Picture Book | Storyboards

My aim is to have the story's content pages outlined very soon, as well as having front and back cover designs sketched out at the very least.

I decided to do a bit of storyboarding, building upon the first rough concept of the whale story and fitting it to the 12 page format.

Storyboard 1

1. Distanced shot of boat

2. Person by the boat's edge

3. Eyes close, noise occurs

4. Eyes snap open

5. Looks downwards

6. Something swims beside boat

7. Person runs inside

8. Aerial view of boat and shadow

9. Water spouts

10. Whale submerges

11. View of whale underwater

12. Close-up of eye

Storyboard 2

1. View of boat at night, starry sky

2. Upward view of mast with seagulls hovering above

3. Person by side of boat

4. Closes in on face

5. Close up of eye with stars reflected within

6. Shape approaches boat

7. Person leans over to look

8. Runs away

9-10. Double page of whale and boat

11. Water spouts

12. Close-up of whale's eye

I think that the first of these plans was just myself trying to make the original rough book span across 12 pages, so a lot of it seems repetitive and a little dull. However after doing one storyboard it became much easier, so the second example has greater variation and much more thought has gone into it.

I really like the idea of setting a scene with little snapshots, as well as using a double page to showcase a particularly nice scene.

Seagull on a buoy, starry sky, water pattern, seagulls above

I quickly looked at alternatives to panel #2 on the second storyboard. They are tiny scenes that act as a sort of introductory to either the setting, time of day, etc. They deviate slightly from the main narrative, but my aim was for whatever scene I choose to evoke a serene, wistful feeling.

I will keep on developing this storyboard further, and go on to test colours and other elements.