Art of Storyboard

by Don Bluth

From Don Bluth - master animator, artist and director of such cartoon classics as The Secret of N.I.M.H., An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Anastasia and Titan A.E. - comes Don Bluth's The Art of Storyboard, a one-of-a-kind textbook that describes in detail the technical and artistic processes involved in crafting storyboards for animated films, the visual blueprints that lay the foundation for the animators magic. Don Bluth takes readers on a journey as only an artist of such vast skills and filmmaking experience can, going from the breakdown of a script, through story conferences with Don Bluth Films collaborators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, and onto the finished boards. Loaded with technical tips and insights into the tapping of the creative imagination, The Art of Storyboard also features page after page of Bluth's beautiful storyboard illustrations, many in full color. Whether used as an inspiring tool for professional and aspiring animators or just for the sheer joy of seeing how the written word is channeled through the animator's mindscape on its way to the screen, Don Bluth's The Art of Storyboard is a fascinating peek behind the curtain of film's most creative storytelling medium.

Genres: Art, Writing, Drawing, Design, Nonfiction

117 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2004

About the author

Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator, film director, producer, writer, production designer, video game designer, and animation instructor who is known for directing animated films.

He is also known for competing with former employer Walt Disney Productions during the years leading up to the films that would make up the Disney Renaissance.

Bluth has authored a series of books for students of animation: 2004's The Art of Storyboard, and 2005's The Art of Animation Drawing. Additional books are planned.

Reviews

[Nadja · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an hybrid between an introduction to storyboard with tricks and a nice collection of cool Don Bluth's production concept art.
Great reading if you need fast help, although I would not recommend it as a main textbook to learn storyboarding.
I've found the tips & tricks in it quite useful.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many examples and not enough explanations. Instead of instruction, I got more, "I've made movies so my storyboards must be good; look at them and figure out why they are good."

[Alec Longstreth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The animator Sandro Cluezo mentioned in a post online that he thought Don Bluth had some of the best storyboards he had ever seen (and/or worked with). When I heard this book mentioned in Bluth's autobiography, I decided to track down a copy (no easy feat with it thoroughly out of print!). It turns out that Bluth makes each of his storyboard drawings on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper and they are basically rough animation drawings! The characters are extremely on model, the backgrounds are incredibly detailed, and elaborate shading has been added to each sketch. From what I've read elsewhere about modern storyboard techniques, this approach seems overly detailed, but I guess it works when you are also the director and an animator in your project. There were lots of examples in this book, long sequences from his films, including a transcript of a story session, but there was not a ton of instruction and at only 112 pages it feels like it only scratched the surface of this topic. I enjoyed reading it, but felt like I left with more questions about storyboarding than I had when I started reading it.

[Lycoris Radiatta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seems like your closest friend is telling you a story. Love the example panels and brief descriptions about them. However, I miss some information about Thumbelina’s film.