Visual Storytelling Techniques Assignment

19 Feb 2016, 19:46

Hi Everyone, I've been lurking around for a while, but this is my first time posting.

I've been loving the Visual Storytelling Techniques course, and wanted to share my sketches for the "Action Sequence" assignment, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Posting at sketch stage so I can easily make any changes, after feedback, if there's anything fundamental that I've got wrong! I've created each image as a double page spread (not sure if there should be three DPS's in a row if this was for publication). Hopefully the sequence is clear!

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Lynn Larson · 19 Feb 2016, 20:13

This is great!! The poor rabbit haha! It seems to be a great start! I think the composition needs a bit of work in the last panel. Oh! I think it is because everyone is facing left, except the bear is facing straight on. I think the bear needs to be turned and try from there. That's just my opinion I really love the waves in the second panel!

Great way to come out of lurkdom Can't wait to see more!

Thrace · 19 Feb 2016, 22:31

@Nanette very nice start! I love the determination of the mouse who is fully in charge and the bunny who is scared to death. You can just feel the emotions, the bunny so glad to be on dry land once more and the mouse is still working!! Great story telling!!!

Lee White · 20 Feb 2016, 00:14

Love it! We really like seeing the course work from the videos. Your before, during, and after moments really highlight the different looks you can get depending on which moment you pick!

20 Feb 2016, 10:09

Thanks so much for the feedback and encouragement @Lynn Larson, @Thrace and @Lee White! Loving the SVS courses and forum!

27 Mar 2016, 16:49

Updating to post the colour finals of the sketches:
Not sure if I should have text on the image when it's in my portfolio - I've read both for and against arguments - any thoughts?

Also, I've worked on the "Creative Cropping" assignment using Little Red Riding Hood:
Since watching SVS tutorials (especially Lee White's) I've been trying to deliberately make my working process more simple and faster/streamlined and keeping more of my original drawing lines in the work. Red Riding Hood is a step closer to this, any thoughts or feedback would be really appreciated! Thanks so much!

evilrobot · 28 Mar 2016, 01:40

This is really nice work congrats:)

28 Mar 2016, 13:49

@evilrobot Thanks so much!

Nancy Gormezano · 28 Mar 2016, 14:57

very beautiful work - especially like the "little bathtub" story images. I was impressed with the original sketches, but the rendering brought it to a whole new level - GORGEOUS!

29 Mar 2016, 07:55

@Nancy-Gormezano Thank you so much for your lovely feedback!

evilrobot · 29 Mar 2016, 20:13

I just started the 2nd assignment in this class (the mind mapping) it's amazing how many good ideas you get from this I've got at least 5 really solid ideas to go on and could probably work up even more. Going to start my own thread when I get a few done. Just wanted to say the work you did really made me want to do this class myself.

30 Mar 2016, 10:29

@evilrobot Look forward to seeing your work! It's a great class, it's taking me ages to get through it as there is so much great info to digest, and I feel I could make so much work just based on this class! The section about houses and story elements blew my mind, it was a real revelation to see how details make such a difference to your understanding of a story and a character.

The section where Lee White breaks down movies was great too. I saw Batman vs Superman the other day and (without wanting to spoil anything) I was thinking "Well, this doesn't fit the Lee White visual storytelling plan!"

lmrush · 31 Mar 2016, 12:20

Just beautiful!

NoWayMe · 1 Apr 2016, 02:52

Great work! I definitely need to take this class!

For the question about including vs not including the text, I think you should. Lee made a comment in the forum once about what to include in a portfolio and he said at least part of the pieces should include text, because it shows publisher you are thinking about it. I tried to dig up Lee's post but I can't find it, I think it was about 1/3 of your pieces that should have text!

Hope this helps!

2 Apr 2016, 09:02

@NoWayMe Thanks so much for the advice about text on images, that's really helpful and it makes sense to have a selection including text. I read an article recently by a book designer who said she couldn't stand it when illustrators put sloppy typography on their images, so it put me off including text. Great idea to have mixture of with and without in my portfolio.