cafe Sketching ( croquis cafe on YouTube for digital fig drawing ) - sketches that show personality and story, not that you can DRAW. needs to have LIFE!!!! - Comics / Personal Comic Storyboards - usually no breakdowns, 30 panels or so - Recorded Pitches - Animatics - Animatics are NOT part of a story artist’s job (usually). ‘Animatic Editor’ is a viable career and requires a really good sense of comedic timing, cinematography, and being tech savvy!

PORTFOLIO 101 - The best way to learn is to observe! - YUI’S List of Story Artist Portfolios: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E_nzt7Z-uera5SHB9WT587dkU2gLKP1UgxP3ON 5ljr0/edit?usp=sharing

GET EXCITED, GET INVOLVED! Join online communities! - Daniel M Tal’s ‘Sketch or Don’t’ Storyboarding Discord - https://discord.gg/NhKK6DW - Animation Story Group Discord - Animation Story Group #StoryCraftUnite on Twitter: "The ASG … - Women In Animation ( Female Identifying Animation Group ) - Offers scholarships, mentorship groups, etc - Rise Up Animation ( BIPOC Animation Group ) - AnimAsians ( AAPI Animation Group ) - Sketch Crawl ( search on IG ) Take some classes! - Brainstorm School - https://www.brainstormschool.com/#home - Project City (formerly RadHowTo) - https://www.projectcity.tv/classes - Matt Jones Story Class - https://www.instagram.com/matt_jones_storyboards/?hl=en ( no site, he uses IG for class updates! )

Learn at your own speed! Youtube is your FRIEND <3 - Shot, Drawn, Cut - https://www.youtube.com/c/shotdrawncut - Every Frame a Painting - https://www.youtube.com/c/everyframeapainting - Write For Animation - https://www.youtube.com/c/PietroSchito - RocketJump Film School - https://www.youtube.com/user/RJFilmSchool - Toniko Pantoja - https://www.youtube.com/c/TonikoPantoja - Michelle Lam - https://www.youtube.com/c/mewTripled - BaM Animation - https://www.youtube.com/c/BaMAnimation/videos - Films & Stuff - https://www.youtube.com/c/FilmsStuff

Social Media is your WEAPON - Twitter - (I personally don’t use it, but there are some really useful threads on Twitter about storyboarding and a lot of job postings happen HERE too!) - LinkedIn - More and more people use LinkedIn as social media/networking. Jump on it if you want to! - Facebook - No. It’s not necessary in my opinion, I think this algorithm is the worst for small artists. - BubbleHouse - New and really intimate! Really, really cool format for artists.

Instagram. God damn it. - DISABLE NOTIFICATIONS - DISABLE SEEING LIKE COUNT - DISABLE LIKE COUNTS ON YOUR OWN POSTS - POSTING REGULARLY - Not NECESSARY, but helps you stay consistent (and keeps others aware of your presence and what you’re working on!) Be LOOSE with this. If you want to post, do it. If you don’t, skip! - QUANTITY AND QUALITY. ( ... but mainly quantity. ) - DELETE THAT SHIT!!!!!! ( the Insta app ) - I straight up delete that shit every time after I post (usually on Fridays/Weekends). BOTTOM LINE: Figure out a system that works for you and STICK WITH IT. OR DON’T USE IT AT ALL!!! (It’s perfectly ok not to)

CLOSING - Ok I’m done talking that was a lot - Story is not about pretty drawings, it’s about directing the eye, acting, and making people ~feel things~ - You are STORY ARTISTS, not aspiring story artists. - If you’re stuck, just DO. You learn by doing, failing, getting up, failing again. - Insert ramble about how my thesis film almost didn’t pass - Insert ramble about what I’m doing now! - Ty for having me huu huuuu - *To the tune of do you want to build a snowman* Do u wanna take a group pic~ - You are not allowed to say no