Shangomola Edunjobi Storyboarder, Illustrator and Graphic Designer Unit code: EGRD6001 Unit title: Research, Development and Positioning BA Graphic Design year 3 24/09/2012 - 13/12/2012
Contents Introduction
Analysis • •
My semester experience My practice
Brief 1: Research •
Who am I and what do I do?
Brief 2: Subject and content •
Sequential art: Storyboarding
Brief 3: Action research/praxis • • • • • • •
Collaboration: Oli Whybra Story reel experimentation: Humpty dumpty The Three Little Pigs trial Story creating practice Graphic novel experiment and story creating practice Competition Briefs Activities throughout this semester: visits, workshops, talks and tutorials
FMP Proposal • • • • •
What I am going to do How I am going to do it Time line for semester two The resources I will need Equipment list
Bibliography
Introduction This portfolio contains an edited collection of all my activities within semester 1 of GD year 3 (24/09/2012 – 13/12/20120 It contains an analysis of my progress and experiences throughout the semester and an analysis of my thoughts on my practice. The portfolio includes all stages of work from brief one: Research into my previous work and evaluation of myself, brief two: Research into the subject and content of my practice, what it is about and what it incorporates. Brief three: Action research about my chosen practice, primary and secondary research, experimentation and exploration into the practice.
will be carried out next semester is included. This is composed of a written proposal, time line for the work stages and a list of resources and equipment that I will need to carry out the stages. There is a bibliography at the end listing all my visits, inspirations and sources of information for the semester.
Analysis My semester experience
gallery and exhibition visits, book fairs, social events and workshops that all served a positive purpose in my exploration of my practice.
My start to the semester was one of the worst I have ever experienced. Proceeding from a busy summer of Olympic involvement and graphic design work experience into the start
Through this semester I have come to understand my weaknesses lie in digital based work. I tend to relay on my drawing skills, which I scan in and clean up for presentational purposes using digital forms. Deciding that my
lessons. That put me behind straight away as Brief one had already been set and concluded before my adjustment to the pace of third year.
thoroughly thought out decision. I came to the
upon a new year and new tutors. I believe
communicate my concept and would push my skills further, strengthening my weaknesses. Film also related to the practice, as it is a
miscommunication, missed opportunities, and can set the overall image of an individual.
a positive from a negative and used this situation as a motivational push for my research into brief two, subject and context. Storyboarding was the focus for my research and with it only recently becoming an interest, I decided to go back to its beginning and look into the history of the practice, how
research concluded with my discovery that Mike was in fact an experienced storyboard artist himself, something I would have know year. Wasting no time, I booked a tutorial with Mike and this inspired my next progressive step through the third brief. Having a tutor who specializes in the practice you wish to pursue knowledge and guidance I needed in order for me to learn and understand my subject better. It was through my tutorials that I had found direction for my action research – contacting freelancing storyboard artists, Studios,
converts the storyboard to a story reel – a video storyboard played in real time with the sound track. I attended a rotoscoping workshop which helped me gain a better understanding of after effects and I discovered a website with tutorials that improved my capabilities. Through this research process I realized that my work rate is noticeably slower when working with digital work and that I must leave more time for that stage of the work than the drawing stages. My strength is drawing, I draw everyday, day and night and have done so for years. Understanding proportions, angles and perspectives has almost become second nature to me. However I know there are still things I struggle to draw and I will continue to develop my abilities throughout my practice. Drawing this semester has made me more practice and increases my work rate. My Practice
I quite knew the practice I wanted to pursue yet. Throughout the three years I have referred
to myself as a graphic designer which for some reason has made people around me associate me with logo design and branding. Because of this I have taken on a few briefs relating to those topics over the years and to no surprise I found them unexciting, which I also used the course as an opportunity to explore other aspects of design and tried not to rely heavily on my drawing skills by expanding other areas. It was through my work placement at DNX in the summer that I discovered my interest in storyboard. They had seen my potential drawing skills and set me to work on a video project. I had found my path and so all work this semester has been an intense focus in my subject, forcing me to learn more about the industry and the practice itself.
Brief 1: Research Who am I and what do I do?
Who am I and what do I do?
