Successful storyboards and poignant characters have the power to make elusive thoughts and emotions tangible for audiences. Packed with illustrations that illuminate and a text that entertains and informs, Prepare to Board, 3rd edition presents the methods and techniques of animation master, Nancy Beiman, with a focus on pre-production, story development and character design. As one of the only storyboard titles on the market that explores the intersection of creative character design and storyboard development, the third edition is an invaluable resource for both beginner and intermediate artists. Key Features Adapt key techniques, tips and tricks of experienced character designers and storyboard artists with 30 years of experience to your film, television and animation projects. Save time and money with workflow solutions and avoid common mistakes and problems with troubleshooting tips. Implement creative solutions for your own projects with this invaluable resource for beginner and intermediate artists with examples of what a good storyboard and character design should look like and example of poorly designed storyboards. and tricks. Further your artistic skill development with an interactive, companion website which will includes video tutorials, examples of animatics and good and bad pitching techniques.

Successful storyboards and poignant characters have the power to make elusive thoughts and emotions tangible for audiences. Packed with illustrations that illuminate and a text that entertains and informs, Prepare to Board, 3rd edition presents the methods and techniques of animation master, Nancy Beiman, with a focus on pre-production, story development and character design. As one of the only storyboard titles on the market that explores the intersection of creative character design and storyboard development, the third edition is an invaluable resource for both beginner and intermediate artists.

Key Features

Adapt key techniques, tips and tricks of experienced character designers and storyboard artists with 30 years of experience to your film, television and animation projects.

Save time and money with workflow solutions and avoid common mistakes and problems with troubleshooting tips.

Implement creative solutions for your own projects with this invaluable resource for beginner and intermediate artists with examples of what a good storyboard and character design should look like and example of poorly designed storyboards. and tricks.

Further your artistic skill development with an interactive, companion website which will includes video tutorials, examples of animatics and good and bad pitching techniques.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 First Catch Your Rabbit: Creating Concepts and Characters

Chapter 2 How Storyboard Took Over the Movies (And Television)Live Action and Animation Boards

Chapter 3 Putting Yourself into Your Work

Chapter 4 Situation and Character Driven Stories

Chapter 5 Treat ‘em rough: beginning character design and setting story rules

Chapter 6 Appealing or Appalling? Developing your Characters

Chapter 7 Working with Multiple Characters

Chapter 8 Beauties and Beasts: Creating Character Contrasts in Design

Chapter 9 Color and Design in Storytelling

Chapter 10 Starting Story Sketch: Compose Yourself

Chapter 11 Boarding Time: Getting with the Story Beat

Chapter 12 Roughing It: Basic Staging

Chapter 13 The Big Picture: Creating Story Sequences

Chapter 14 Patterns in Time: Pacing Action on Rough Boards

Chapter 15 Present Tense: Creating a Performance on Storyboards

Chapter 16 Color My World: Art Direction and Storytelling

Chapter 17 Show and Tell: Presenting Your Storyboards

Chapter 18 Talking Pictures: Assembling a Leica, Story Reel or Animatic with a Scratch Track

Chapter 19 Team Storyboard: Working on Group Projects

Chapter 20 Maquette Simple: Modeling Characters in Three Dimensions

Chapter 21 Building a Better Mouse: Creating Final Model Sheets

Chapter 22 Screen and Screen Again: Preparing for Production

Chapter 23 Appendices: Animated Interviews

Animated Performance shows how a character can seemingly 'come to life' when their movements reflect the emotional or narrative context of their situation: when they start to 'perform'. The many tips, examples and exercises from a veteran of the animation industry will help readers harness the flexibility of animation to portray a limitless variety of characters and ensure that no two performances are ever alike. More than 300 color illustrations demonstrate how animal and fantasy characters can live and move without losing their non-human qualities and interviews with Disney animators Art Babbitt, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Ellen Woodbury make this a unique insight into bringing a whole world of characters to life. New to the second edition: A new chapter with introductory exercises to introduce beginner animators to the the world of animated acting; dozens of new assignments and examples focusing on designing and animating fantasy and animal characters.