The Cave Genie – A Short Storyboard (plus general updates)
Sunday, October 14th, 2018
Hey guys, I realize if you haven’t been following me on Twitter or Twitch, you probably haven’t heard from me in a while…sorry about that! I really am trying to get better about communicating with all of you.
First, some general stuff: Still working on Episode 12…hoping to get it out in the next 2 months. Also, if you don’t know I’ve been streaming Nuzlocke runs on Twitch regularly for the past 2 months, I’m usually on weekdays between 11AM-2PM PST, so come watch if you can!: https://www.twitch.tv/nuzdawg
Now for some sadder news…if any of you have tried to download my short story “Eyes of the Wild” from Pagehabit for past few months…you’ll find it’s no longer available. Sadly, PageHabit hit financial troubles and is no longer doing original publishing. So yeah, my story was so bad it put a company out of business. Fear me.
Anyway, back to the point of this post, I recently applied to the CNS Academy as a storyboarder. I have no idea if they’ll accept me, I don’t have any actual art school experience after all, but I figured it was worth a shot. I had to quickly whip up a storyboard sample for the application though, so I figured even if they don’t pick me, I can at least post it here for you guys to see.
So yeah, check it out below. And any animation students please feel free to tell me about how I’m doing everything wrong and it sucks…that’s how you learn!
I would suggest you also write down any camera movements in the scene. Even if the shot doesn’t have movements I would write that down as well.
As they are right now the storyboards make me think that the whole thing is just a bunch of static shots and a bunch of cuts. Which I guess basically turns it into a comic.
I figured it was about time for my annual “see if nuzlocke updated” and holy crap, turns out the site wasn’t forgotten. I’m almost… unnerved by it.
Good luck with that application, Nuz! I’m no animator, but the least I can do is offer my support and well wishes.
Glad to see you’re still around, looking forward to episode 12!
I like that it’s not in the calarts style
I’m not particularly an expert at storyboarding but I have had some assignments related to it in my course. Firstly, make the movements a different colour. Movement is very important in films and animation so it’s important to make sure they stand out from the drawing. Usually movement arrows are red. It’s also a good idea to make these arrows 3D so any movement that involves perspective or moving closer or further can be easily recognized. Secondly, camera effects. In a lot of storyboards, it’s important to have a good idea of how the camera is moving or rotating. Sometimes having 2 blue squares with blue arrows helps easily recognise where a scene may zoom in or out. Thirdly, since this is an application, it may be a good idea to include filmmaking vocabulary in the descriptions. This is a good way to insert your knowledge of filmmaking and storyboarding for your employer to see. Even something as simple as “Camera quickly cuts to an extreme close up” demonstrates that you recognise different common shots. I’m not the best artist but the characters seem to be in proportion and consistent, the style is detailed yet simple enough to draw quickly and the shading seems to be very well done.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
I liked the story. Hope everything goes well for you.
I don’t know where I am
Noice
Also, I wonder will run will be finished first, Nuzlocke’s White or Petty’s Heart Gold XD
It’s been 5 months dude..
Dead site, go home, folks.
Im done.
there are other more dedicated comics creators out there with full time jobs, children and other responsibilities who have created full storylines in the amount of time it takes for this guy to make one page.
ive been waiting several years for this series to finish. several pets and people I know have died while I have been waiting for episode 12. this happened before when I waited for the episode 11 to release, but as the number of graves have grown since, I cannot in good conscience waste my life waiting for this to comic to proceed
im removing the bookmark for this website, im deleting the png files I have saved of the previous comics, and im never coming back to this again.
to those who read this and decide to follow my actions, give a look at some other comics. awkward zombie and whomp are good, and have post frequently for years.
and for the others who decide to wait it out, I pity you.
I don’t believe that the hero should explain that slimes are gross, you do a good job of showing that without telling. The
“eugh, come on, man” does a good job.
Bro where did you go
I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. ;(
Erm…about that “trying to get better about communicating with all of you” thing…
Hm. Either posts are moderated here, which would explain how few comments there are, or my internet messed up my last post. May as well test it.
Either way, guess I’ll have to suck it up and follow on twitter; you keep forgetting (or whatever) to post any sort of general updates here.
Guys nuz just replied to me on vp
Expect a new comic
In addition to the previous feedback, you would need to label your scenes and shots. You should also consider make the movement markers another colour, red being the traditionally colour.
TV cutoff is a bit of an old thing, but still important to this day. Most storyboard templates should have it on them, but for reference, TV cutoff exists so that different types and sizes of TVs and screens don’t cut off anything important from your film. There’s a certain “safe” zone for all films and the important bits should stay within that area.
The terminology on your template is a little odd, typically, animation uses terminology like “scenes” and “panels”, while live action uses “shots”. Both animation and live action makes use of storyboards, but the terminology used is a little different.
Scenes are basically a sequence composed of several panels, scenes would have the same background and the only thing changing would be the movement of the characters/environment. Panels would be every panel you make that fits into one scene.
For example, on your page 5, you would label them as:
Scene 1 Panel 1
Scene 1 Panel 2
Scene 1 Panel 3
Scene 2 Panel 1
Scene 2 Panel 2
Scene 3 Panel 1
Note that this is just considering that one page, if you were counting from the first page the scene number would be much higher.
Another thing to touch on is the perspective you use in your scenes, all forms of film follows the 180-degree rule. It helps the viewer understand and stay in touch with the space and environment where the characters are located. There were a couple times in your story where the camera does a confusing flip, specifically the last panel of page 4 into the first panel of page 5. There’s a lot to cover with the cinematography rules but really simple, the characters should be designated to one side of the screen and opt to stay more towards that side. The viewer will associate that side with that character and it becomes easier to follow. There’s a lot more to camera placement, especially in animation, it can really improve the way you can tell the story!
Good luck with your storyboarding, I hope this feedback will help. Storyboarding can be really technical and some places can be quite strict with the formatting. It is really fun to tell your stories this way though!
October 2018: “hoping to get it out in the next 2 months”
July 2019:
I jest, I jest. Hope you’re doing well, Nuz! Just so you know, the forums have moved over to a new site – It might be worth updating that in the header when you (or whoever is in charge of it) have a chance :0