As the name suggests this brief was to act as a warm up to the start of third year and as an introduction to tutors whilst serving as a self-critical analysis of myself and my journey through UCA. Through the duration of this brief I was unable to be present due to a trip to Germany, so I missed the essence of the brief. However while I was there, I created a 5-minute video interview, compiling my thoughts about the questions asked by the brief in an attempt to answer it. Missing the presentation for this brief forced me to gather my own feedback that I could take into the start of brief two. By showing the video to fellow peers and writing down their thoughts and feedback, along side my own thoughts, I was able to create a direction for research.
much room for improvement and a lot more improvement on time management skills. However the straightforward manner of the video conveyed what I wanted to say but the creative element was lost. For future reference a combination of both is what is necessary to create a successful communicative piece. Effectiveness/Intent: The content of the video conveyed the information about myself that I wanted others to know, however its effectiveness was lacking due to the lack of creativity. Perhaps it was due to a misinterpretation of the brief, which was my mistake. The use of iMovie and editing method was not adequate in effectively conveying my message and is a keynote for future projects.
Examples of my work from the previous year
Direction/Function: The video I produced for my presentation was meant to suggest an interest in previous projects that involved illustration and story boarding. A lot of my previous work had handcrafted elements to them and so that is something that I could look into as well. Also the format of the presentation as a video However I mentioned in the video that this is one of my weaker skills and so exploring it as an FMP might not be the strongest idea. Originality/Form: The video was created using iMovie as it was the only tool available to me at the time. It was to suggest and interview type presentation, focusing on answering key questions in the brief. In terms of originality and form there is
To the left: top left: Cool Vorn album cover design workshop. Hand crafted and illustrated experimentation.
Bottom left: A workshop looking at story structure and manipulating storyboards. The original image was from the book “101 ways to tell a story� by Matt Madden
To the right: continuous line drawings of my journey between home and university, showing various stages or remembered parts of my journey. Sequential art form telling the story of a journey
Brief 2: Subject and content Sequential art: Storyboarding For subject and content research I chose storyboarding for the focus. Having little knowledge in the subject, I decided to look back into its origins and understand the foundations practitioners in its development. The term storyboard came to be used barely a century ago and to my understanding was created and developed by Disney studios. Motion idea of storyboarding came about around 1930s. Prior to its establishment and around the same time, comic strips were the popular sequential art form. Once storyboarding became common practice, it was those illustrators that became the storyboard creators, which draws a connection to the two sequential art practices. According to John Canemaker, in Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999, Hyperion from comic-book like “story sketches” created in the 1920s to illustrate concepts for animated cartoon short subjects such as Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie. What is Storyboarding? “A storyboard is the means of describing the sequential illustrations” Giuseppi Cristiano
communication tool with the production team. It is also a visual budget and assists the production team in working out costs of production, i.e. number of actors and actresses required, equipment need, locations, etc. Concluding the brief was a 5-minute presentation of our discoveries to tutors and fellow peers. The presentation was an effective analysis of my content and evaluation of my progress through brief two, which I have posted on my blog. From the feedback I learnt about myself in terms of my verbal presentation skills, my time management and about how I present work. I can tend to forget and exclude the creative element in my presentation of research, with my focus more on what is said rather than how it is shown. The presentations reminded me about how I should be more visually creative to communicate my knowledge to others more effectively. It is now something I always remember and consider for presentations especially since it is a communication skill I will be using with clients in my professional practice. I felt I had gained good footing and good understanding of the practice I wanted to the presentations with good direction as to where to look next in brief 3 and continuing my journey.
1934 – 1937 – the storyboard process
1867 – Zoopraxiscope patented by William Lincon. First device to show moving picture.
done by Cameron Menzies storyboarded
and stop motion animator used storyboarding to create the classic
1960 – Saul
1890s – the Cinematographe was invented by Louis processing unit and projector. Along with his brother show projected moving, photographic image to a paying audience and began the motion picture era.
storyboard for Alfred
story boarded his entire sequences. 1930 – 1934 – First complete storyboard for a Disney short
1930s – story boarding was developed by Walt Disney
1930s – Webb Smith was credited for the idea of drawing the scenes on individual pieces of paper and pinning it up on a bulletin board to tell a story in sequence.
1951 – Alice in Wonderland was story boarded
the storyboard process in Japan.
as a painter before entering the
How is it used? It is used as a tool by directors to plan out sequences, develop the story and understand camera angles. It is a visual interpretation of
1938 – story boarding was accepted as a standard practice
the storyboard method in japan.
