Film Term of the Week: Storyboard Artist

Storyboard Artist

1. A Storyboard artist (sometimes referred as story artist) is a profession specialized in creating storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions.

A storyboard artist is able to visualize any stories using quick sketches on paper at any moment.

A storyboard artist is also known as an illustrator or visualizer. They are mostly freelance artists, typically hired by art directors and film directors. Deadlines are always tight, and overnight working is very common. Typically freelance storyboard artists will belong to one or more storyboard agencies much like an illustration agency.

In film, a storyboard artist is hired at the beginning of a project. When a storyboard artist is hired by a motion picture company, the artist must break down the scenes of the script into shots which can be filmed. This is done under the supervision of the film’s director in order to ensure the director’s vision from the start of the project. Therefore, it can be helpful for the storyboard artist to know the mechanics of filmmaking when assisting the director. As the production proceeds, the storyboards are presented to the cinematographer who is then responsible for bringing that vision to the screen. Film production companies may also hire a storyboard artist to create polished presentation-style storyboards (which might also include sound) which can be used by an executive producer to raise the money to create the film.

Source: Wikipedia