The Lion And The Unicorn -Storyboarding Nursery Rhymes part 1

Today my class and I were asked to create between 12 to 18 simple storyboards on post-it notes. I've never really sat down and planned out story boards before, so this was all new to me. But instead of randomly sitting in silence, praying that inspiration for a story of such would be blessed upon me by the heavens; we were next told our storyboards must tell the story of a nursery rhyme. And of course, I picked the one with the word 'unicorn' involved in the title.

THE LION AND THE UNICORN

Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

''The lion and the unicorn

Were fighting for the crown.

The lion beat the unicorn

All about the town.

Some gave them white bread,

And some gave them brown;

Some gave them plum-cake,

And sent them out of town.''

 

After reading over the Mother Goose poem I couldn't stop myself from laughing. This small rhyme had so much character and the image I had inside my head, about a unicorn and a lion beating each other up with giant neon red boxing gloves - over an angelic crown from the heavens - was too funny NOT to pick and so I instantly started scribbling story boards for this cartoon.

 

First few storyboards I scribbled down



Despite having an idea inside my skull how I wanted this story to look like down on paper; It took longer then expected to get the storyboards to 'flow'. Making sure certain boards weren't repeated anywhere else (for example the characters being 'flat' to the viewer, facing them head on ) and that there was a good overall heartbeat to the comedy of the story. I found myself pausing and thinking about how I wanted these characters to be positioned and how that would look to the viewer. And if I wanted it to look this way or that way and so on... But I have to admit, I had way too much fun drawing a lion and unicorn beat each other up!

Comments from other students on storyboards


I got plenty of feedback about how I could improve my storyboards and what they liked best about them, from fellow students. After it was pointed out to me how every frame seems to be 'flat' and that there was hardly any variation in angles and such in each sketch I began to see areas I'd like to work on more. I can't wait to revisit these storyboards tomorrow and improve them further!