Ep 21 - Making Storyboards with Alex Hillkurtz
I speak with painter and storyboard artist, Alex Hillkurtz, about working on Hollywood storyboards and how it informs and influences his art today.
We discuss how storyboards are made, what they are used for, and the lessons they have for every artist in terms of composition and framing. Alex tells me about picking up painting at a later stage in life, and how his ideas about control and precision changed as he worked in watercolors. We talk about picking up ideas and inspiration from cinema, fine art, and our fellow artists. Alex also shares his recent experience putting his thoughts together as a book - "Sketching Techniques for Artists".
Links
Alex’s book - "Sketching Techniques for Artists"
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Transcript
Hello and welcome to the SneakyArt Podcast. I'm your host, Nishant Jain. In this episode I'm speaking with Alex Hillkurtz, a painter and storyboard artist living in Paris, France.
Alex has worked for many years as a storyboard artist in Hollywood, including in some almost famous films. That was a hint for those who get it! I was excited to speak with him because I am fascinated by storyboarding. For those who don't know, briefly put, a storyboard is like a comic-book version of a film, useful to producers, directors and technical crew members to visualize and execute complicated scenes for the camera. This can be micro things like action, character positions, and camera angles, but also be used to answer macroscopic questions of mood, composition, storytelling, and pacing. So how does this unique work experience affect Alex's art today?
No person is just a single layer, we acquire many layers of personality in our journey through space and time. What we are today is linked inextricably to what we were yesterday and all the years leading up to this moment. With that in mind, I want to see if I can find an influence of storyboarding in Alex's paintings of cafes and streets in Paris. What lessons did he imbibe, and what is now a part of his muscle memory as an artist? As a self-taught painter, where does Alex pick up inspirations? We also discuss his recent book - "Sketching Techniques for Artists" - in terms of both its content and what it was like to put it all together.
This is my longest episode so far! In the shownotes is a list of topics we discussed chronologically, using which you can properly calibrate your listening experience.
Before we get into the show, allow me a quick minute to give thanks to the wonderful supporters and members who keep this podcast going. Thank you Becky, Ruth, Melanie, Vinayakam, Anne, Mark, Russ, Sanket, Santosh, Dinah, Mark, Etienne, Kar, Debra, Emma, Marta, Ellen, Blake, Marta, Ashley, Kate, Mike, Molly, Melanie, and Hendriko. Also thanks to Patricia, Johanna, Annie, Nick, Trinkar, Koosje, Michele and others for buying me coffee this month. Being an independent podcaster means I do all the work around making this show, pre and post production. But thankfully, we live in an age where it is becoming possible for an independent creator to build a direct, 1-to-1 relationship with their audience. Just you, and just me, without any middlemen. This equation works best when I am able to share my work with you, directly on your device, and you, the listener, are able to support me for my effort. So if you like this episode, and the ones before, you can support me simply by buying me a coffee. That's it. It's just that simple. Visit the page using the link in my shownotes to buy me a coffee, and while you're there also check out the exciting, exclusive privileges I now offer to monthly members.
With that, let us now begin today's episode. We start with discussing storyboards, how they work in the production of a film, and what it is like to do that kind of work.
04:30 They begin by talking about the internet and content creation. Nishant talks about virality and how we are evolving beyond the need for that.
"I would rather have a smaller audience that has more engagement." - Alex
11:30 What is the hierarchy of responsibilities behind making a film and where does a storyboard artist fit in?
Storyboard artist - One of the first people that meets with a director and starts to visualize the script.
Storyboard is almost a comic book version of the film. They are black and white sketches that illustrate scenes, working in camera angles to draw individual shots. These visuals can then be passed down to every department to quickly communicate a lot of complex information about the shot. Can also be a way to pitch an idea and generate excitement over something that isn't perfectly described by technicalities and the script.
Do you do the storyboard once or is it subject to more editing?
What information do you have to begin creating these images?
They discuss differences in pacing and style, and how that changes across projects. They talk about Pixar color-scripts and what they can tell you in terms of emotion and flow.
28:30 Nishant asks about Alex's early relationship with art and drawing, and if storyboarding was on his mind when he entered film school.
Nishant asks about how Alex began using watercolors.
