#I'm still learning how to use the 3D tools in sbp so I can board a bunch of crazy camera moves

[alkalinefrog]

Wow!! Your fanwork on OTNWAS is incredible! If I wasn’t mistaken, your storyboards look like you were making the story into a movie adaptation!

If you don’t mind me asking, how do you create your backgrounds? I noticed in your version of Hiccup catching Jack and Jamie stowaway-ing there was a very careful (and wonderful!) use of perspective and dimension. Is it just purely perspective lining or some use of 3-D modeling for reference?

I’m going on about this whoops… I guess what I’m asking is how do you like to make your backgrounds?

Ahhh thank you so much!! Dude, if I could board the entire fic to feature film level I would!

It's just perspective lining in Storyboard Pro! Basically, think of how you draw the backgrounds as how you indicate where you've placed your camera. A lot of drawing programs now have an auto-perspective feature, so I pick the type (1-point, 2-point, 3-point, etc), set my vanishing points and off we go! Here’s a screenshot from my OTNWAS boards with the perspective guide turned on:

This shot could have been put into 1-point, but I chose 2-point to give it more depth--- as if we were using a wider-lens camera. I didn’t want the perspective to be too drastic though, so here’s where I put the second vanishing point.

The way the horizontal lines seem to bend towards the second point is subtle a difference but I find it really adds to the feeling of a real space.

Then I use the same guide to track the size comps of all the characters.

(I cheated Jack’s height here though, he should be shorter than Hiccup. Too late to fix now lol)

Things get super interesting once you go into 3-point and do birds-eye/worms-eye views, but that’s a topic for another day.

I typically just draw everything in 2D instead of bothering with CG models unless I'm already given an asset to play with (if I gotta model my own then nahhhhh)

Remember that your background isn’t just a flat landscape to slap behind your characters--- it should feel like the characters are inhabiting the space! (eg: Vikings sitting there rowing, and Jack and Jamie were previously hiding behind those crates in an earlier shot).

Hope this helps!

-Alka

#storyboards #my art #ask #advice #whaleshake #I'm still learning how to use the 3D tools in sbp so I can board a bunch of crazy camera moves #ok one more advice ask I gotta do to go and then I'm caught up! #of the northmost winds and skies #long post