Storyboard for Writers 163Locations
The background is kept simple so we can focus on the action. Board artists watch back-
grounds for tangents and other details that close in on the character. There’s air between
the action and the detail in the background. Board artists avoid flowerpots growing out of
a character’s head!
Composition and Drawing
An artist uses good art and design techniques and composition contrasting shapes, lines, tex-
tures, size, values, and color. He utilizes negative space and asymmetrical compositions. He
uses balance and suggests scale, size, weight, movement, view, and perspective. Normally each
panel shows at least three planes (for example, two walls and the floor). Usually in anima-
tion, artists want to give the illusion of life by making a two-dimensional surface seem less
flat. If there is a slight incline in the direction of movement, there is less chance for strob-
ing or flickering. An occasional break in vertical parallel lines can also prevent strobing. Two
people standing at the same height next to each other is boring. It’s better to stage one closer
to the camera and use perspective to make the more distant character’s head lower. If the
characters are parallel to the sides of the frame and in action so that they’re not static, this
is even better. Characters and props that are posed at a one-quarter turn seem to have depth.
So do buildings in the background. The use of perspective shows depth. Perspective might
be forced. An overlay of a partial tree or bush in the foreground frames the action and gives
more depth. Underlays also give dimension. If we’re looking slightly up or down on the char-
acters, there’s more interest. Shots with a low horizon often seem to work best.
A good use of design principals gives more emotion and focus to the shots. For instance,
a tiny lost dog isolated and alone in the center of a huge park (trees on the sides, nothing
by the dog) makes us feel more sorry for him. The eye should flow around the composition.
The board artist draws with confidence and arrogance. Heavy lines in the foreground
and thinner lines behind make the background recede. Too many lines signal uncertainty.
The most is made of light and shadow, especially when the scene is dramatic rather than
comedic (see Figure 10.6).
Time and Space
Normally in animation for children, there are no flashbacks because experts feel that flash-
backs are too confusing for most children. However, time can be expanded, compressed, cut,
or frozen to make the story more interesting.
In using space a filmic formula with a logical pattern of movement is used for clarity.
The train will always go from left to right or right to left, but it shouldn’t change directions.
If it’s traveling from Chicago to Los Angeles, it travels right to left as if we were looking at
a map. In western nations we’re conditioned to moving our eyes left to right when reading,
so the punch line would appear on the right side of the frame. In Asia the conditioning is
different. If a character is coming home from school, he should continue to travel in the
same direction unless he forgets his books and goes back for them. Then he would reverse
direction to return to school. Horizontal movement is restful. Diagonal movement is dis-