Alex reveals his early fascination for paintings by Turner and Constable, and the misty English landscape.
After hitting a stumbling block with watercolors, he dropped it in favor of storyboarding and b/w sketches. The watercolor habit was revived when he moved to Paris 6 years ago.
What helped Alex get back into watercolor? He mentions learning from seeing other artists and how they "embraced" the unpredictability of watercolors. Contrasts it with the precision and clarity of storyboard work.
"Paris is a fairly monochromatic, muted color palette city. It's easy to draw something in black and white, and add one color. And for me that became red."
Nishant talks about picking up how color blending works with watercolor, from watching other artists, and how you have to surrender to it.
Alex talks about "dancing with watercolor", and the excitement of ceding control to it. And letting even the mistakes happen. And later coming back to find it wasn't so much of a mistake after all.
Nishant talks about embracing mistakes even when working with ink.
54:00 Is it difficult to let your mistakes stay on paper, coming from a storyboarding background?
Alex talks about the different things he tried while looking for the vitality he sought in his own work - both in the process of its creation and the final result.
Nishant asks about the transition from small storyboard panels to large-scale watercolor paintings. Shares his experience with lack of authentic tactile feedback using digital tools.
What is the reason for composing a scene a certain way? How does Alex implement his understanding of composition to art?
What kind of scenes are likely to attract your attention, as you walk around Paris?
"I'm looking for images with a lot of depth. It's one of the hardest things to portray a 3-dimensional scene on a 2-dimensional page."
"There's going to be something in the close foreground, something in the deep background... I also think about the light, and how it will define the shape... how the shadows will wrap around a structure ... so I'm drawn to the early morning or late afternoon."
73:00 Nishant asks where the interest in depicting architecture comes from, considering storyboarding is mainly about characters and actions.
Alex talks about depicting the personality and character of a building the same way he would for characters - personifying the architecture.
Alex talks about spending time with the city, rather than people.
Does it help to switch between styles and scope of work - asking with reference to art and storyboarding?
Nishant asks about Alex's book "Sketching Techniques for Artists" and the incredible range it covers.
Alex explains how the book came about, and his experience to put together this first book, commissioned by a publisher. They talk about the ideal reader - in Alex's mind - and how they should go through the book.
They talk about the linear approach to learning, and contrast it with chasing your curiosity/enthusiasm and then backing up to complement it in various ways.
They talk about "rescuing the work" sometimes when it appears to fall apart 70% of the way in. Discuss how a painting is like a jazz performance in some ways, incorporating mistakes and momentary lapses and instincts of the day.
112:30 Nishant asks about the difference between working on location and out of a reference pic.
Alex makes the point that painting out of references in your studio can give you more time to get things right. And it's easy to do more details because the image is also already flattened.
Nishant talks about the freedom that comes from constraints, such as the boldness that comes from having less time. Alex uses the analogy of Kobe Bryant's training regimen to build "muscle memory" and how that applies to all fields, including art.
Nishant asks about the "looking and looking again" that comes from practicing art. Alex likens it to a meditative act where we are receptive to all the senses.
They talk about the sketchbook as time travel, how looking back at an old drawing can spark all the memories and senses around that moment.
Nishant expresses how being receptive to surroundings, to atmospheric sounds and music etc makes us better artists because it is going to be expressed in the work in a direct or indirect way.
They talk about how being receptive then extends to all of life, not just while drawing or painting.
They discuss framing and how we learn to be better at it over time. Nishant explains how SneakyArt compels him to draw from a 2nd or 3rd choice of POV, and that becomes an opportunity for interesting framing decisions.
"The skill level has nothing to do with how happy you're gonna feel doing it." - Nishant
They talk about how the USk community centers the fun and enjoyment of sketching regardless of skill level or expertise.
144:10 Nishant asks about Alex's recent IG thread about "competition in the arts" and if it's healthy or toxic.
"If it stops you from creating or expressing yourself, that just hurts to think about. Competition is inevitable, but there are so many other aspects like curiosity, like play, like encouragement, exploration. There are so many other elements to what we do, that it puts competition in its place."
They talk about learning from different places, including films which are a combination of many fields of creativity - set design, costumes, actors, directors, writers, storyboard artists and cinematographers, among others.