By Kavishna Wijesinghe
Northern Irish comic and storyboard artist William Simpson started off working in comic anthologies such as Warrior and 2000 AD, and has drawn for comics like Batman, Judge Dredd, and Hellblazer for the last 15 years. His career as a movie storyboard artist took off by “mistake”, as he recalled, with a low-budget feature called 24 Hours in London (2000). Following up with bigger films such as Reign of Fire (2002), Puckoon (2002), and City of Ember (2008), Simpson ended up being selected as the concept and storyboard artist for the HBO TV series Game of Thrones, which, needless to say, became immensely popular.
Akash Sunethkumara hosted Simpson on the 14th episode of Junkyard Theory and here’s what we learned.
Getting into the business
Simpson reminisced that for the longest period, he had been drawing comic strips, and having got the opportunity to work on 24 Hours in London, he fell in love with filmmaking and got involved in a couple of short films. Later, he and his brother started a little company and did projects on their own and it got him into writing scripts, a practice he has continued to this date. Unorthodox for a storyboard artist, Simpson also revealed that he had a few directorial credits for short films and music videos under his belt.
While he was working on Your Highness (2011), producer Mark Huffam called him up to say there was a potential gig in the medieval fantasy genre. Simpson agreed to do it since the film he was working on was also of the same genre, and the rest became history.
Importance of a storyboard in a film
According to Simpson, storyboard artists put a lot of interest and care into a piece of art and it feels great to feel that you have influenced the film, “even if some of the boards don't end up getting translated on to screen”.
For low-budget films, he believes it prudent to have everything on paper, which clearly identifies what the filmmakers want before they start making the movie, and storyboards help serve that purpose. He stated that while you can draw a storyboard with simple stick figures, if you can get the job to someone who can draw really well, everyone gets a clearer picture of the scene.
Consequently, what comes out on screen isn't exactly the thing that a storyboard artist designs – the thing that they design informs what ends up on the screen, which is brilliant.
When you sketch Game of Thrones…
Simpson started off contributing to concept art by designing weapons, a couple of carriages, and a bunch of paintings of the godswood tree. He is also responsible for the initial design of the White Walkers that he came up with after having a meeting with 30 people. These designs predicted what department would work on the characters; for the Walkers, the design became a blend of prosthetics and CGI, so both departments ended up working on them.
From the opening scene itself, Simpson made sure the sketches for every season looked and sounded believable by visiting the real locations and taking notes and scribbles. He added that a lot of effort and love was fed into this work, which was collected in the form of a storyboards book by Insight Editions and is now available for purchase.
According to him, everybody loves prehistory fantasy worlds which have rich environments of ancient, crumbling cities and civilisations, which Game of Thrones composed a perfect picture of.
On-set influence on storyboarding
Simpson stated that every single thing he came across within a film set played a major role when designing a storyboard. He added that the set “empowers you to have a better image and understanding of the locations, actors, etc. and helps mould the storyboard into a sensible piece”.
Integrating real-world art and culture
The research and reference on real locations and combining them into the film design strengthens out the credibility of the film more. Real-world elements are easy to convert; for instance, Blade Runner had big sets which consisted of real-world buildings that were extended via CGI. Simpson recalled that on Game of Thrones, they shot at existing castles and the art department used add-ons with wood and other materials to convert them to the fantasy locations mentioned in the script, and some would be enhanced later using CGI. Likewise, lots of landscapes were used from Northern Ireland, showing the audience that “a bit of reality with fantasy makes you believe the rest”.
Directors and shot lists
Simpson stated that every director has their own style, and working with different directors throughout eight seasons of Game of Thrones was not hard, since he always discussed with every director what ought to be done in an episode. He made sure he envisioned an initial comic-strip version for visual reference, which he called the first version of the storyboard, and then the director could make changes before settling on the final storyboard. As for shot lists, Simspon believes that they sometimes contributed to the initial steps when designing the storyboards. However, most of it was created after the storyboard was finalised.
Advice to young artists
Simpson said that if your style is a realistic one, constantly inform and fill your head with beautiful realism and get references whenever possible. Take pictures of everything, from someone standing in a street to vehicles, buildings, and to the way those shadows fall. And make sure to keep your style since that is what matters the most. “Also, artists can learn a lot by books and Internet courses online and build up their experience through practice. Practice is what makes an artist skilled.”