Five Reasons to Study Storyboarding

Francesca Adams teaches at Escape Studios

Francesca "Chess" Adams, who teaches our evening classes in storyboarding, offers five good reasons why students should want to master the art and craft of making storyboards.

Chess is a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.  She is a graduate of the National Film and Television School (NFTS), and her extensive TV credits include Digby Dragon and the Go Jetters.

Industry has been telling us for many years that storyboarding is an area of critical skills shortage. As animation production in the UK has expanded rapidly over the last five years, the supply of talent has not kept pace.

So, what are Chess's five reasons to study storyboarding?

"Brodiaga" Storyboard panel by Anastasia Gurova

1. Industry needs storyboard artists
Good board artists are highly sought-after. Although there is no such thing as job security in the creative industries, being a top board artist comes pretty close. 

The large increase in animation production in the UK means that skilled board artists are in high demand. Story remains a key part of the production pipeline - one that is rarely outsourced overseas.

2. Storyboarding leads to directing

"Brodiaga" storyboard by Anastasia Gurova

Storyboarding also tends to lead naturally to directing your own projects.

A good story artist is essentially a mini-director: you are in control of creative content, visualizing (and improving) the idea or script. Board artists have to think about story, character, and the big picture - unlike animators, who tend to focus on an individual shot or performance.

3. Creative freedom
A board artist has lots of responsibility, but also a considerable degree of creative freedom, the freedom to make things better and also to add your own ideas.

Of course, you have to board the script, but how the board artist approaches the task is very much down to them. A good storyboard artist is near the top of the creative food chain, working closely with the director to bring the project to life.

Boards by Escapee Dominika Brodowska

4. Story skills are highly transferable
Story skills are highly transferable, and board artists can work on commercials, advertising, interactive media, motion graphics,pre-viz for VFX, animated feature films, TV series, music videos, and video games. All narrative media requires storyboards of some sort to visualize a script or idea.

5. Storyboard artists are well paid
Skilled storyboard artists are well paid.  Precise data on rates of pay is notoriously hard to come by, but to see a useful article with an up-to-date report on how much board artists earn, follow this link. 

Storyboarding at Escape Studios

Storyboarding Evening class
Storyboarding is back in the New Year; our next evening class in storyboarding starts at our central London campus at 190 High Holborn on 22nd January 2020.

Boards by Escapee Fred O'Rourke

The 8 week evening class is led by Francesca "Chess" Adams,  a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.

MA in Previs and Story
We are also running a new MA in Storyboarding and Previsualisation, starting on 17th February 2020, for those who want to dig deeper into the story and previs skillset. This MA is the first of its kind - the only masters' course in storyboarding in the world, and one which tackles both 2D and 3D skills.

MA Tutor: Iliana Franklin

Iliana Franklin

Iliana Franklin is the newest member of the animation team at Escape Studios.  Iliana teaches our new master's degree in Storyboarding and Previsualisation, which launched in September and is already producing some remarkably skilled and imaginative work.

Success Stories
Finally check out the work of Escapee Dominika Brodowska, currently working as a storyboard artist at Blue Zoo. 


The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2020, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.