03-05 part of
a storyboard
done by mélanie
ballairgé at
pictoplasma
academy 2014.06 mélanie
ballairgéâs
emerged
developed
from her initial
storyboard.0403WORKSHOP SPring 2017
computerarts.creativebloq.comboard. the three events are all linked and act
as key touchstones in what must be a concise
expression of life within a confined story arc.
experiencing working with story structures
that are imposed on you can be very beneficial
and bring out ideas you wouldnât have otherwise
thought of. likewise creating storyboards within
restricted panel allowances pushes an artist
into making every frame count. When every
drawing must justify its inclusion being able to
distil a story into a small number of key frames
is a liberation. that refined âspineâ can then be
elaborated into a more complex narrative. set
yourself challenges or ask someone else to set
you a challenge and see where you end up.
one good example of this process was from
illustrator and art director mélanie baillairgé
who participated in the 2014 class. What
worked so cleanly in her original nine panels
was eventually extrapolated without loss of
momentum to 40 panels and a smartly adapted
version of the narrative structure supplied.
the process of taking her character â and
herself â through imposed exercises and some
unfamiliar methods seemed to ignite a creative
flourish that nailed each task stage with
increasing aplomb â and led to her site-specific
sculpture at the studentsâ post-academy show;
an exhibition staged about six months after the
course at the regular pictoplasma conference
where the narrative in her work had evolved
further still. itâs often surprising how much the
story exercises offer opportunity for change.
as in mélanieâs case the process of
storyboarding and fleshing out a character
can continue over an extended period of time
so donât think that you are âdoneâ with your
character after one storyboard.
defining cHArAcTerS
to tell any story you need to understand your
character. one way to do this is to ask the basic
questions a scriptwriter always asks: Who is
your character? What do they want? What do
they do to get what they want? What do they
achieve in the end? You might also try defining
this in another nine- or 12-panel board as the
act of visualising those answers really forces
you to examine your character.
the surface of a character is described
in line or shape on the page but what really
lies within the drawing is given focus by our
willingness to engage with what that character
can emote and convey. story design and
biography all influence how a character rises
beyond mere mark-making and becomes real to
us. at studio aKa we work out these elements
in the studio on projects big and small to help
us go from a transient character thatâs briefly
seen to a complex focal character within longer
narrative storylines. if this also communicates
something about the artist that created it then
the character finally comes alive to us.
i think mélanieâs lonesome and introspective
character emerging from hidden depths to
experiencing life in a series of short mournful
steps â all towards an inevitable demise â
captures something of this. the characterâs
singular purposefulness is captured in each of
the frames and i never question if this person
exists or not. i know them through the drawings
immediately. mélanie set this character out
in nine frames acted out the storyline and
created the final elaborated set of panels in
a way that really exceeded expectation.THe vAlue of feedbAcK
one of things that works well at pictoplasma is
when we bring everyone together to critique and
work on selected examples of what has been
created in the sessions. students are asked to
talk the room through what they have done and
often this process is a creative challenge that
few have experienced but all benefit from. it is
always easier to know what is amiss with other
peopleâs work than your own and sometimes
giving feedback to others can help you think
about your own project in a new way. We redraw
the boards âliveâ according to what the rest of the
room can suggest. this enables the person in
the spotlight to justify as well as improve their
work empowering them to embrace the process
of a productive critique in their work.
i would encourage you to do the same with
your characters and storyboards ask others
to give you feedback and try to take criticism
in a constructive manner thinking about how
you can channel otherâs comments into your
character and story to make it better. even
if you donât agree with their suggestions itâs
still a good idea to try them out â you might
be surprised at the outcome!âSometimes giving
feedback to others can
help you think about your
project in a new wayâ