Directing the Story: Professional Storytelling and Storyboarding for Animation, Comics and Live Action, Edition 2

This new edition of Directing the Story includes storyboarding for 3D animation illustrated with storyboard examples. During my time teaching storyboarding, I noticed many beginners struggle with drawing the figure. I’ve introduced drawing star figures. They’re the equivalent of the flour sack technique animators use to learn to animate flow, force, timing and shape distortion. And once the student masters that, I show how the anatomy drops right into place.

Out of my frustration of trying to write my own stories and watching the waste at the studio’s race to get things into production, I’ve struggled for years to discover the secrets of story. I’m currently working on a new theory of story which shows how all the parts of story, character and plot work together. I’m including the beginning basics of this theory which allows my students to come up with a story in 7 minutes. Plot takes longer.