You Are the Camera: Storyboarding Masterclass + What You Might Be Missing 🎬

Hello everyone,

Back in December, we hosted a Storyboarding Masterclass with Victoria Hinatsu - and we’re excited to finally share the full session recording with you.

First, thank you to everyone who joined us live. A huge thank you to Victoria for taking the time to re-record the lesson so we could properly share it with you.

🎬 Watch the full masterclass here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4EL-Dy9mrA

It’s where a story stops being an idea and starts becoming something real. Every shot, every angle, every composition is a choice that determines how the audience experiences a moment.

One of the most important ideas from this class is: You are the camera.

Once you understand this, everything shifts. You stop drawing what’s happening - and start deciding how it’s seen.

A scene drawn from the wrong angle can lose all its impact. A moment that should feel intense might feel distant. Something meant to feel intimate might feel disconnected.

The difference often comes down to choices like:

• How close the camera is

• Where it’s positioned

• What is included - and what is left out

A wide shot, a medium shot, and a close-up all tell completely different emotional stories - even if nothing else changes. Once you begin thinking this way, your work immediately starts to feel more intentional.

Storyboarding teaches you to:

• guide the viewer’s attention

• control pacing

• communicate clearly with minimal information

• think in sequences, not single images

This is why it’s such a powerful skill - not just for animation, but for concept art, comics, illustration, and even design.

A Simple Exercise

If you want to apply this right away, try this:

Take a simple action - a character entering a room, picking something up, reacting to it. Instead of drawing one image, draw it in 5 - 7 panels.

Change the camera each time:

• start wide

• move closer

• shift the angle

• focus on a detail

Don’t aim for polished drawings - aim for clarity.

This is exactly how professionals build scenes.

📝 Help Shape What We Build

We’re gathering input from our community to decide what direction we take next. Your feedback means the world to us, and we would appreciate it if you took the time to fill out this quick survey.

👉 Take the survey here:
https://forms.gle/idBtv4CBH1Z65L4P8

💬 Community

Our Discord has been steadily growing, and we’re always happy to welcome new people in. It’s a space to share your work, ask questions, and stay connected with what’s happening at the school.

👉 Join here:
https://discord.gg/5eEuqdbxCb

🎨 Summer Workshops - Launching Soon

Our next round of workshop registration opens May 11th, and this time we’re focusing heavily on essential foundational skills. The kind that quickly level up your artwork. These are some of our most-requested classes, and we are happy to bring them to you.

These classes are small by design and tend to fill quickly.

👉 Join the waitlist here:
https://forms.gle/4g78bPxBaukFXS4L8

There’s a lot more coming over the next few months - new classes, new content, and a much stronger focus on helping artists build real, usable skills.

For now, if you haven’t yet, watch the masterclass. There are a lot of valuable visual art skills, everyone can learn something from it.

Stay tuned!

Warm regards,
- Amanda
Media & Communications
MTM College

[email protected]