Storyboards have been my primary focus as a commercial artist because of their ability to combine my passions for storytelling with visual art. In 2004, I was hired as a Storyboard Revisionist on the Cartoon Network series "Codename: Kids Next Door". It was a fun, educational experience that has opened many doors for me in the years since.
I've been fortunate enough to work on a number of projects for many different studios - each one a unique experience that presented their own challenges and opportunities. Below are a handful of examples from the work I've done over the years. Click on a picture to access more examples from each project!
View a list of popular animated series I've worked on HERE.
Client: Flying Rhinoceros // Project: The Adventures of Captain McFinn & Friends
Captain McFinn is a children's book character created to address issues like bullying, being different, and making friends. The creator worked with Flying Rhino to develop an immersive web experience for children, filled with fun and educational games and activities, an interactive chat feature with guides, and a series of shorts - all hidden throughout an animated, undersea world.
I was brought on early in the production of the animated series as the Lead Storyboard Artist, and given a great deal of independence and creative freedom by the director. Weekly, I was given scripts and a handful of character models from which to base my boards on, and often had to create potential assets on the fly - designs, poses, and more were regularly based around the work I generated. During my time on the project, I worked from home and attended regular meetings with the team to discuss current and upcoming scripts, designs, and boards. It was always an exciting moment when I got to present my work to everyone and get in-person feedback!
Client: Douglas McGinness // Project: The Epic of Hershey
"The Epic of Hershey" was a short film based on a modern-day "boogey-man" myth, La Llorena. The director was inspired by a newspaper article to develop a story about homeless children struggling to confront a supernatural threat. This eventually led to the launch of a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign for the film which featured Hollywood star Eric Roberts.
I was brought on to create a series of loose, conceptual sketches that illustrated key plot points from a rough treatment of the script. The project was a great opportunity to play with color and light, while maintaining a loose, sketchy quality. My work was intended to be used as visual aids for the campaign video being created in order to draw in more supporters, and several of the pieces were used both in the pitch video and on the campaign's site. The film was successfully funded, produced, and has received great acclaim!
Client: Harter Creative // Project: Short
Harter Creative is a small production house that specializes in commercials and promotional videos for products and services. For several years I worked with them on various client projects. When they approached me about storyboarding a short animated film they were developing, it was an exciting opportunity for all of us to stretch our funny bones and flex our creative muscles. Although the project was never completed, I'm quite proud of the reactions my boards have garnered from those that have seen them.
Client: Bent Image Labs // Project: Portlandia - Noodle Monster
Bent Image Labs is an acclaimed production house in Portland, OR that has created award winning commercials, shorts, and special effects for decades. I collaborated with their directors on a variety of projects for several years as a storyboard artist working from home. Jobs ranged from storyboarding a winding, floating chocolate river for a CG animation, to visualizing extreme camera moves for a series' intro, to plotting out action or effects-heavy shots for live-action shoots. Each project was a unique opportunity, covering a range of objectives and media!
Noodle Monster was one of my favorite collaborations with Bent because I got to fulfill a childhood dream - draw a monster attacking a city and get paid for it!
Client: Refuge VFX // Project: Medieval Monsters
Refuge VFX, an award-winning VFX studio known for their work on the series Grimm, was developing a series for Animal Planet that was one-part fantasy narrative adventure, and one-part wildlife "reality" show. They were in need of a storyboard artist to assist them with planning out specific shots they wanted to capture for the story part of the show. I enjoyed working on this project because I was able to spend more time exploring and rendering certain shots in order to support the director's vision for each shoot.
Project: What Tadoo
Client: Ametsa Media // Project: Cloak & Dagger
Ametsa Media brought me on to create pitch boards which were to be presented to their client, a barbershop, looking to create a short promotional video. The idea was to create a narrative short/commercial in the style of a black and white noir film, featuring a main character that must navigate a seedy barbershop ring in search for the perfect haircut. They wanted loose and dynamic images to show their client key plot points from the script. I greatly enjoyed pushing light and shadows to play with the mood, action and setting within each shot.
Client: Rooster Teeth // Project: RWBY
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Through incredibly fortunate happenstance, I landed a gig working with Rooster Teeth on their new flagship series RWBY. Years earlier I was a huge fan of their machinima series Red vs Blue, so when I saw their posted ad online for "Storyboard Wizard WANTED", I jumped at the opportunity to apply. I was giddy when they offered me my first scene, and before long I was one of their go-to board artists for staging action-heavy sequences!
Client: ... // Project: The Birch
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Former clients were working on a project in need of some storyboards, and they contacted me to stage several special effects (SFX) shots for the Facebook TV horror series, The Birch. It was an interesting project in which I got to work closely, though briefly, with two directors telling very different parts of the same overall story. It was easily one of the most grueling projects I've worked on with an incredibly short deadline in which to complete many different SFX-heavy scenes with alternate views for the directors to choose from. However, storyboarding SFX sequences for a horror IP was another chance to live out some childhood fantasies!
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