storyboardista

A storyboardista is a professional who creates storyboards—sequential drawings that outline the visual narrative of a film, television episode, animation, commercial, or video game. The storyboardista translates the script into a sequence of images, indicating composition, camera angles, movement, timing, and transitions, to communicate how the story will be shown on screen.

Responsibilities include breaking the script into scenes and shots, deciding on shot sizes, framing, and continuity, and annotating action, dialogue beats, and sound cues. They prepare shot lists and may produce animatics to give a sense of pace and rhythm. The storyboardista often collaborates with the director, cinematographer, production designer, and editors to ensure the visual plan aligns with the creative vision and technical constraints.

Skills and methods emphasize strong drawing ability and a solid understanding of cinematic language, including framing, camera movement, pacing, and storytelling beats. Organization and communication are essential, as is the ability to adapt quickly to feedback and changes during preproduction. Many storyboardistas work with digital tools such as storyboard software, tablet drawing applications, and image editing programs, though some use traditional pencil-and-paper methods. Common software includes Storyboard Pro, Photoshop, and other illustration or animation tools.

Industries and outputs vary: film, television, animation, commercials, and game development all employ storyboardistas. The typical deliverables are storyboard panels, shot lists, and timelines, with animatics or previs sequences used to previsualize the final product. In English, the role is usually called storyboard artist; storyboardista is a term used in several Romance languages to refer to the same occupation.