Storyboards for Oldsmobile

Here is a typical automotive storyboard, I've rendered hundreds of these over the years, having done storyboards for every automotive manufacturer. My long experience in Detroit helped me get automotive assignments from ad agencies from all over the U.S. as well as in France where I worked for several years. These particular renderings were done in the 5 x 7" size using markers on high quality layout paper under the usual tough deadline.












Automotive assignments are a very specialized field which not every comp artist is able to handle. The ad agencies rarely supplied reference material which added another element to the normal tough deadline. Frequently I received several commercials to do over a weekend.

Never a dull moment for a comp artist

One day I'd get an automotive assignment like this Mazda rendering and the next day a soap commercial or other subjects like can openers or a beer commercial, you never knew what was coming. Of course, this made my career very interesting as well as challenging. Sometimes I would have to render small 4 x 5" storyboard frames, other days ( or nights usually ) I would be asked to render large billboard renderings, an interesting occupation, to say the least.

More self promotion

More examples of some of my promo pieces. It's very important to show the right people just what you can do for them and to keep reminding them.


Another piece that shows a variety of work that I do. Most of these were assignments, the large rendering was a sample that I did for an automotive client.


A headline with a double meaning. I used to use delivery services to send finished assignments to clients and one time a package was actually lost and another arrived very late. My clients were furious and I had to redo an assignment overnight. They said if I wanted any more work I would have to get a computer so that I could deliver work over the internet. That's how I got involved with the computer.



The messages above and below are what Art Directors want to hear, BUT you'd better come through !

The importance of self promotion

I can't say enough about promoting oneself in the business of commercial or fine art. These are extremely competitive fields and Art Directors or galleries are rarely going to seek you out, artists must find a way to show what they can do. I had Diane Boston of Way Art in New York and Bob Fischer of Chicago representing me, but in other areas such as Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco and various other cities I promoted myself by sending out small posters and brochures. This type of promotion can be done on the internet, but mailing actual material seems more potent as the Art Directors are prone to tacking the pieces on their wall where others would likely see them. Here are a few of my promo pieces and I will post them for a couple of days.


Every Art Director often deals with horrendous deadlines, they want to work with artists that are experienced and can deliver high quality work quickly.


In this piece I deal with the problems of delivering the finished renderings, as I can deliver anywhere in the world over the internet.


This piece shows a rough sketch, a line drawing, a black and white frame as well as a color frame.


Here I show a variety of comp and storyboard work done for various clients.

Comprehensive ad assignments

Doing ad comp renderings can be quite interesting as there are a great variety of assignments. Of course, an illustrator still has to cope with deadlines and finding proper reference material. These assignments would usually come as a series of several ads and had to be rendered larger than storyboards. The Art Directors would assemble the illustrations with the type and logos, then they would be presented to their clients at meetings for evaluation. Some would eventually become ads in magazines, most would end up in the trash bin.


Here's an illustration of a ski resort with a guy in the foreground heated swimming pool.


A lady waiting for her toenails to dry. The foreground area is lighter because type was going to be placed there in the final version.


An old shaving kit. You never know what you might be asked to render. These were all done using markers on high quality layout paper and probably done under great pressure.


An illustration of a man using the telephone in an oriental hotel room, the Art Director wanted the face of a telephone operator superimposed in the scene. This was an interesting visual concept. I'm not sure that any of these ever survived the meetings and became national ads. Most ad comps find their way to the dumpster.

Random storyboard assignments

On the storyboard assignments below I couldn't find the complete set of frames, only a couple of them. I believe that these were done for Doner in Southfield, Michigan. Often they would call me in to work at the agency for a week or so. They are located about 3 1/2 hours from Sawyer, where I live. These trips also gave me a chance to visit with my daughter and old friends in Detroit.


This was a fun board to do, kids chasing fireflies at night made for dramatic scenes. The frames are simply done and not overworked, which keeps them fresh looking, an important thing to remember when rendering with markers.



These other two examples are more of the typical assignments that a storyboard artist is asked to do, pretty normal stuff where you can't play around much with drama or color. Not that much fun, but it pays the bills.

STORYBOARD: Fishing around the world

Another strange concept, I don't recall the product, ad agency or the Art Director. I believe that these frames were rendered over a weekend or overnight, I'm not sure, but this was pretty much the norm for my assignments. I had to dig up specific locations for this, my collection of National Geographics came in handy. these frames were done in the 4 x 5' size and are good examples of my fast rendering style when working under a tough deadline.








Looks like we're over London here.


Over Cairo and Angkor Wat.




Hey ! he hooked one !
A rather weird commercial but fun to render.

More magazine ad comps

More comp renderings from the same series as the last post. In this group I didn't have to do single and double spread versions which simplified things a bit, although I still had a tough deadline as usual. I don't recall which ad agency or who the Art Director was on this series of ads.






This was a strange idea, two bugs communicating which each other. Sometimes you're asked to do some pretty weird things.


These ads were all rendered using markers on high quality layout paper and done under the pressure of a tight deadline.

Ad comp renderings in two sizes

Here are part of a series of comp renderings for magazine ads. The problem here was that I had to do single page ads as well as double spread versions. Because of the size requirements I had to change some of the compositions.



The double spread version is above and the single page rendering is below.





In this case I tried a different concept for each version.





On this concept I was able to keep the visuals similar.



These examples demonstrate some of the unique problems comp artists can face on certain assignments.

Complicated Animatic frames, Part 2

Continuing from the previous post, more animatic frames for the Goldfish mock up commercial.


Another large frame with a foreground figure that has movement, below the girl tosses the product into the air. When filmed by the Animatic company these frames are quite effective.





Another background which will have foreground action.



Close up rendering of a kid's hands.


The kid flips a goldfish into the air.


A rendering of four figures and below, various heads and arms to indicate movement.




A large 11 x 14" background over which the balloon below was floated..




Above is one of the final scenes, these were all rendered with markers on high quality layout paper. I have not shown all the frames, picking out a few interesting examples. When the final version is finished with sound added, the ad agency presents the mock up commercial to the client. If approved, this mock up is used as a basis for the final filmed commercial.