Create a whiteboard story

Posted by Rudi Ernst on

As you might already know, there are plenty of ways to tell a story. You could actually write one on paper or animate one on your computer. You could also get actors and shoot your own little movie. However, did you know there’s a more novel approach?

It’s called “Whiteboard Animation”. Yes, you guessed it right, you can actually use a Whiteboard to do this. Whiteboards aren’t limited to just classrooms or offices. There’s a lot more you can do with them.

Whiteboard animation involves recording an artist drawing on a whiteboard while explaining a concept or narrating a story. Though a lot of the work is still processed via digital methods, the actual illustrations are done on a whiteboard.

Of course, there are 100% digital versions as well where the whiteboard is recreated digitally. However, we aren’t discussing that here.

Whiteboard stories are effective because they are didactic. The story is communicated in real-time through speech and illustration. As a result, the concepts are reinforced in a far more effective manner.

Additionally, whiteboard storytelling is also very immersive and engaging. So, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t try it and in fact, every reason to. Here are a few tips to help you with.

Focus on the Quality of Storytelling

Stories are great, but, they’re even more effective when they’re shared in the right manner. So, make sure you have a great idea or theme for your story. It needs to be attractive in order to get people’s attention. The most effective stories are the ones that people can relate to.

In this case, this could be your classroom, colleagues or even clients.

Add Color

Traditionally, whiteboard videos rely on black illustrations i.e. the artist would draw using a black whiteboard marker. There isn’t anything wrong with this approach and in fact, it’s the recommended way to go about things.

However, a little color in between can always make things better. But, the keyword here is “little”. Don’t go overboard with the color. The purpose of color in such videos is to draw attention towards the important parts of the illustrations.

For instance, if you want to talk about a pen, the pen can be drawn using a color marker instead of the usual black one. The color highlights the pen and maintains it as the central subject of the story. In fact, if you’re creating a brand story, you can use your brand colors.

Maintain the Flow

Drawing a sequence of events on a whiteboard will obviously require you to erase and re-draw. This is okay and a part and parcel of whiteboard storytelling. However, keep it to a minimum. It’s’ better if your story has a consistent flow to it as far as the visuals go.

So, instead of trying to draw one entire scene on the whiteboard, draw multiple scenes. You can even divide the whiteboard into sections and fill each one with subsequent events. This will create the perception of continuous flow.


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