Black N’ Animated and Women in Animation Join Forces to Offer Free Storyboard Class

Black N’ Animated and Women in Animation Join Forces to Offer Free Storyboard Class

October 13th, 2020

Jerry Beck

Black N’ Animated and Women in Animation (WIA) are pleased to announce that they will be collaborating for the first time, together with several top independent animation studios – Oddbot, Powerhouse, Renegade, Six Point Harness and Titmouse – to host a free, virtual storyboarding class via Zoom on Saturday, November 7th from 9:00am-4:00pm. The class will be open to college-level students all the way up to working professionals, specifically to benefit people of color. The program will accept the first 250 applicants who qualify, and will be delivered in a format established and proven successful by Six Point Harness.

Oddbot’s Emmy Award-winning director, Matt Danner (Muppet Babies) will headline the day, lecturing on “Storyboarding 101.” He will be joined by Noelle Rafelle (DC Super Hero Girls, Captain Marvel 2), who will be lecturing on “Storyboarding for Action” and Bryan Newton (Rick and Morty, Teen Titans Go!, Tig N’ Seek), who will be lecturing on “Storyboarding for Adult Comedy.” Women in Animation will provide support for the entire event, from application processing to technology implementation to execution of the class. Brendan Burch, CEO of Six Point Harness and WIA board member, will also be on hand to guide the day.

Various storyboard tests from Oddbot, Powerhouse, Renegade, Six Point Harness and Titmouse will be provided to attendees. Finished tests can then be submitted for review to each studio, and some attendees will have the opportunity to receive one-on-one feedback from studio professionals.

“We are excited to have this opportunity to team up with WIA and these great indie studios to bring such an intensive webinar to the Black animation community,” said Waymond Singleton and Breana Williams of Black N’ Animated. “There are a lot of young people out there who don’t know that a career in animation is within reach and this will be one of many ways we hope to begin offering insight and training to increase the number of people of color in the animation industry.”

“WIA aims to affect positive change within our industry and in the larger world through the creation of art that expresses a wider range of authentic storytelling. Animation can serve as the bridge to connect broader human understanding and as the channel to inspire that the fabric of all colors to be seen, the voices of all cultures to be heard; we are proud to align with Black N’ Animated in this effort,” adds Marge Dean, President of Women in Animation.

Application submissions can be made here and will be reviewed by Women in Animation and Black N’ Animated’s combined teams.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.