"China, IL" Storyboard Test

Since season two of the hit Adult Swim show, "China, IL" has started airing, I figure it's time to reveal my Storyboard and Character Design tests I took for the show over a year ago.

Storyboard Test

There were three parts to the Storyboard Test. The first was the Thumbnail. I was given a short piece of a script and told to thumbnail as much as I could. Here it is:

China, IL Storyboard Test - Thumbnails by ryanrosendal

Next came the Rough Storyboard Panels, where I was asked to create around 20 or so rough storyboard panels.

China, IL Storyboard Test - Rough Storyboard Panels by ryanrosendal

And finally we have the Cleaned-Up Storyboard Panels, which should be self-explanatory.

China, IL Storyboard Test - Cleaned-Up Panels by ryanrosendal


I won't lie, it was a difficult test. The characters were harder to draw than they initially seemed and there wasn't much action so I really had to focus on believable acting. I didn't get the job obviously, but it was a very worthwhile experience. I learned quite a bit from doing it and if Titmouse is reading this, I just want them to know I'd love to test again!

Special thanks to Corey Barnes for posting about the position on Twitter and Joshua Rogers and Dave Newberg for offering me the test. And Brad Neely for creating the show.

"Adventure Time" Storyboard Test

After finding out that I did not receive the storyboard revisionist position on "Regular Show" I sent out all my "thank you" emails, thanking everyone for that incredible opportunity. One of the people I thanked, Brooke Keesling, informed me that "Adventure Time" was looking for a storyboard artist, and asked if I wanted to take a test.

I said yes.

For this test I was given a short paragraph and told to construct a scene based on it. Even more than the "Regular Show" test I was allowed to improvise and create something unique and new. This was no simple task, and I tried my best to pull stuff from my own subconscious and plug it into the sequence. The result is something that I'm still very proud of.

Here's a link to the Scribd version if you'd like.

Much like with the "Regular Show" test, I didn't get the job, but I still made it one step closer to working on "Adventure Time" than most people. That does an ego good.

Special thanks to Brooke Keesling and Patrick Seery for all their help. And to Pen Ward for creating such a brilliant show that I had a chance to play with for a bit.

"Adventure Time" is copyright Cartoon Network and Frederator.