Press Release
February 7, 2001

Orlando Artist Releases Latest Book

Orlando- Mark Simon, owner of Animatics & Storyboards, Inc. has released the second edition of his book, Storyboards: Motion In Art. Published by Focal Press, Simon's latest book adds 45 new chapters and over 500 new samples beyond his previous edition.

Storyboards (boards) act as a blueprint for film and tv production, much as a set of plans helps a contractor to build a house. A finished set of boards for a project may be many hundreds or thousands of drawings that loosely resemble a comic book. A production crew uses these boards to produce the project the way the director envisions it.

Simon and his company have designed and boarded on over 1,000 projects during his more than 13 years in the industry. His clients include NBC, HBO, Nickelodeon, seaQuest DSV, The Waterboy, FOX, NFL, major theme parks and many others. The knowledge he gained from those projects and numerous different directors is gathered together into his new text.

The first edition of Simon's book was originally published for back-table sales at the lectures he gives around the country on the subject. He talks to groups of all ages and encourages kids with artistic leanings to follow their desires, the way he did. The book, however, quickly began selling around the world and became a main text in many universities.

Storyboards: Motion In Art, 2^nd Edition has been selling well across the country. It's been selling out at large entertainment industry conventions such as SIGGRAPH. "We at Focal are thrilled with the success of Mark's book" says Marie Lee, Focal Press publisher, "The feedback from readers has been very positive." Reader Guynemer Giguere agrees, "I think your book is truly unique and invaluable for anyone interested in storyboards."

It has also become the main text used around the world with which to teach storyboarding. Luc Robert, an animation professor in Canada, says, "Well done! A very good resource for students and instructors. The section you included with practical exercises really makes it stand out from many other 'storyboard' texts." Simon is currently designing a storyboard class based on his book here in Orlando at the new DAVE School , Digital Animation and Visual Effects, based at Universal Studios. He will be lecturing and reviewing students' storyboards while sharing his enthusiasm for the art.

Simon's text includes chapters on the business of storyboarding, the art of storyboarding, interviews with other artists, directors and producers, samples, and exercises. A new addition to this edition is an experiment where Simon gave the same scene to 5 different storyboard artists and compare the results side-by-side.

Storyboards: Motion In Art has over 200 pages filled with more than 900 samples. The recent popularity of DVDs has allowed more people to discover this incredible art form and luckily for them, Simon's book will teach them everything they need to know about the art of storyboarding.

For more information, contact Mark Simon at 407-370-2673 or Marie Lee, publisher at Focal Press at 781-904-2647.

Animatics & Storyboards, Inc.
407-370-BORD (2673)

marksimon (at) storyboards-east.com