Storyboard Art in Advertising:  “The Process” by Rick Lundeen

     Drawing storyboards for advertising agencies is a somewhat obscure and mysterious corner of the art world.  The majority of the time, this work never sees the light of day, as far as consumers go and most people don’t really understand it.  My grandfather never really understood what I did, no matter how many times I tried to explain it.  So, in this installment, I’ll be talking a bit about the process itself.

It all starts with an advertising agency trying to create their latest television campaign for their client, whether it’s Geico, McDonald’s or Bud Light.  The ad agency wants to come up with something interesting, clever, memorable.  After the writer and art director hash out what exactly they want to do, they acquire the services of a storyboard artist to bring it to life.  They would call a storyboard art studio like EdseyArt, who represents me and we would set up the schedule.

•The Briefing•   It’s at this point that I’d talk with the art director and/or writer, who would brief me on what they want to do and what exactly they would need.  At this stage, it will proceed one of two ways:

1) The A.D. would present very basic sketches like this thumbnail…

Skittles Super Bowl thumbnail

These are often no more complex than stick figure drawings, but they do help me understand where they want to go visually. Specifically, what items and characters they want to have in each frame.  I would take those sketches and proceed, honoring the general idea of what’s going on in each, while at the same time, trying to make them as visually interesting as possible.

2)  They would give me the script and simply describe what needs to be in each frame, trusting that I’ll put the necessary elements in each but giving me more freedom to call the camera shots.

•Questions•  It is vital that I ask questions during the briefing.  Not just about the degree of finish or the deadline but it’s also my job to ask questions that the client may have been too busy to think of at the time.  “What expression should the lead guy have here?”, “In this scene, how would this person be dressed, business or casual?”, “Are there any competitors colors, I should stay away from?”, etc.

•Suggestions•   If I have an idea that may help the scene along visually or fix a potential problem, i’ll throw it out there if I feel it’s appropriate.  Anything that *helps* the process is a good thing.

•The Roughs•  Having gotten the brief, I set out to do a preliminary round of rough sketches, laying out each scene, factoring in the necessary elements.

Skittles Super Bowl frame rough

These are just for placement, so the client gets a better idea of how I’m shaping the visuals. I then present the roughs to the AD and his team, he and/or them look them over and give me consolidated feedback on any comments, tweaks or changes.  This is the best time to make changes as in the rough stage, it’s much faster and easier to make course adjustments. I make the roughs easy enough to decipher, especially pertinent elements such as expressions, positions, etc. so they can make their decisions (usually, this is the last time the client sees the frames until they are finished). I make all adjustments and if the changes are radical, I’ll show the revised roughs.  If they’re fairly simple and straightforward, I proceed to finish.

•Tight BXW’s•  Sometimes, the desired stage of finish is tight black and white artwork, be it line only, or with some distinguishing tones.  Using the rough sketch as an underlay, I ink over them on a fresh background, giving a tighter, more controlled line, with shadows and tone, if necessary. And then, if needed, onto the next stage.

Skittles Super Bowl storyboard frame b/w

•Color•  Usually the last stop, where color, possibly product and packaging and any type that’s a part of the scene is added.

Skittles Super Bowl Storyboard frame

After that, it’s all sent off to the client, where they look things over and either have changes  and/or additions or give me the “all clear” and I wrap it up for the day.  If all goes well with their meeting with their client, hopefully there’ll be more down the line!

-Rick Lundeen is a storyboard artist represented by EdseyArt for over 17 years.  Rick is also an accomplished comic book illustrator.  To see his comic art visit http://www.epochkblamm.net/

Next time—Traditional VS Digital…