1941 – Dumbo was story boarded
Brief 3: Action research Collaboration: Oli Whybra
create a real storyboard. Researching the history and how the process is done left me with but one option left to explore. Storyboarding is a process with. After a post I sent out to the student body requesting a collaboration opportunity, I received a reply from Oli Whybra who was planning to create We got to work straight away.
I had brought all the tools I needed to take notes and begin the initial storyboarding stages. Oli brought everything I needed to get to work which included the story outline, his own storyboard sketches showing key scenes and a mood board of reference imagery portraying the atmosphere he wanted to create. I think it is always easier to work with an idea that is liked from the beginning, making the work process fun and engaging. I found the social aspects of storyboarding very interesting to do and realized The success of the collaboration is related to our individual personalities and our connected interests working well with each other. Developing industry practice and aid my work by allowing me to adapt my work pattern and attitude to suit the needs of the clients. The work on this page all belongs to Oli Whybra. It is all the material he provided upon our meetings to discuss the storyboard work. The mood board is made by Oli and is a collection of inspirational works. He will have all the references to the material within his bibliography.
Rough sketches: my work process With everything I needed provided by Oli to create the boards, I began the rough sketches for the sequences. I like to work on an A3 pad and using biro, I would scribble my thoughts out onto paper as shape, image or text. To others there is no structure to my sketches but I review what I have done and start to draw connections between panels and begin creating the sequence. I try to draw excessive scenes to capture every detail I think from which I will eliminate what is not necessary. Following the sketches I carryout the careful process of editing and scenes I need and discarding the others as more understandable line work. To the left there is a sample of my rough sketches and to the right, 3 selected rough sketches opposite as to show a comparison in detail.
Concept drawing A few meetings into our collaboration, Oli and I realized that some concept designs were needed to continue the storyboard. Characters existed and were situated in the story but key scenes, so we had to partly create the shows examples of the things I worked on. Three key characters in scene 3 were android and had to have subtle mechanical features. We looked at various examples of androids features he liked, all the while I took notes and references for later sketches. I found the concept designing really interesting, having the ability to re-create my own world and portraying its likeness however I wanted. I feel a story situated in a created world has more freedom for creativity and is not bound by the rules of reality in the real world. Oli was looking to create a world that resembled old New York with futuristic It was little feature that helped achieve this like creating hover cars that retained the features of 19th century automobiles, hovering light sources and holographic signage. Seeing sky, interwoven with towering skyscrapers. My sketches aimed to create a dystopian atmosphere with dark tones and a heavy light Riddley Scotts storyboards for Blade Runner.
Final storyboards
detective series. After a tutorial with Mike reviewing my work and progress, straight away I noticed that the panel boxes were not This was something I failed to consider in the creation of the boards, not thinking beyond the story and into its presentation aspects. Also after having the unique opportunity to physically see Mikes storyboard work, I realized the importance of space on the
space on the paper to frame 2 to 5 panels at a time. They became little bite-sized sections that seemed easier to digest and made the understanding of the story much better. It also gave space to the individual panels and I have seen various board templates with different panel layouts and will consider this in my future storyboarding experiences. I have attached a link to my story reel version of the boards. It was an attempt to play around with the imagery and view the content in real time. A story reel is something I am considering for the FMP due to its ability to show stills of sequences in a more visually pleasing way.
Story reel experiment
Story reel experimentation: Humpty Dumpty This work was inspired by a video called “The Old man and the Sea� by Marcel Schindler and Hagen Reiling. It was a brief re-telling of the book using sequential art but
creative process of the sequences which was Hagen drawing the illustrations. They zoomed in and out of features to keep all the detail and created a journey through the for the video. I thought this could be a really interesting technique if applied to creating story reels, as it would miss out the editing stage of re-sequencing the drawings and inspired the idea for my next experiment. I wanted to create a storyboard sequence that excludes the editing stage and challenges the presentational concept by appearing all on a one page spread. Using after effects I converted the board into a story reel that zoomed in to the details of the board to track the story. I liked the suspense of the piece as you could see parts of the board while the camera focus moved around but had no sense of location on the board Dumpty rhyme simply because it was the with. The technique worked really well as a creative piece but the functional storyboard aspects remained questionable, without the video how would the board be understood? Numbering or arrows perhaps?
story reel
The Three Little Pigs Trial I wanted to see if the technique could work on a larger storyline because it would mean more images and a bigger board, so I began creating a board for The Three Little Pigs. The board took considerably longer than complete before January 2013.
