Storyboards based on a movie

Storyboard artists often get oddball assignments like the one posted here. I had to do frames that were based on the film THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER which had Sean Connery in the lead roll. It was actually a fun assignment, I don't recall where I found reference material to use, I probably watched the actual film a couple of times. The film came out in 1990 and these frames were probably done shortly after. They were 5x7" in size and rendered with markers on layout paper. It was done for one of my New York clients, I don't remember the ad agency or client.

Detailed storyboards

These are some of the first storyboard frames that I did when I moved to New York in 1983 after living and working in Paris, France for several years. They were done for Ogilvy & Mather which became one of my best clients. When I called the agency to make my first appointment to show my samples, the art director knew who I was, he told me that he had some of my books on his bookshelf.




These renderings were done with markers and a few tones added with an airbrush on high quality layout paper.

Very, loose, fast storyboard frames

Here is a storyboard assignment that had a tough deadline and the only way I could get it done on time was to do very loose frames, also the motion of the horses running was captured much better that way. My final touch was to use an airbrush to create a feeling of dust caused by the thundering herd, which helped create the illusion a great deal. I believe that these frames were done for Lois Chicago.

Last batch of storyboards for Doner

More frames done on premises for the Doner ad agency in Southfield, Michigan. They were a good client and a pleasure to work with. Again, these were 5 x 7" frames rendered with markers.

A message from Gloria (& me !)

Wow,time sure does fly ! I thought that I had just celebrated my first year of blogging and suddenly it's the second. Third year coming up soon !


.....and I'm 82 this year. I actually started in the commercial art business in 1943 when I was 15 years old, and quit about six years ago because of the brutal deadlines. That's sixty-one years in this crazy business! I really did enjoy most of it, however, and still doing a few commercial assignments here and there.

Another batch of storyboards

More examples of the hundreds of storyboard frames that I rendered for the Doner ad agency where I often worked on premises. Included here are a couple of my preliminary sketches which were usually drawn either in pencil or with a marker pen.

More storyboards for Doner

More marker renderings for the Doner ad agency in Southfield, Michigan. I cranked out a lot of storyboards for them, usually working right at the agency for a week or two. I found a couple of my pencil underlay drawings and have posted them as well.






I would show the pencil sketches to the art director before rendering the frames to be sure that the scenes were correct.

Storyboards for Doner

I used to do a lot of comp and storyboard work for the Doner ad agency in Southfield, Michigan. They used to call me in for a week or two at a time to work on premises. The disadvantage of working at the agency was that I would not be able to use any of my extensive reference files, which meant that I had to pretty much draw everything from scratch. Doner is located about 3 1/2 hours from my home in Sawyer, Michigan, an easy drive and it also allowed me to visit a few old friends back in Detroit where I was born.






These frames were all done in the 5 x 7" size using markers on layout paper. The agency always seemed to have many campaigns going and I would usually be working with several different art directors. Some of the deadlines were brutal, as is the case with most storyboard assignments. The agency had a color copying machine which enabled me to make copies of most of the work that I did. After a couple of weeks of turning out tons of storyboard frames I went home for a well needed rest.

Another group of storyboards

This group was part of a series of storyboards done for one of my Chicago clients, probably Cramer-Krasselt. I did a lot of work for CK for a number of years through Bob Fischer, who was my rep in Chicago.




These frames were all rendered with markers on layout paper and all were done under tight deadline conditions, as usual.

Storyboards and an ad comp

This group of marker renderings is typical of the style that used for fast, overnight assignments. I would first do a pencil sketch, using it for an underlay which I would trace on layout paper with a technical pen. Then I would color the ink drawing with markers, a fast, effective method to produce a lot of work in a short time. Time is always short for storyboard artists.


This assignment consisted of about 15 frames.




This was one of a series of ad comps that I rendered for one of my Chicago clients. I used the same method as I did on the storyboards above. You can see that this technique works very well on larger renderings like this.

Storyboard with scenes of Tokyo

A few more storyboard frames in which I had to use Tokyo, Japan as a background. I can't remember the client or ad agency, but it was a fun board to render. These were also 5 x 7" marker renderings done on high quality layout paper and had an overnight deadline. I pretty certain that these frames were done for one of my New York Clients.

Storyboard for Frontier

These frames are part of a series that I did for one of my Chicago clients, I think that the ad agency was Lois Chicago. The frames were rendered in the 5 x 7" size using markers on layout paper. There were about 12 or 15 frames with an overnight deadline, these are all the only ones that I could locate.

More storyboards

Not long ago I ran out of storyboard frames to post. A couple of days ago I found a batch of frames in an old file, so I'll be showing them in the next few posts. The board below was fun to do, a UFO lands in a farmer's field, a dramatic situation. I love rendering storyboards that have drama and mood. These were all rendered using markers on high quality layout paper.

Fine Arts Comics # 5

Another comic book parody cover developed from an abstract figure sketch done on the computer. I often do experimental sketches and play with various images on the computer that I use later to develop concepts. Very interesting results often occur from these drawings and doodles.