Visual & Digital Arts

Storyboarding a short film or animation

CostLow

Includes: paper, pens, or digital tools Example: sketchbook + pens ~€10–20; Storyboarder (free); Clip Studio Paint ~€50; Procreate ~€15

What it is

Before a single frame of a film or animation is shot, the whole thing already exists, in rough drawings pinned in sequence, showing every shot, angle, and cut. The storyboard is the film made cheaply on paper first, so the expensive version has something to follow.

Storyboarding a short film or animation is the practice of planning a visual sequence by drawing it out shot by shot, a series of sketches, each representing a single camera shot or moment, arranged in order with notes on action, dialogue, camera movement, and timing. It is the bridge between a written script and the finished moving images, translating words into a visual plan everyone involved can follow. Each panel shows what the camera sees: the framing, the composition, who is where, and what is happening.

The purpose is to solve visual and storytelling problems on cheap paper before committing to expensive production, which is why virtually every film, animation, and many adverts and music videos are storyboarded first. Working out the shot sequence, how scenes are framed, how the camera moves, how one shot cuts to the next, is far easier to fix as a rough drawing than after footage is shot or animation is rendered. The storyboard becomes the shared blueprint that directors, animators, and crew all work from. The skills it builds are about visual storytelling and "film language", the grammar of how shots combine. Storyboarding teaches you to think in shots: when to cut to a close-up for emotion, when to pull wide to establish a place, how camera angles create tension, how the rhythm of shot lengths controls pace. These are the same principles that govern all filmmaking, learned with a pencil rather than a camera.

Reassuringly, storyboarding does not require polished drawing, and this trips up beginners who think they cannot do it. Storyboards are working documents, not finished art, and simple sketches, even stick figures with arrows for movement, communicate a shot perfectly well as long as the framing and action are clear. The clarity of the visual idea matters far more than the quality of the drawing.

How it works

Each panel answers one question, what does the camera see in this shot, so frame your thinking that way from the first sketch. A storyboard breaks a scene into individual shots drawn in sequence, each showing the framing, composition, and key action of one camera setup, with notes for dialogue, movement, and timing beneath. You are not making finished art. You are planning shots, so a stick figure with a clear pose communicates as well as a polished drawing.

Think in shot types and how they cut together, because that is the film language a storyboard exists to plan. A wide establishing shot sets the location, a medium shot carries dialogue and relationships, a close-up delivers emotion. Vary them deliberately so the sequence has rhythm, and draw the transitions you intend, a cut, a pan, a zoom, with simple arrows. The point is to test whether the visual storytelling works before anyone shoots a frame.

Notation keeps the board readable to others. Arrows show camera moves and subject motion, a labelled frame line indicates a pan, and brief notes lock the timing. The board becomes the shared blueprint the whole crew works from, so clarity beats beauty every time. Working out that a sequence does not cut together at the drawing stage costs a few erasers. Finding out on set costs a day of everyone's time.

Benefits

Creativity Focus Training Self-Expression Problem Solving Enjoyment / Fun

What you need

Here's what to gather before you start. The essentials are marked.

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Sketchbook, index cards, or digital tablet

Drawing tool (Storyboarder, Clip Studio Paint, Procreate, Canva)

Script or rough story outline

Pens, pencils, or digital stylus

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Pen

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Patience and lots of room for experimentation

FAQs

What is a storyboard, and do I need one for a small project?

A storyboard is a sequence of drawings showing each shot of a film or animation before you make it, like a comic of your planned footage. Even for a small project it saves time and mistakes, because it lets you work out shots, framing, and timing on paper rather than discovering problems mid-shoot or mid-animation. The bigger or more complex the project, the more a storyboard pays for itself in avoided rework.

Do I need to draw well to storyboard?

No, and professional storyboards are often rough. Stick figures, basic shapes, and simple boxes communicate a shot perfectly well, because a storyboard is a planning tool, not finished art, so clarity matters far more than beauty. What needs to be clear is the framing, the camera angle, who is where, and what moves. Arrows for motion and notes for camera moves carry as much information as the drawing itself.

What information goes on each panel besides the drawing?

More than just the picture. Each panel usually notes the shot type (wide, close-up), any camera movement (pan, zoom), the action happening, the dialogue or sound for that shot, and roughly how long it lasts. These notes turn a set of sketches into an actual plan you can shoot or animate from. The drawing shows the framing; the annotations carry the timing, sound, and movement the drawing cannot.

How do I decide on shots and camera angles as a beginner?

Start from the story beat each shot needs to deliver, then choose the framing that serves it. A wide shot establishes where you are, a close-up shows emotion or a key detail, and changing angles between shots keeps it visually alive. Watching how films cut between shots, then borrowing those patterns, teaches this fast. The mistake is filming everything from one flat angle, which makes even good footage feel static.

What tools do I use, paper or software?

Either works well. Paper and a pencil with pre-drawn panel boxes is the fastest and most flexible way to start, and many professionals still thumbnail on paper. Digitally, free tools and apps (even drawing simple frames in Canva or a dedicated app like Storyboarder, which is free) let you rearrange and annotate easily. I would begin on paper to think loosely, then tidy into digital form only if you need to share it.

How detailed should the storyboard be?

Detailed enough to remove guesswork, no more. For a solo project, rough sketches with clear framing and notes are plenty, since you understand your own intent. For anything involving a team, the boards need more detail so everyone shares the same picture of each shot. Over-polishing a storyboard wastes time that belongs in the actual film. The goal is a clear plan you can act from, not a beautiful artefact in itself.