Story creating practice After creating storyboards with Oli I decided to move on to another experiment. Concluding a tutorial with Mike I began to think about how my action research could be focused towards an FMP outcome and two main questions came up: Would I use my own content for the story or collaborate once more? How would I present the sequences? I thought I would have an attempt at creating my own story to understand what it is like to do, and how much time it would take. I created a book of ideas that I took with me almost everywhere and took note of ideas that came to mind during my daily activities. I noticed how surrounding themes or the idea that I came up with after, which made it challenging to create an original idea. I looked at stories I liked and tried to understand why, by striping them down to the basic plots. My mother is a murder mystery fanatic so I asked her to explain to me what she liked from the stories she read. Simple is better. Keeping a story simple with a clear plot and a set goal to give the character purpose, whilst making this easily understood by the audience. Creating a climatic structure to build excitement, suspense and intrigue. An unexpected twist in the tale is always good, creating surprise and getting the audience to mentally engage with the story. In every story I created, I used these points to justify good from bad.
Graphic novel experiment and story creating practice I created a western short story of an outlaw seeking revenge on a previous Conrad who betrayed him. I feel the story has a climatic structure as the story tale that I hope creates a surprise.
story reel nor did I want to create another storyboard so I thought, what other sequential art form can be used? Looking back at my research I remembered the connection between storyboards and comic strips and decided to present the story as a graphic novel. It shared a similar creation followed by rough sketches and editing, until the
rough draft, as the story was the focus for the work. The PDF link is below.
three tones to create atmosphere on the pages, inspired by the art of Charlie Adlard in the graphic novel “The Walking Dead�. I like the black and white and grey tone because the lack of colour forces creators to become more imaginative in representing the illustrations. It is similar to why I portrayed the atmosphere he wanted well and the the nature of the content.
showing the climatic scene prior to the unexpected twist. 2013.
Competition briefs I have decided to attempt two briefs for the next few months because it is a perfect opportunity to get my work out in to the industry and have it seen by many potential future clients. It is also an opportunity to improve my illustration, concept drawing and character design skills that will all contribute to my FMP. I believe competition is a good catalyst for progress and improvement of ability, and by participating I will have a sense of duty to do my best. I have decided to do the Penguin design
some rough sketches, analysis of character appearances and page layout concepts. With my time devoted elsewhere I thought it best to at least note down any ideas I had before I forget. It is good practice to work out the bad ideas before generating good ones and so I
I have yet to read the book but the title has a weird sense of familiarity to my childhood memories and I am sure that as I read on, it will all make sense again.
More sketches and character design, experimenting with the style and the extent of the anthropomorphic features.
Activities throughout this semester: visits, workshops, talks and tutorials looking at storyboard in general and that I needed to now look more locally to the UK industry. I attempted to contact a few freelance storyboarders and agencies for interview and visit opportunities to gain more insight to the work available in and around London. I sent e-mails out to: Adam Beer – freelance storyboader, Animatics UK – advertisement storyboard agency, Mustashirk Mahbub – freelance storyboarder and UCA graduate and DNX – a design agency
16th - Saatchi gallery
bound, central London
writing at UCA 25th - Art of Change at the
6th - Creative Challenge entrepreneurial
15th - Creative Challenge Nicholson at UCA
information from their website. I had already done so and was hoping for a more personal interview opportunity. I was quite disappointed with the result of the replies and was thinking that it could have been the wording of my emails. If practitioners in the industry receive such emails often, my one would have to standout to be noticed or it would be clumped together with the others. Something I will think of in future emails.
lecture by Ally Waller at UCA
at the welcome collection, Euston Eventually I decided to interview Mike. He has knowledge and understanding on the industry and being a tutor, the opportunity could not be missed. It was from him that I found out about board structure in more depth and the social interactive aspects of storyboarding with clients. Seeing professional work up close was what I was initially hoping to achieve through the process of interviews. The one to one interview experience gave me valuable knowledge that I can take and use in future practices.
