I drew all my storyboards on paper for years until a producer called them 'unreadable'

So I've been doing pre-vis work for commercials at a small studio in Austin for about 4 years now. I always sketched my storyboards by hand because that's how my first mentor taught me back in 2018. Last month we landed a big car ad for a local dealership and I handed over my usual pencil drawings. The producer took one look and said 'I can't send these to the client, they look like napkin notes.' That hit me hard. I realized I was wasting everyone's time by not using digital tools like Storyboard Pro or even just a tablet. Now I'm practicing with a $50 Huion tablet and watching tutorials at night. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized your 'old school' method was actually just holding you back?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan_schmidt10d ago

I read somewhere that a lot of old school animators still do thumbnails on paper but then scan them into digital programs to clean up. That "napkin notes" comment from your producer was brutal though. I had a similar wake up call when I drew a whole comic with a micron pen and then tried to scan it. The lines looked awful and I had to redraw everything digitally. That Huion tablet is a solid start, I have a friend who uses one for freelance work and it does the job just fine.

tessawebb10d ago

That producer basically told you your work doesn't look "professional" enough for the money people, not that the actual storytelling was bad. I'd argue keeping your hand-drawn sketches as the first pass isn't the problem, it's that you need to learn how to translate them into something clean for clients who can't see past messy lines. You don't have to drop paper cold turkey, just build a process that lets you sketch fast then refine in the tablet later.