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What are the signs you're a storyboard game artist expert?

Did you start drawing in childhood, or just started, and you're pretty decent at it? Getting a career as a storyboard might be challenging, but you should not let anything stop you if creating game art is what you like doing.

Storyboard artists take scripts and turn words into a visual story. This is a vital role because they control how others perceive the project. All members of the production team look at the storyboards for reference.  

Storyboard artists must portray everything from motions to emotions with few or no words.  They are excellent visual communicators and are indispensable members of any team, whether working on a television show, a film, a game, or any other type of visual storytelling.

How can you tell you're a storyboard artist expert in creating game art?

Storyboard artists assist in bringing the narrative and the director's vision to life. They create a series of image panels to organize the shots and assure continuity between them. These are the foundations for game creation and animation in the subsequent stage of production.

They may also be asked to finish partially sketched panels in the appropriate style for the animation project. These are some of the essential abilities that every storyboard artist should have. But to know you are an expert, you must be perfect in the following.

1. You can develop strong draftsmanship.

Your main aim as a storyboard artist in creating game art is to communicate the story through visuals, which means you must be a strong artist. Your panels must display complex details like expressions or gestures.
You should also be able to cover emotions and expressions as much. Drawing funny panels will leave many unanswered questions for the reviewers going through your portfolio. So if you can include other elements like thrilling panels or emotionally changed scenes, just know you are an expert.  

2. You're a good storyteller  

Knowledge of visual storytelling is very crucial for a storyboard artist. If you can read and interpret a script and weave visuals into a storyline to drive the story forward, know that your skills are exceptional.

3. You've good communication skills  

Apart from technical skills, soft skills are critical, especially communication skills. Your job as a storyboard artist in-game creation is to help realize the vision of a producer, director, and writer. Therefore you must communicate with the production team about their needs on the drawing board and effectively changes based on feedback. If you can comfortably do this, you are already an expert in storyboard art.    

4. You're good at cinematography

Storyboard artists must know how cameras work in film production to best approximate what a camera will see and the various angles. You draw what the camera will see (Even though animated films and video games aren't shot with a camera, they have that perspective).

The camera and what you see are two different things, so you need to understand the difference. If you are good at this, no doubt you are an expert.

5. You've good creative skills

Creative skills include imagination, problem-solving, and collaboration. You don't just create images as a storyboard artist; you also come up with visual answers to narrative problems.

For instance, a filmmaker might want to show the audience that a character is motivated without using words. If you have the capacity to a scenario and represent it in a way that is satisfactory and innovative to the filmmaker, know that you have the creative skills needed to be a storyboard expert.

6. You've excellent collaborative skills
As a storyboard artist, you can create a pleasant and inspiring environment by respecting the perspectives of all team members. As a storyboard artist, you'll need to negotiate between different creative viewpoints, brainstorm, and take responsibility. If you don't find any struggle using these skills, you're an expert.

7. You've good computer skills

To create storyboards, storyboard artists employ a variety of specialist tools. Frequently they rely on hardware, like drawing tablets which take experience and knowledge to operate successfully.
Apart from the creative requirements, the storyboard artist may use spreadsheets to handle word processors to write contracts, freelancing project details, and scanners to deliver complete storyboards to colleagues or customers. If these skills are at your fingertips, you're a storyboard expert.

8. You've good knowledge of animation

To know if you've grown into a storyboard artist expert, you must be literate in animation, understand composition, layout, editing, sequential drawing, and have strong framing knowledge.

9. If you can learn by watching and asking.

You can tell you've grown in this career if you can easily observe what's happening in your company and the department, take the initiative and ask questions at appropriate times.

10. You're a good drawer

Storyboard artists have strong figure drawing skills and can draw environments and settings. They can draw quick pen and ink drawings significantly when directors change their minds about how a scene should look.

They're also skilled at digital drawing, using InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator programs. If you possess these skills, you're an expert.

What are the elements of a storyboard in game creation?

To be used effectively in the production of games, films, or books, a storyboard must have several crucial features. These elements consist of:

1. Story

The most crucial component of a storyboard in-game creation is the story it tells. The creator may visually determine if the plot makes sense, is complete, or is missing important information by writing it out in sequence on a storyboard.

A storyboard also aids the creator in organizing and inserting crucial facts and points from the plot in a logical manner.

2. Dialogue

Dialogue is also an essential element in the storyboard. A storyboard shows characters in the story and shows what they are saying. It can also illustrate the tone of voice used by characters, like the loudness of the words or specific types of feelings that words can produce, such as excitement, anger, or sarcasm.

3. Characters

A storyboard contains the characters in the story. When creating storyboards, most creators use pen or pencil and are not concerned about how the characters will look. Some people even use stick figures instead of drawing complete characters.

As a writer draws a storyboard, the characters can develop their personalities through how the creator illustrates the story. The storyboard describes the characters' actions, such as how they are moving or what they are doing.

4. Camera details

Various terms are commonly used in the production, particularly when referring to the camera details. The storyboard illustrates where the camera should be positioned and shows which frames are close-up shots or shots with a moving camera.

Other camera terms include dissolving, which occurs when the camera fades out of one shot and into another and zooms when the camera moves close to the picture.

5. Time frame

The storyboard contains notes about time frames, such as the time used in a particular scene or how much time passes between structures. This element helps storyboard writers to narrow down a story to a specific amount of time.

Conclusion

Getting storyboard jobs might not be easy, but just follow it if drawing is your passion. Growing into a storyboard artist expert, you have to start somewhere. If you are yet to get there, continue working on your experience because most employers look for candidates with at least one year of experience.

To gain one-year experience, you can find yourself an internship that will allow you to grow your skills in-game the creation industry.