#thirdchildanswers

Hi anon!!!  Sorry this is late--haven’t checked the inbox in ages.  First up, well done sending out applications! I have high hopes for you!  But ALSO, do NOT worry if you don’t get any--I applied for internships/apprenticeships for years and YEARS with no dice. HOWEVER!! I still got into the industry because I worked hard to LEARN from every sequence I made

Draw more boards! Draw draw draw.  But with a directed PURPOSE! Pick a specific aspect you want to work on (camera work, an emotional scene, a fight scene)  and write a SHORT SHORT story that matches! (this can be original or adapted from a book or play or podcast...but if it’s not your original story MAKE SURE TO CREDIT and LINK to the SOURCE!)

NEXT UP, find a movie sequence that feels similar to what you’re going for (for Kaladin I looked at Prince of Egypt, Sword of the stranger, and House of Flying Daggers)  and pick one minute of that scene for thumbnail studies. Every time the camera angle changes, pause the scene and sketch a small version (think tiny postit note) of what you can see on camera.

Now it’s study time.  Where did the camera go in for a closeup?  When did they go VERY wide? Did they hold their shots for a long time, or a short time?  Did they cut a lot, or did they move the camera around to follow the action? And here’s the clincher--did their editing choices work clearly?

Time for your scene! DO NOT COPY from your studies, but use it for problem solving. When you come up on a problem in your sequence (I want to show the anger in this scene, how did “such and such movie” show anger?)  try to learn from their choices and come up with your own solutions!

A portfolio should have 3-5 sequences. Keep the stories SHORT. Like, if you can tell it in 50 boards, do 50.  Don’t go much farther than 200. If you can, make a new sequence each month and replace.

By doing studies before your scenes, you are getting practice in editing and composition, and building the library of shots in your brain!   Best of luck with applications, and it’s OK when people say no! (I tried for like, 50 jobs in the year after I graduated before I got hired) YOU GOT THIS!!!

A great book to start boarding is ‘DIRECTING THE STORY’ by Francis Glebas

As for online resources, check out Gumroad for storyboarding tips and tutorial pdsf--they are usually “pay what you can” deals that are really great! 

 You can also research online classes which are more expensive (between 200 and 600 dollars) but it’s where I’ve learned a TON.  Steve Ahn has a great action board series that’s TOTALLY worth it.

BEST thing you can do on your own are FILM STUDIEEEESSS!!!  Here’s a thumbnaiI study did looking at a scene from JURASSIC WORLD.  I sketch out the first and last frame of a shot (the red lines are where the camera cuts) and I’ll make notes of what type of camera movement they used, or just interesting shot compositions.

NO. My voice has always been valued.  Yeah, the “INDUSTRY” is imperfect and sometimes the big headlines seem depressing, but the continuing trend is things are improving.  The reason it seems worse? People are talking about it openly instead of hiding it.  Harassers are being confronted head on instead of hidden.

My current show is amazing! Many of our writers and board artists are female or nb. The guys on our team are all awesome and open to collaboration.  Most of my own harassment/discrimination stories actually came out of my years at school--my time in the industry has been wonderful!!!

There are still challenges to face, and personalities to butt heads with. But don’t let fear keep you out. If you are in search of a good community of female and gender non-conforming allies, there was an open letter to the animation community last year signed by 217 people.  I’m on it. Lots of my friends are on it.  Reach out to us and we have your back.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/arianelange/women-in-animation-open-letter

Thank you!!  All my art is in photoshop (unless I want to do a timelapse, then I use procreate on teh iPad pro!)  The low poly stuff is me making shapes with the angular lasso tool and coloring it in with the paintbucket and gradient tools!  I’ll leave the shapes on different layers so I can move them around like puzzle pieces till they look the way I like!

I actually started using this style as a way to make pieces FAST (haha, I’m not even halfway through the Starkid queue).  It’s super fun to do and makes me less focused on little details.