Does anyone here do storyboards or previs work for ad agencies?

robgale

I recently came across someone online who does this and was wondering about it, so thought I would see if anyone here does it. I'm a designer and I work digital agency folks, but I've never been involved in a project where we hired someone specifically to do this.

I'm currently trying to find out and understand what some of the different, potentially untapped areas of illustration might be. We all know about children's books and editorial and concept art for games and movies, but this got me thinking, there are obviously other avenues as well that I at least am not aware of.

Anyway, if you do this (or other, lesser known types of illustration) for work, I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

NessIllustration

@robgale Interesting topic! Art is everywhere and the possibilities are so much wider than what we think. I did illustration for children's mobile games for a while. I have friends who draw backgrounds for animated series, design packaging for toys, draw clothes for online dress-up games... Some sell their own products like custom portraits, wall decor or clipart (like me!) One guy from my animation college ended up drawing engravings for tombstones (no joke, like florals and hearts and such). Another paired up with a motion designer and their company creates corporate animated video explaining different concepts (he draws and the motion design guy animates).

robgale

@NessIllustration This is awesome. This is exactly what I was hoping for. I need to expand my view of ways that peeps can make a living and do some cool stuff in the world.

Do you know how any of these people (yourself included) got into the thing they got into? I don't imagine the engravings guy, for instance had that as an idea at the outset!

Amanda Jean

I've done storyboards, but my background is animation not kidlit, so it's not that uncommon to be asked for this sort of thing. Finding these opportunities is a combination of people finding you (you have some kind of presence online or off), networking and word of mouth, or advertising. The latter is a lot more rare than you'd think though. Most of the opportunities I've had, people have found me through my website or a related site.

NessIllustration

@robgale A lot of them found these jobs by searching different job websites like LinkedIn for job postings. The engraving guy was approached by the funeral home from his hometown after he graduated. And then, a lot of it is word of mouth. Some have called the Facebook Group of the graduates from my animation program a "networking mafia" LOL. You have 800+ graduates posting in there whenever they hear of a place that's looking for people. It's incredibly effective. Last winter when I was swamped and needed to drop a contract, I posted there and it took me 15 minutes to find a replacement artist to take it over... But anyway yeah, sometimes I see more "out there" job offers go through there.

Aaron_T

I'm a designer as well. I recently began storyboarding for videos shoots and banners. It's not a major part of my job, but it is fun to do when I get asked. Basically, they learned that I like to draw and they wouldn't have to hire a contractor to do it.

It's funny though...when I turn in my comps they always tell me they're too detailed. They want them to be kept loose so they have a little wiggle room once they actually begin shooting.

sigross

@robgale not always illustration but I spent a couple of years being an art technician. We built installations for international artists. And one job I particularly loved, was being given a piece of material with a water lily pattern on. Being told paint that big on these 12 ft floor panels to fill a giant hall. That was so therapeutic drawing out, then painting these giant flowers. It looked amazing when it was finished. There was 8 of us pumping out a jigsaw puzzle of massive blue and pink flowers. I got the job through being a techie setting up multi-media stuff for art talks.

robgale

It is really cool to see all these different applications.
@sigross That floor looks really cool. Again, one of those art things that is so easy to take for granted that someone had to do that.

The lesson I'm taking from this (so far):

art is everywhere, keep your eyes open
opportunities come from random places or word of mouth, not necessarily through "advertising" yourself (though you want to be visible so that you can be found)
There is the potential for taking initiative and "nudging" others in a context where you already are to let you try something new