Proposal What I am going to do
record. I will use the research stage to gather more information about music and sound for the video. shares connections to the storyboard practice. I am thinking to create an original fantasy story drawing
– 20mins in length, using a story reel as the Studio Ghibli, Pixar and Walt Disney Studios. the stage before animation begins but the step after the sound track is created. The storyboard is shot in real time with the sound track, as a cost effective way to see how the but a really inexpensive production tool and is a valuable asset to directors. The purpose of a storyboard is to serve as a vision into a tangible form that he or she can communicate to their fellow creative team. As it is constantly subject to change throughout its development, the art style can be quite functional portraying the bare minimum information for the scene to be understood. I have a passion for illustration and love to see line work. It drew my attention that storyboards have interesting line work but is not seen beyond their functional purposes. I want to express storyboard as more than a blue print stage to a creative process, more interesting presentation methods. Is excessive animation necessary to convey the
How I am going to do it I have been in the process of creating a Above: Walt Disney logo sampled from http://disneyetc.blogspot.
Above: Studio ghibli logo sampled from http://daleyus.wordpress. com/2011/02/22/studio-ghibli-and-pixar-two-big-beautiful-giants/
use a frame work of a protagonist trying to achieve a goal and creates an emotional connection to the audience through their journey to that goal. Towards the end there is a life lesson learned through the process of achieving the goal. I have decided to create a similar structure to my story and will try to create an emotional connection to the audience using the still imagery of the story reel.
begin the concept drawing, designing characters, objects and locations that shall be included within the story. I would have already conducted gathering reference material and creating mood boards to assist the concept drawing stage. Once the story and concept designs have been scenes one at a time, using the same process I had practiced in my collaboration with Oli Whybra. Rough sketches will be generated followed by a process of editing and re-sequencing till the scene has been constructed. I will then scan the constructed scenes into Photoshop to clean up the imagery and resize appropriately. Once enough has been gathered I will then put the scenes into After Effects, which I
something I will continue to develop and will have a repeated process of sketching, editing, start of semester two.
Peter pan storyboard sampled from http://animationarchive. net/Feature%20Films/Peter%20Pan/Storyboards/
Howels moving castle storyboards sampled from http://www. parkablogs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=237
With my action research I used graphic novel art form to test my story telling. It is another
the result whilst still keeping to the time frame I have set. It is also at this stage that I will begin to incorporate sound, using the Dictaphone to
editorial work. I will use this time as a trial period in which I can show the video to an audience and gain feedback for last minute improvements.
Timeline This is a timeline of the schedule I plan to adhere to for semester two. Its shows my stages that over lap and will show the times I am most loaded with work. If I can keep to the schedule my work progress will be good for the FMP project. However this time line does not include any lenient time so any new tasks that come around will force me to reorganize my time.
of the script and the story plot involves planning and plotting scenes, angles and composition
Dissertation
Introduction to the semester
Concept drawing and everything that will be of scanning, editing, colouring, sequencing and adding sound Finalized concept drawings
Resources I will need Looking at the time line I can divide my work stages to these 10 steps, remembering that some are done simultaneously along side others and may start during the process of another stage. I can see and make a list of the resources I will need in order to carry out that step. 1.
Story creation and development
of the script are required. 3.
Research and reference images/ mood boards
museums i.e. the V&A and London Film museum, for historical reference. I will also use the Internet for photographic information, all of which will help me understand scale and authenticity within my story. 4.
Concept drawing and development
Concept drawing will take from the resources and materials I obtained in the previous steps. I will use an A3 sketchpad and drawing tools, pencil followed
6.
Creating sequences/ rough sketches
liner in comparison to pencil, which I like. 7.
Creation and editing of storyboard
easier to correct mistakes. I have also used Digital colouring in my action research so I have experienced it and it has proved very effective. Final drawings will be scanned in, cleaned up and resized on Photoshop. From that I will put it into after affects to construct the story reel.
will begin to incorporate sound, using the Dictaphone.
Equipment list To carry out this project I will need: • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Fine liners A black biro A pencil Ruler Rubber Sharpener Felt-tip pens (Letraset, Copic, Staedtler or others) Note pad A3 sketchpad A3 scanner Laptop/ computer (After effects, Photoshop and Internet) Dictaphone Hard drive
Bibliography Peter pan storyboard http://animationarchive.net/Feature%20Films/Peter%20Pan/Storyboards/
Simon, Mark. (2000) Storyboards: motion in art. Focal Press, USA
Studio ghibli logo http://daleyus.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/studio-ghibli-and-pixar-two-big-beautiful-giants/
Howels moving castle storyboards http://www.parkablogs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=237 Interview with Mike Nicholson Madden, Matt. (2006) 99 ways to tell a story. Jonathan Cape,