Corey Barnes: How to make Thumbnails go faster (Twitter Transcript)
Corey Barnes is an American storyboard artist, with a lof of animation experience. In a short twitter thread he explains how he uses thumbnails as a way to speed up his process.
My biggest take-away from these notes is the option of not working linear when you are thumbnailing. I think there is a lot to say for finding your most important shots first, in Corey’s example these are the most complicated shots but I think it can also be the shots with the most drama or most important story beats. By figuring out that stuff first you allow yourself to focus in the stuff that is most important and avoid ‘boarding yourself into a corner’.
I’ve did an earlier post about avoiding pretty drawing in storyboards that you can read here.
Corey Barnes: Time to talk about thumbnailing, A.K.A. a big reason I keep getting hired.
Before I start my actual thumbnails, I begin a process I call mini thumbs that are only seen by me.
The first things I thumbnail are the scenes that contain the most characters, or that introduce a new character into the scene.
Thumbnailing sequentially can sometimes results in you boarding yourself into a corner, and not being able to figure out how to introduce and exit characters in a way that makes sense.
After i thumb those scenes, I thumb in and out of them to hook them up. I’ve already gotten the most complicated shots out-of-the-way, so hooking them up becomes a lot easier.
Because they are so scribbly and not to be presented, if there is a shot I don’t like I will just scratch it out. It took me a few seconds to draw, it will only take me a few seconds to replace. This is all about speed.
I see thumbnails as getting the ideas out of your head and onto screen as quickly as possible. Not about drawing a nice picture. That will come later.
When I figure out my mini thumbs, then I begin my actual thumbnails for pitch. Again, I concentrate on speed and conveying shots. Not acting, not a nice drawing. Just the angle and placement of the characters. Any supervising director worth a damn can read them.
You only have so many weeks to finish your storyboard. Don’t waste it on doing nice thumbnails. You’re going to replace them anyway with finished drawings and after addressing your notes. The less time you spend on thumbnails, the more time you have to draw where it counts.
The less time you spend drawing your thumbnails, the less precious you will feel about them, so if you think of something better you’ll be more eager to change your thumbnails. You also wont make your directors feel guilty for tossing out a good looking drawing.
When your directors look at thumbnails, they are looking for shots and storytelling. Not a pretty picture. If the drawing is nice but the shot is inappropriate, they will change it, throwing all that time spent on the nice drawing in the trash. Draw shittier thumbnails.
Finally, thumbnail using thick brushes! Sharpie thick. It saves time!
