How to Make a Storyboard on Photoshop CS5
For creative brainstorming, planning meetings or simply to get thoughts out in a linear progress it’s hard to beat a storyboard but using the traditional paper-and-pen process means you never get to change or electronically send your work to anyone else. Instead, use Adobe Photoshop CS5 to tell your story, taking advantage of the image editing software’s design features. With Photoshop you still get to create and fill the panels of a storyboard but can erase, add to and experiment with your story’s beginning, middle and end at any time.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Start Photoshop CS5. Click “File” and click “New.” Type “MyStoryboard” into the “Name” section. Enter dimensions for the storyboard in the “Width” and “Height” boxes – you’ll need a width to fit as many panels across for the storyboard as preferred, usually at least three and a height to fit as many rows of panels as desired, usually at least two. Click the “OK” button to open the canvas.
-
2
Click the “Line Tool” on the “Tools” pane. If you don’t see it right-click a gray square, gray circle or gray star and choose “Line Tool” from the fly-out menu. Press and hold down the “Shift” key. Draw vertical lines from the top of the canvas to the bottom to separate the canvas into columns. The columns need not be equally spaced at this time and it is fine if the lines stretch into the gray area of the Photoshop workdesk.
-
-
3
Click the black arrowhead tool at the top of the “Tools” pane. Click the unlabeled “Align Vertical Centers” button on the toolbar – hover the cursor over the buttons to see their pop-up names.
-
4
Click the “Line Tool” once more and using the “Shift” key draw horizontal lines to split the storyboard into rows, completing the square-like look. Click the black arrowhead and select the “Align Horizontal Centers” button on the toolbar. All of the lines now are evenly placed and the storyboard squares are equally spaced.
-
5
Click the paintbrush tool on the “Tools” pane. Double-click the “Color Picker” on the “Tools” pane and choose a color for the first part of the storyboard. Click “OK.”
-
6
Position the cursor inside the top-left box of the storyboard and draw the first element which may be an object or a person. Another option is to click the “T” icon for the “Type” tool and toolbar, then type the name for the storyboard title, product or production company in that first box.
-
7
Change colors in the “Color Picker” and continue adding colors and design to the first panel until it is complete. Keep the same color or change colors, then move into the second panel.
-
8
Work your way across the storyboard to fill the first row, then move to the leftmost box of the second row, adding colors, design and text until the storyboard is complete.
-
9
Click the “File” menu and click “Save” to save the storyboard.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Although these instructions show how to make the typical storyboard with multiple panels you can also use Photoshop CS5 in the same way to make the individual panels themselves. The process is the same except for the setup. When you are on the “New” screen, set the dimensions for the individual panel size. Skip the process of separating the panels with the lines and follow the rest of the instructions.
