Storyboard Workshop with Stephen DeStefano

November 20, 2010
Animation

Monday night at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York, “How To Do Storyboard Animation” with Stephen DeStefano of the Venture Brothers. The workshop will acquaint students with the basic theories and different styles of storyboarding. Workshop held at the MoCCA, to register for the course, please call 212-254-3511, Tuesday through Sundays, 12 PM to 5 PM or online: www.moccany.org/content/education

TIME
Mondays at 6:30pm – 9:00pm

LOCATION
Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art
594 Broadway – Suite 401 (between Houston and Prince)
New York, NY

MoCCA EDUCATION MASTER CLASS SERIES

HOW TO DO STORYBOARDS FOR ANIMATION
Instructor: STEPHEN DESTEFANO
3 sessions, MONDAYS
November 22, 29; December 13
[no class December 6] 6:30-9:00 pm
$190 tuition / $170 for MoCCA members

No other pre-production stage of creating animation is lavished with as much time, care and expense as the storyboarding job. Often considered the best and most sought after job in the animation industry, storyboarding is the art of creating a blueprint for an entire animated film or episode.

Simply put, a storyboard is a very fancy and very long comic strip. But it’s much more complex than that. Storyboard artists can make or break an animated production. Besides drawing ability, the storyboard artist must have knowledge of acting, writing, and cinematic theory to convey to laypeople and experts alike how exciting and entertaining an animated production has the potential to be. It’s a hard job, being both highly technical and demandingly creative.

But it’s possibly the most fun you can have in the world of cartoons. Instructor STEPHEN DESTEFANO—veteran storyboard artist—will show you how it’s done.

The class will acquaint the student with basic theories of, not one, but two different styles of storyboarding: The “Full Script” style (where a ‘board artist is supplied with a fully-fleshed out script, featuring action and all dialogue created by writers); and The “Outline” style (the “Wild West of storyboarding,”) where a ‘board artist is given several paragraphs of outlined story with minimal dialogue, requiring the artist to not only draw and devise action on the fly, but write final dialogue as well. Students will have the option of ‘boarding a script or outline of their own creation if they prefer.

[While the class will focus on storyboarding for TV animation, ‘boarding for other formats and venues will be touched upon, as well.]

The class format will consist of lectures and demonstrations by the instructors, as well as at-home and in-class assignments they will critique, including a final assignment which they will critique after the class via e-mail.

NOTES:
(1) Tools required for class. 2 pencils, an eraser, a sense of humor.
(2) Students will be supplied with an animation script to storyboard from; model sheets of characters, props and backgrounds to incorporate into their storyboards; and several sheets of thumbnail and storyboard templates.

STEPHEN DESTEFANO began his cartooning career in 1985 drawing the fondly remembered ‘Mazing Man for DC Comics. In 1992, he began working in television animation, drawing backgrounds for Nickelodeon’s original Ren and Stimpy Show, eventually being promoted to storyboard artist. Studios and productions he has storyboarded for include Warner Bros (on Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond, and The Brave and the Bold); Universal Studios (on Earthworm Jim, Baby Huey, Beethoven, and The Woody Woodpecker Show); and Cartoon Network on several productions, including his own animated pilot film, The Thundermans. Stephen has served as an art director for Katbot, a Disney Television production, and as storyboard and design supervisor on Adult Swim’s The Venture Brothers (eventually being dubbed “the guru” by show creator Jackson Publick). He continues to work in animation, as well as comic books. His graphic novel, Lucky in Love, (co-created with writer George Chieffet), was recently published by Fantagraphics Books.