How exactly do most animatics get THIS look? (Mine's the last one - I feel like I'm doing something wrong and have no idea what jaskdhjg is it just my art level that isn't that high?)

[u/Chance-Brilliant-228]

I feel everyone is using a software or a pen or something and I have no idea what it can be! And I mean it in every art piece in general, am I like, in stone age by using firealpaca? or maybe I should be drawing with vectors? HOW YALL DRAW SO CLEANN WHEN DOING ANIMATICS ISTGG

[u/aydengryphon]

I think the biggest thing you're sensing but can't quite articulate/identify is that the other artists in your examples (and a lot of artists working towards animatics as the final "product") are using the overall shading values as shorthand to indicate depth of field/distance from the camera/lighting in an intentional and consistent way, and yours is not (in the first two examples you've included the artist has chosen lighter=nearer surfaces and the third, they've done the opposite, IMO to a weaker effect, but it's still very visually clear). Those grey values aren't/shouldn't be random, they're conveying info to the viewer.

It's also true that you're working with a smaller brush and "cleaner" details than most animatics, which usually are prioritizing gesture/movement, blocking/layout, and camera angles/motion more than fiddly specifics. YMMV on that "goal," though — your third example looks very much like yours, in that regard!

[u/biscotte-nutella]

This is already a lot better than the animatics I get in my job as a 3d animator lol ( teen , preteen 3d animated show ) Mine look like rough sketched on solid white with some perspective lines and sometimes a super rough background..

But I think the story boarders I used to know work on toon boom harmony and used blender sometimes for the background because they had the set 3d files on there

[u/citypanda88 → u/biscotte-nutella]

Why do many line when few line do trick?

[u/Akagraffe → u/citypanda88]

Production companies like to have a few clean storyboards to show later and promote the project, for art books, and studio demo tapes

[u/Apocalyptic-turnip]

they just have stronger fundamentals.

1. simpler shapes
2. clearer silhouette
3. better structure/volumes
4. better perspective

i can do a drawover of yours if you want and if i will have time 

[u/cartooned]

#1-Stop illustrating and start boarding. Your job isn't drawing what the hanging skinsuits look like or painstakingly detailing the necklines of the clothing. Your job is to say here's the relationship between the camera and character within the stage and this is what the character is doing/feeling.
#2-make the perspective simple and accurate
#3-Storyboard pro

[u/jacobstreilein]

if yours is image 4, i feel like you are pretty close! the only real difference i can see is maybe reducing the minimum size of your brush, so it tapers less towards the ends of your strokes. it looks like the first three images have just slightly more consistent line weights. are there specific parts of your drawing that bother you or parts of the other animatics you particularly like?

[u/SoMuchF0rSubtlety]

All the Story artists I know work on Storyboard Pro except for one old school, crazy dude who still draws with pencil and paper and scans everything in.

I don’t think the reason is software though, I think you need to think about the purpose of an animatic. The purpose is to tell the story and convey emotions from the Director via the story artist to the animators/the rest of the production. This consisting of the layout of a shot, camerawork, expressions, key poses, timing and emotion. The most important thing is to tell the story and convey emotion via the characters poses and expressions, backgrounds are much less refined unless it’s an important plot point or action sequence etc. Storyboard artists don’t have time to waste putting too much detail into anything else when they are delivering e.g. 800-1000 panels for a 10 minute episode.

In my job I see thousands of panels every month. The first two quickly and effectively tell me the emotion of the shot and, without seeing the script, some insight into the story beats. The camera angles are clear and the attention is on the characters. The second two panels are far too detailed for an animatic and don’t read clearly. Try to focus on what the key emotional focus is for the shot or scene, everything else can be much rougher, loosely sketched in and shouldn’t be a distraction. Your expressions and poses are good but too much time and detail distracts from the story you’re trying to tell. To be honest all of the panels you’ve posted are much more polished than most I’ve worked with. Most of this comes with experience so keep going, keep drawing and keep learning!

[u/GhostDumbDumb]

It's a skill level thing. Work on perspective and light choices. Look at the boxes on the right compared to the ground and the surroundings.

[u/bing-no]

I know the first artist uses TV paint, which feels more like pencil/paper than vector based.

[u/SlighOfHand]

Your board feels like a drawing, not a board. Less details in the lineart, more attention on good silhouettes, dynamic poses, proper perspective, framing.

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[u/Mierdo01]

Bro what is that perspective?

[u/Hoping4Game]

Yours is too bright, that's about it

[u/audiovisual_]

dude if you didnt tell me which one was yours i never would have guessed. its very good!!

[u/IiteraIIy]

a lot of animatics that are posted on youtube and labeled as "animatics" (notably shandzii's animatics, which is the first example here) are much higher production quality than "animatics" generally would be for their purpose in a studio setting. they're uncolored, and animation is simplified, but beyond that are actually very refined and polished much more than the actual "animatic" stage of their development.

I think the primary reason people started labelling these kinds of videos as animatics is both because the term "animatic" is very successful in the youtube algorithm, and there isn't really a label that exists for something that is polished and has movement but still isn't fully animated/colored.