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Another role that I am interested in knowing more about is storyboarding, which is quite straightforward but also complicated. Because the job itself is straightforward, you have to board out the scenes. But what entails is also about how to utilise a wide range of knowledge about filmmaking that will help you tell the story from scene to scene efficiently.

Efficient and Economic. I heard that word multiple times when I did a research on storyboarding. And I also heard someone say that in the animation world, the currency is the artwork. Which is make sense because everything has to be created, and it takes a long time, and time equals money. So I feel like there are a lot of film language and theory to learn to be able to do storyboard effectively. Of course, when it comes to animation, there is more freedom in the visual aspect, so it is also the versatility to understand the director’s visual language and preference.
And based on my research, there are some skills that is needed to be a storyboard artist:

• Understanding of character posing, expression, and performance.
• Basic animation knowledge is a plus or sequential drawing skill like comics.
• Basic cinematography: how to transition, staging, scene establishing, what to cut in or cut out, camera angles, etc
• Perspective drawing skills
• Understanding of visual storytelling, how to add subtext, etc.
• Adaptability to the tone or mood of a different story.

From my three research, there are some of the skills that are overlapping. And what stands out for me is versatility and the ability to adapt to styles. For me all this time, there is always a pressure to have a visual identity, which I don’t have. And even if I will someday, I want it to be an organic process. So, I know if I got the chance to be in the Animation Industry, I would have a lot of opportunities to grow, explore, and learn, and maybe someday develop my own style or just keep trying out new things. And I feel like for me, that is what is the most compelling thing about this Industry.

When I was first introduced to the film industry, one of the roles that seemed interesting to me was Concept Artist (aka the live-action version of Visual Development based on some google research). In fact, because of that introduction, I took a product design major for my BA because I thought I could be a prop designer for movies, and then I realised there was no such industry back home. Now fast forward to today, I learned about visual development artists for animation, which sounds more fun because of the wide possibilities of animation production.

What intrigued me about this role is the idea of building and creating a world to tell a story with a compelling visual that you created based on extensive research is just sounds like an amazing thing to do. But I have to admit, I actually didn’t really know specifically about the role because every time I go through an art book, there is just an extensive amount of images, visuals, and design. So I wasn’t really sure who does what and what is the limit of what visual development artists do.

So based on my research, visual development usually covers:

1. Characters and creatures (or sometimes the role is specifically called a character designer)
2. Environments
3. Props
4. Interior and Exterior
5. Color palette
6. Clothing
7. Lighting
8. Creating the look of the story.

In my last post I talked about Production Designer, I think the difference is Visual Development (which is under the Art Department) focuses on developing the visuals as in, their job is to keep creating. While Production Designers is in the boat with them, usually they will create the key visual and feed them to the art department. After that sometimes production designers will keep creating and other times, they will only do the approving (mainly because they have a lot to do), but essentially to guide the art department (which consists of the visual development artists) based on the director’s vision.

In the art department itself, sometimes they will have multiple art director that focus on specific things. For example, the one that focuses on lighting, environment, etc.

So based on my research, one of the pieces of advice that usually will be given is to know your niche, while at the same time, being versatile and adaptable style-wise. What this means is that if you want to do props, then do it plenty in your portfolio that shows the recruiters that prop design is what you are aiming for. But at the same time give them an example of something else to let you know you are versatile and can adapt.

And then here are some skills that are important to have and develop:

1. Draftsmanship – show that you are really good at drawing.
2. Figure drawing and life drawing.
3. Understanding of colour theory.
4. Painting.
5. Great thematic visual research.
6. Try out different styles to be more versatile.

When I researched the topic of visual development artist and production designer, I noticed that many of production designer was once a visual development artist, and sometimes they switch role. And I found out that sometimes the director or the show creator will choose a production designer based on their taste or style, and they will hold the key for the visual development team to follow. It is not always the case, but it’s interesting how flexible these roles seem when the main focus is how to serve the story well and give the best to the audience.

One of the roles in Animation Industry that I am curious about is Production designer. The reasons are because I only have a vague idea about the role because I love watching behind the scenes of films and I got the opportunity to be appointed as one for my LIAF project, but I haven’t got the chance to really look into it on an industry level. So that’s why in this post I want to talk about my research on the role of animation production designer.

Based on my research, the role of an animation production designer is to basically design the whole production and look of the film. They responsibilities is to make sure that the director’s vision come true, and they must be in constant service of the story and character.

Production designer usually is hired early on and will stay until the end of production. Even for some episodic series, they will change the director, but the production designer will stay the same. They almost like the walking library and visual translator of the production in my opinion, especially if the director can’t really verbalize their vision for the visuals.

Based on a book that I read, which is Dream Worlds by Hans Bacher, here are some responsibilities of Production Designer based on the stages of production:

1. Early Stage:
   • They are part of visual development team. The tasks is to explore all visual possibilities, do research, and come up with as many interesting ideas as possible.
   • Director will narrow it down and the work will be more defined and direction clearer.
   • Develop final look of the film based on director’s vision. Some presentation pieces with key moments of the story must be done. If it’s approved, it would be presented to the head of the production company.
   • So, to summarise, they have to sell the project with impressive looking design.
2. Approved:
   • Analyse the style and create a guideline that consists of the basic rules of the style, such as: layout, background, animation, effects, clean-up, colour.
   • Usually there will be a training period to practice and create test piece. Sometimes new technique has to be developed to serve the story and vision well.
   • They have to create a colour script of the movie.
3. Production:
   • More sequences have to be approved.
   • More design and redesign.
   • Think about little details like style and effect.
   • Basically, anything to serve the story and vision.
4. Post-Production:
   • They will be part of the group that will approve the rough and final animation as well colour combination.
5. Publication:
   • Toward the end, they will usually be involved in design for publicity, title logo, posters, and merchandise.

Based on my findings, there are some things on how to approach design for animation production:

• It’s always character first and story first. And after that is how to design a world where the character will look at home. The story and character will tell how to approach the design.
• The movie has to look expensive but not expensive to make and produce.
• Colour script is key. It has to grasp the emotional flow and tone of the film. So, when some details of the story might change, it would still hold true. It is one of the tools for everyone to see the film at a glance.
• Be totally immersed on the theme or subject and do a lot and lots of study, research, and visit the sites if possible.
• Listening is key. Listen to the director, listen to the artist, listen to the finance team, etc.
• Everything has to refer back to the director’s vison.
• Understand all of design elements that make up the scene, including: camera rules, composition, staging and formats, rhythm and style variety, value and colour.

So, the big question for myself, do I want to be a production designer? The answer is, maybe? only if the time is right. I feel like in terms of the work itself, I can see myself doing it just because I like technical problem solving, I love gaining new knowledge from my colleagues and friends, and I like to approach things from many perspective, also I don’t mind managing (I hope I wont regret saying that :)). But I would also be happy to spend the rest of my career drawing , because from many interviews that I watched, sometimes as a production designer you wouldn’t even have the time to draw especially when you have so many things to look after, which is sound a bit scary. But there is always something sound so fulfilling to be in total service of something bigger than you are, which is the film/story itself. But I feel like there are still so so so many things to learn for me. So, I think for now I will just go with the flow and keep on learning.