Story Sketch Buffet

While the focus of this website is to showcase my recent work from the past dozen years, I thought it would be fun to share samples of paper story sketches from earlier projects.  These pencil and ink drawings will undoubtedly look crude in comparison to modern boards created in Photoshop or Storyboard Pro, but that's their charm.  There were no digital tricks to hide behind back then.  We drew quick and rough, committing to the etched line, imperfections and all.

DreamWorks Feature Animation

Seq. 300 - "Enter Tai Lung"

DRAMA

This one-season primetime show about Sigfreid & Roy's white lions in their Las Vegas revue was DreamWorks' first animated television series, airing on NBC.  The timing of this series premiere was unfortunately right after Roy's mauling accident, but the show was a lot of fun to work on.

Click to Expand

DreamWorks Feature Animation

Seq. 2500 - "The Muffin Man"

DRAMA

This one-season primetime show about Sigfreid & Roy's white lions in their Las Vegas revue was DreamWorks' first animated television series, airing on NBC.  The timing of this series premiere was unfortunately right after Roy's mauling accident, but the show was a lot of fun to work on.

Click to Expand

Nickelodeon Animation

"I Was A Teenage Gary"

COMEDY

This one-season primetime show about Sigfreid & Roy's white lions in their Las Vegas revue was DreamWorks' first animated television series, airing on NBC.  The timing of this series premiere was unfortunately right after Roy's mauling accident, but the show was a lot of fun to work on.

Click to Expand

"I Was A Teenage Gary" Original Outline

This one-season primetime show about Sigfreid & Roy's white lions in their Las Vegas revue was DreamWorks' first animated television series, airing on NBC.  The timing of this series premiere was unfortunately right after Roy's mauling accident, but the show was a lot of fun to work on.

Click to Expand

Warner Bros. Feature Animation

Seq. 11 - "Nose Dam"

ACTION

Frank (live action Bill Murray) gets the sniffles, but it's tidal wave size to white blood cell Osmosis Jones and antihistamine pill Drix as the mucus dam breaches inside his nasal cavity.  Jones surfs the tsunami of snot, dodging tree-size nose hairs while trying to avoid being dripped out Frank's runny nose.

Click to Expand

"Nose Dam" Script Page

As is often the case with animated feature scripts, big action sequences tend to be minimally written with only vague descriptions, relying on the story artist's imagination to fill in the blanks.  With only a couple sentences of direction, I boarded the Nose Dam moment as a life threatening surf for survival.

Click to Expand

DisneyToon Studios

Seq. 31 - "Race Against Time"

ACTION

My assignment was to come up with various modular shots of Cinderella frantically riding a horse through the outskirts of town trying to reach the castle before stepsister Anastasia, disguised as Cinderella, marries the Prince.  These were then separated & edited throughout the finale sequence where needed.

Click to Expand

"Race Against Time" Script Pages

With minimal description in the pages, I had to come up with a library of shots depicting Cinderella riding a horse briskly through various terrains.  Compared to modern digital storyboards, these ink sketches look rough.  But that was the charm of hand-drawing boards, committing to the line, mistakes and all.

Click to Expand

DreamWorks Television Animation

Seq. 0900 (Episode 112: "Rehabilitation")

COMEDY

This one-season primetime show about Sigfreid & Roy's white lions in their Las Vegas revue was DreamWorks' first animated television series, airing on NBC.  The timing of this series premiere was unfortunately right after Roy's mauling accident, but the show was a lot of fun to work on.

Click to Expand

Walt Disney Television Animation

Seq. 19 - "Lumpy's Spirit Sag"

DRAMA

After spending the day together, Roo and Lumpy find themselves alone in the forest searching out the mother Heffalump.  This sequences was draw with pencil on small Post-It Notes, then Xeroxed up to normal size. 

Click to Expand

Fox TV Animation

"Failure is not a Factory-Installed Option"

COMEDY

After spending the day together, Roo and Lumpy find themselves alone in the forest searching out the mother Heffalump.  This sequences was draw with pencil on small Post-It Notes, then Xeroxed up to normal size. 

Click to Expand

Meatball Animation/Happy Madison Productions

Seq. 3 - "PATCH SONG"

SONG SEQUENCE

A fun musical number featuring Adam Sandler singing all three parts: Davey, Whitey, and his twin sister Eleanore.  While the full sequence would be too large to display here, I'm providing the beginning and the end sections to give a sampling of my story sketches.  

Seq. 6 - "Technical Foul"

SONG SEQUENCE

A fun musical number featuring Adam Sandler singing all three parts: Davey, Whitey, and his twin sister Eleanore.  While the full sequence would be too large to display here, I'm providing the beginning and the end sections to give a sampling of my story sketches.  

Click to Expand

"Technical Foul" Script Pages

With minimal description in the pages, I had to come up with a library of shots