The artists do 95% of their work in black and white, but early in pre-production there is some color work. This is another area that Johnston really enjoys. "When I do color, I like to work in acrylics, or actually, cartoon colors—as a base. Then I use gouache or acrylics over that. The cartoon colors are very easy to blend and you have a little more working time than with the acrylics before they dry. I think they work a lot better on illustration boards than they do on animation cels.
"Most of the work we do is just Xeroxed black and white and given to the model builders or cameramen. There's no reason to work in color except at the very beginning when we are designing some of the directions of color on the hardware of the ships and things. That is the only time there is really any reason to work in color, which is kind of ironic. These shows are so colorful."
"I haven't worked many other places where I have done storyboards, " Johnston explained, "but storyboarding for George Lucas or Steven Spielberg allows us a lot of creative input into the storyboards, and into the sequences as well. George will give us a script to read that is in a fairly rough form—maybe a second draft—and he will tell us to start coming up with some ideas for shots or sequences. If we can come up with a series of ideas that weren't in the script, an improvement over something or a new direction—and he likes it—then he'll write it into the script."To me that is the most fun—getting involved early on. And it's great working with people who will use other people's ideas. It makes it more fun for everyone, I think."
The art department must understand the demands of special effects, but they also have to be able to deal with live action problems too. "We storyboard the sequences that involve effects," Johnston said, "and that means storyboarding live action, too. You can't just go through a sequence and storyboard the effects. It won't intercut at all. Occasionally we make changes that result in changes in the live action, too. As long as we do that early enough in the production and it doesn't cause any problems, and maybe saves money, then they are all for it. I'd say between the early phase of storyboarding and the design— which is really the first stage of the production for us—that is really the most rewarding and the most creative."
A storyboard artist cannot simply draw what he thinks might look good on the screen. He helps the director and producer visualize the film. To do that in a way that will be useful he must understand the cameraman's needs and the limitations of the system that the camera crew uses. "What we usually do is give it our best shot in the storyboard. We feel that if we put down a good enough composition it gives the cameramen something to work with and to work toward. They use it as a good direction or as a jumping off place. What you see on film is always better than what the storyboard was.
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