Process is more important than technique. I think this applies to most creatives and other industries too.

Here are a couple that I always do when I start a project:

✅ Make a fresh cup of tea (Yorkshire Tea- accept no substitutes)

✅ Listen to the same movie soundtrack when I start
(bonus points for guessing which film!)

If you’re drawing storyboards, you’re producing multiple images every day (or you have incredibly patient clients!). I believe you need a structured process and workflow if you want to be consistently successful.

I see my process as a framework or ‘anchor’, which actually helps me be creative in other ways.

Here’s a glimpse into my process, which might be useful for any aspiring or current Storyboard Pros.

✅ READ THE SCRIPT ALL THE WAY THROUGH. This is soooo important. Don’t fall into the trap of just drawing as you read each shot on the list. This happened to me when I was starting out: I’d draw the main character many, many times over, only to find out on the last shot that they had a beard/suit/bag/tattoo etc. I then had to go back and redraw every version of that character again. Absolute hell 😭

✅ ORGANISE YOUR TIME CORRECTLY. It took me far too long to realise how many shots I could draw in an hour. I always overestimated my speed, falling behind and missing my targets. I now know exactly how long to spend on each frame- I can also adapt if I know I’ve got a time-consuming frame coming up (eg. drone shot of London-eek! 😬) and balance that out with a nice close-up later on.

✅ ASK ANY QUESTIONS AT THE START. Your clients are inevitably busy so you don’t want to be bothering them every 5 minutes… I always have my list of questions ready at the start (what are the ages, clothes and ethnicities of the characters? Is it night or day? Lighting? etc) You’ll save so much time by getting these correct rather than having to redo all of the frames at the end... 🙋‍♂️

✅ LAYER UP. If you’re working digitally, then draw each object on a separate layer (and label them too for bonus points!). This is perfect for making any changes and also reusing characters, objects or backgrounds. There’s often repetition in storyboarding so it’s a great way to save time and achieve consistency. 🤓

✅ DRAW GOOD! 🤩

I'll start putting all of these tips into a newsletter/video in the near future. Please let me know if you’re interested or if there’s anything else that you’d like me to cover. You can sign up on my website.

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What are your processes that you can’t do without? Or do you reject process and like to approach each project with a clean slate?