WINTER class 2024 (click for details)

Hi! Welcome to my story-boarding class for feature animation. Over 6 weeks you'll learn what goes into creating storyboards for animated movies. It's not just drawing; there's a whole range of disciplines that you need to study to be a successful storyboard artist.

Drawing (gesture drawing, developing an eye for composition, thumb-nailing)

Writing (story structure, character psychology)

Cinematography & Editing (analyzing and studying film)

Generating ideas (brain-storming with a team, 'plussing' a scene)

Pitching (Performance, selling your ideas to a director, entertainment value)

It's an advanced class but beginners can get a lot out of it. You'll be ahead of your peers if you read the materials and do the practice studies I recommend. It'll be lectures & demos by me - everything I've learnt in 25 years in the industry. There's a film-studies assignment and you'll get access to my Story Discord + all the book recommendations I wish I knew as a student. Questions are welcome of course-the interaction is where the learning happens! Sessions are live lectures in a 'virtual' Zoom class. Each weekly session is 3 hours. I'll show you how I develop stories and take you through the development of my 'YOKAi' class feature film and a short film I'm currently directing. It'll be a pretty small class this time so plenty of opportunity to ask questions.

If you're interested please email me at mattjonez99@gmail.com and I'll send you the payment information. It'll be $1500 for the 6 weeks. You can PayPal me at that email address (please add 5% to cover their fee) or Venmo me @MattJones99. Class starts Sunday 28th January 2024 10am-2pm PST. 

"I really appreciate all the wisdom, critique and candor. I learned a lot, and the class forced me to step into something that was well out of my comfort zone. I’ve always found storyboarding fascinating and intimidating in equal measure, so it was great to peer behind the curtain a bit."

"This course has been a fantastic learning opportunity for me. I had learned a lot, but had not enough skills to get storyboarding jobs and no idea how to study it more. This was a perfect course for me with perfect timing. This course opened my eyes and put my thinking about the story, cinema, and storyboarding to the next level. And after this course, I have many books to read, many films to watch (and analyse) and many sources of information to learn from in the future. It was especially great that you use Photoshop, because I also use Photoshop, so it was great to see your tricks with the software!"

"I want to thank you again for everything you did in your class. Taking your course helped me unlock something that was stuck before, and it has allowed me to find my own stories. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am for that."

Matt has over 20 years experience in the animation industry and has worked at studios in England, Wales, France and the US. He has credits on award-winning films like Pixar's INSIDE OUT, FINDING DORY and the shorts LOST & FOUND and THE TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT. He worked on the SONIC THE HEDGEHOG movie and the Netflix epic limited series MAYA & THE THREE and SPIDERVERSE 2 for Sony. He has taught story-boarding at schools in Beijing, Wisconsin, Pasadena, Melbourne and Burbank. Check out more of his work here.