Solution

Throughout the mentorship project, I’ve learned so much about the animation industry and what is required to become a storyboard artist. I absolutely loved this project and my mentor Jess Pollard was just such a joy because of how enthusiastic we both were about the project. I learned a lot of terminologies and how to work as if I were in the industry, and I was also able to learn how I fared on a first-time storyboard.

I had some struggles in the research phase since I was bringing out an old story I’d written down in the past, and developing it so that I could make a “board” out of it The other toughest thing was getting through all the “roughs”. Being quick is such a huge part of storyboarding and knowing basically how to draw everything is something I’ll definitely practice. But in the end, I was rewarded with a great animatic and some new connections.

Out of 10, I’d give myself an 8.5. Some of the deadlines we both set I was unable to meet and overestimated my abilities. But it was alright as storyboards can be from a whole episode to a short sequence or scene. I really tried my best to absorb all of Jess’s knowledge like a sponge and hopefully, I’ll be able to use it in 4th year.

IDEATION

In the second phase of the mentorship project me and Jess met up to go over my storyboard thumbnails.

Since we already figured out which of the three ideas I pitched we should develop, it was easy to get started and finish everything early on. With the start and end of the script determined, it was about thumbnailing and getting the idea across for this week. The most interesting thing I took away from that meeting was the different camera movements and transitions, and being shown some of the loose rules to follow on storyboards.

The most rewarding thing in this phase was getting feedback for what I could add to each scene and seeing how clearly I was able to convey the thumbnails of the scenes to Jess. The challenge was getting the thumbnails done quickly since the priority for storyboards is speed, it was essential that I had the scenes planned out and playing clearly in my head for each thumbnail. 

Since there wasn’t much to do this round, I’ll give myself an 8/10 since I wasn’t able to give myself extra time to finish any designs for a style guide.

BRIEF & RESEARCH

Reflecting on the first phase of the mentorship project was fun. When I spoke to my mentor I found that for my specific project, that being storyboarding for an episode of a hypothetical new show, instead of a written brief to go back to, there is instead a kickoff meeting where everything is said and set down. 

When I started talking to Jess Pollard, we both agreed that starting early would benefit me greatly. Therefore we began scriptwriting and getting a lot of the groundwork done by the time of our “official” start date.

What I learned was more about the industry and being a storyboard artist is basically a jack of all trades in the animation industry, combining the knowledge of cinematography/film, animation, and drafting, which makes it a job one level before that of a full director! What was really rewarding with starting early was getting to sit down and flesh out my idea with a “pro” from the industry, I also just loved the fact that jess kept giving me all these terms to learn about. I was given some homework to gather resources and storyboard to an episode of a show I’m watching, which was really challenging because I was told not to pause. Through that I got a feel for how quick-paced and loose storyboarding HAD to be.

I believe that the mark I deserve for this section would be 9/10 because of the amount of groundwork I had to make up for in comparison to storyboard artists being given a style guide and script to work with.