Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts, 3rd Edition

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.

Table of Contents

Section I Getting Started
Chapter 1 First Catch Your Rabbit: Creating Concepts And Characters
Chapter 2 How Storyboard Took Over The Movies (And Television)
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 Designing Characters With Personality
Chapter 7 Working With Multiple Characters
Chapter 8 Beauties And Beasts: Creating Character Contrasts In Design
Chapter 9 Color And Design In Storytelling

Section II Technique
Chapter 10 Starting Story Sketch: Thumbnails And Tonal Sketches
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

Section III Presentation
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 Build A Better Mouse: Creating Final Model Sheets
Chapter 22 Screen And Screen Again: Preparing For Production

Appendix 1: Discussion with A. Kendall O’Connor
Appendix 2: Caricature Discussion with T. Hee
Appendix 3: Interview with Ken Anderson