This is a series of storyboards I created for The Assemblage — a community workplace that strives to make the world a better place.
They wanted to create an animation inspired by the classic “I’m just a Bill” PBS cartoon to explain the mechanics and uses of Block Chain.
They presented me with a voice over script, and aside from a basic stylistic direction, I was given free range to interpret and represent the narrative however I wanted. This was a little more involved than a typical storyboarding gig, as I was both directing the imagery as well as illustrating it. Typically, a director will come to me with a fully fleshed out script, and my role is to illustrate their vision. In those instances, my role as a storyboard artist is to translate the written script into visuals, and not create the visuals from scratch myself.
Since these would serve as an animation template, I added enough frames to potentially create an animatic down the line. There are a lot of transitions in this piece, so I represented them by adding extra frames, and by trying to keep the imagery as simple as possible to explain the complex concept.
Using a more “old school” style of animation to explain a very modern concept was an interesting challenge. I wanted to utilize retro fonts and the general atmosphere of watching a VHS video on an older model TV set.
I created generalized character designs to translate the story. Simple shapes to differentiate each role, based on character illustrations from the original cartoon.
I use simple gradients to add depth, detail, and clarity to the images. A little bit of simple shading can really bring a lot of life to simple linework storyboards like these.
Need storyboards, beat boards, key frames, or concept art? Contact Lee at lee.milby@gmail.com for a quote.
