How I made $223,000 in 2019 Drawing Commercial Storyboards!

Wanna start making money drawing storyboards? In these upcoming videos I'll teach you the techniques that I used to make $223,000 last year drawing storyboards for television commercials! I'll reveal the hacks and tips that professional storyboard artist employ to get the job done well and on time!Show more

My name is Vinny Dellay and for the past 25 years, I have been working in Los Angeles as a commercial storyboard artist.

Today you can find storyboard artists working in a number of high profile and glamorous industries such as animation, film, video games and long form television but I focus mainly on television commercials and advertising.

Why?

Because in my experience, nothing pays as well as commercial storyboards!

I’ve done a handful of films in my career and a number of TV shows… but both pay significantly less. I’ve never worked in animation or in video games but from what I understand, those guys are getting paid the least out of everybody. So, if you're in this business to make money... drawing storyboards for commercials really is the way to go!

I’ve created this YouTube channel mainly to answer a lot of the questions I get asked about my industry, usually from young artists who are trying to break in. In these upcoming videos, I’ll break down my process and let you in on some of the hacks and shortcuts I’ve developed over the past 25 years.

In each episode we’ll go through the five stages in my personal approach:

The first is a Project Overview where I’ll discuss the materials that were given to me at the start of the job. These usually include some combination of a script, director’s treatment, location photos, casting specs and a director’s shot list. I’ll also breakdown each of these in an upcoming episode.

In the second stage I’ll gather reference materials. This can be as simple downloading photos from the net or organizing photos the director sent me or as involved as staging selfies or shooting miniatures.

Third Stage is the First Pass. This is where I draw up my initial sketches focusing mainly on storytelling, composition and camera angles.

Once those sketches are done we’ll move onto Stage Four where I shoot the boards out to the director for his thoughts and approval.

In stage five I’ll incorporate whatever notes I got back from the director and move onto the final art.

At least two or three times a month, I will get random emails from young artists asking me about my career. A lot of them are about to graduate from art school and just have no idea how to break into the industry. If you are on the outside looking in, it can seem pretty damn daunting and most of the kids I talk to simply have no idea where to even start. Or for that matter, what a storyboard artist even does on a day to day basis.

I get asked the same questions all the time:

Does a storyboard artist normally work from home or does he go in-house to draw?

Does a director tell you what to draw or do you just make it up yourself?

How much should I be charging?

Why do you want to know what I'm wearing?

Wait a minute... why are you sending me nudes??

All these questions and more will be answered in the upcoming videos on this very YouTube channel . So if this sounds likes your kind of party.. go ahead and hit the “subscribe” below and buckle up, kiddies!

Stock Media provided by pinegroove / Pond5
Stock Media provided by NicolasArnaud / Pond5
Stock Media provided by pinegroove / Pond5
Music for today's video was purchased from the fine folks over at Pond5. Specifically:
"The Vault of the Casino" Stock Media provided by foundintheattic / Pond5
"Casino Robbery Funk" Stock Media provided by soundrosestudio / Pond5
"Destination Brazil" Stock Media provided by pinegroove / Pond5
"Retro Secret Agent Theme" Stock Media provided by hakaneriksson / Pond5
"New York Subway Jazz" Stock Media provided by hakaneriksson / Pond5
"Latin Travel" Stock Media provided by ContrastAudio / Pond5
"Samba De Onas" Stock Media provided by pinegroove / Pond5
“Luxury Lounge Bossa Nova” Stock Media provided by hakaneriksson / Pond5
“Cocktail Mamba” Stock Media provided by pinegroove / Pond5
“Ocean’s Vibe” Stock Media provided by SimoneVallecorsa / Pond5
“Diamonds For Bullets” Stock Media provided by lynnepublishing / Pond5
“Ovean’s Tune” Stock Media provided by GANEVMUSIC / Pond5
“Go Go Lover” Stock Media provided by mellowstu / Pond5
“Groovy Bossa Baby” Stock Media provided by mellowstu / Pond5
“The Jazz Heist” Stock Media provided by AudioBoyProductions / Pond5
“On The Case” Stock Media provided by mellowstu / Pond5
“Making a comeback” Stock Media provided by Pondtunez / Pond5
“Drum Fun Jazz Fun (Advertising, Fun, Catchy, Swing) “Stock Media provided by ChezGroove / Pond5

And "El Gavilan" was used courtesy of Youtube's Free Audio Library!

All stock videos were purchased from Storyblocks… an amazing company that gives you the rights to stock videos, music, sound effects and After Effects files. They do not pay me a nickel to say this… they are awesome! I couldn’t put these videos together without them. Check ‘em out, folks!