Dissertation!

My dissertation brief brought up many questions as to what exactly I was to discuss and argue. It was clear that storyboard art became my focus, as that is the area of practice I gravitate towards most. Of course merely writing up a report on the history of its practice wouldn't be enough. Below are some scans of the personal notes I made, generating brief ideas for a topic around storyboard art.

After initial research, I quickly realised how little substance there was in regards to solid and short principles surrounding storyboarding, and in general even less on a known history of the practice. This made me realise how young this practice relatively is, only becoming truly self-aware of its existence with the rise in Disney's animations.

This made me broaden my research and understanding of where storyboarding came from- and by that, where the principles really are. Below are a list of links where I gathered more information, piecing together with clues as to how this practice exists as it does today, and also attempting to draft up a brief set of principles for myself to adhere to.

http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/033comic.html - History of Comic Book.

An interesting article detailing a vague history of comic books, some of the practitioners were noted throughout its history, and were responsible for marked improvements with panel dynamics.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/focus/shadow-puppetry.htm - Chinese Shadow Puppetry.

Delving a little deeper into visual composition lead me to looking at theatre, and by extension a form of animation mixed with theatre. Shadow puppetry has had a long history, and seems to carry alot of elements important to storyboarding.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5112113_history-shadow-puppets.html -History of Shadow Puppetry.

Further detailing of this history.

http://www.storyboardart.org/ - Storyboard Art resource site. Useful resource site for all things storyboard. Tips, tricks, hints, etc.

http://news.deviantart.com/article/54555/ - Common mistakes, first time artists.

This article is useful for understanding some of the fundamental errors first time artists make, and so the correct techniques can be gleaned from this.

http://filmmakeriq.com/2008/09/disney-the-art-of-storyboarding/ - Disney, art of storyboarding.

Pioneers of the true practice, this article explains some of the behind-the-scenes facts about the boarding process.

http://www.thestoryboardartist.com/Site/Home.html - Josh Sheppard's profile.

Freelance storyboard artist working in LA. (Los Angeles)- his work illustrates the do's and don'ts of storyboarding. Interesting stuff!

http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/ - Storyboard art blog, Karen Lloyd.

Great resource site, and blog from artist Karen Lloyd. Full of tutorials, tips, interviews and forums!

http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/09/19/pixar-matthew-luhn-1/ - Mathew Luhn, Pixar interview.

Interview with Pixar storyboard artist Mathew Luhn, explaining his rise through the industry to Pixar. Contains some useful tips!

http://www.skillset.org/animation/careers/article_4165_1.asp - Storyboard artist skillsets.

Site that details the skills needed to become a competent artist in the industry.

http://www.suite101.com/content/animation-storyboarding-a74898 - Storyboard art article.

http://www.tipjar.com/dan/colomba.htm - Elizabeth Colomba Storyboard artist article.

An enlightening interview with obscure storyboard artist Elizabeth Colomba. It offers an insight into her working method, and shows how an artist works when not in the mainstream fields, such as Pixar.

http://www.equilibriumfans.com/MarkBristolinterview.htm - Mark Bristol, Interview.

Artist Mark Bristol discusses his career, and in particular his storyboard work on the film 'Equilibrium'.

http://www.smashboxstudios.com/yello/archives/858 - Interview, Where the Wild Things Are, storyboard artist.

Interview that discusses the unique relationship with Director Spike Jonez and how his unique method of film-making had an impact on the storyboarding.

http://starcasm.net/archives/45679 - Iron Man 2 storyboard artist, Samurai Jack.

A great example of how the pre-production process, and the film industry branch out to unorthodox methods in their design stage. This article reveals how director Jon Favreau chose a different approach when it came to the storyboarding of Iron Man 2's sequences. To do this, he brought in the creator of Samurai Jack to add his vision to the action scenes- clearly shows the industry seeks inspiration from unlikely sources!

http://digitalcontentproducer.com/dcc/revfeat/video_tool_time_pixar/ - Pixar Incredible's design interview.

Interesting article discussing Brad Bird's habit of communicating in the design process by drawing all over people's works. This prompted the creation of a desktop programme where annotations and doodles of the director could be placed ontop of the work without effecting it. Communication becomes crucial here.