Story Artist: Sony Pictures Animation in Los Angeles

• Story Artist: Sony Pictures Animation in Los Angeles

Story Artist: Sony Pictures Animation in Los Angeles

Company - Sony Pictures Animation
Los Angeles, California

Sony Pictures Animation is hiring a Story Artist for a feature production in Los Angeles . The union-covered position pays an anticipated base rate of $53.37 to $80 per hour. The Story Department develops sequences from rough thumbnails through finished panels.

Story Artist - Feature turns scripts or descriptions into panels that define action, camera placement, and character acting. The work spans action, comedy, and drama in comic, realistic, and highly stylized formats. Sony Pictures Animation works with artists from around the world .

• Role: Story Artist - Feature
• Pay: $53.37 to $80 per hour anticipated base salary
• Employment terms: Union-covered position

The position calls for applicants who can draw characters and environments on model, write clear storyboard directions, and revise sequences after direction.

Story Panels and Sequence Decisions

Story artists turn written material into a visual plan that communicates action, emotion, movement, and the order of events. Visual storytelling depends on readable poses, clear staging, and choices that let a production team understand the scene before final animation. Thumbnail panels test the sequence quickly, while later drawings add the detail needed for performance, environment, dialogue, and camera execution.

The feature assignment calls for quick sketches through finished panels. A strong sequence keeps characters on model, preserves screen direction, and makes each shot legible. Story artists also address problems in story structure and entertainment value, so drawing skill works alongside judgment about what a scene needs.

Directors, Producers, and the Head of Story

The Story Artist pitches sequences to the director, head of story, crew, and executives. Directors establish the creative direction, while the story team turns that direction into panels, revisions, and clear notes. The position works with producers and the head of story during this process, and the artist responds to changes without losing the sequence's visual logic.

Senior story work can include guidance for other artists. The position may supervise the story team, participate in interviews, recommend hires, and give feedback to artists. The day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Developing thumbnail and rough panels from scripts or descriptions
• Drawing action, camera placement, and acting in each sequence
• Pitching storyboards and revising assigned material
• Writing specific directions for dialogue, staging, and camera execution
• Maintaining the show's vision and style across a sequence

Cintiq, Storyboard Pro, and Photoshop

The job uses a Cintiq display with Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and Photoshop. Storyboard Pro supports panel-based sequence work, while Photoshop supports drawing and image refinement. Cintiq work rewards control of line, shape, gesture, and staging because the artist must move from rough ideas to readable final panels without losing the performance.

General production practice uses thumbnails to test composition before an artist invests in detail. Sequence planning also covers camera angles, character movement, settings, pacing, rhythm, continuity, effects, and camera moves. These decisions give directors, animators, lighting, camera, and VFX teams a shared visual language.

Action, Comedy, and Drama Sequences

The qualifications call for draftsmanship with design, appeal, and composition. A candidate needs to draw characters and environments on model while working across action, comedy, and drama. The production also uses comic, realistic, and highly stylized formats, so the work requires control of proportion, gesture, facial acting, perspective, and camera language across different visual demands.

Character acting carries meaning through pose, timing, expression, and interaction with the environment. Composition establishes where attention goes, and cinematography choices clarify the relation between a character, a prop, and the camera. The position also requires strong writing, clear storyboard directions, time management, independent work, teamwork, and an open response to direction.

Portfolio Materials and Production Readiness

Applicants need work samples that make story decisions easy to inspect. Sony Pictures Animation provides a storyboarding checklist before portfolio submission, and the job requires a work link with any review password supplied in the resume or cover letter. A useful set of sequences can include action, dialogue, and establishing shots, with enough range to show how the artist handles different beats and settings.

Work samples should make clarity visible before polish. Rough thumbnails can establish the logic of a scene, while finished panels can demonstrate character acting, camera choices, and continuity. A sequence that communicates its intent quickly gives the review team evidence of drawing judgment, storytelling, and revision discipline.

Benefits for the position follow the applicable collective bargaining agreement. The studio evaluates qualified applicants without regard to protected characteristics, including race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

The Los Angeles studio produces feature animation and animated series with artists working across global teams. That structure gives the Story Department a production setting where story panels must communicate across departments and across locations.

The position combines drawing, writing, staging, and revision inside a feature story department. Its strongest evidence comes from sequences that make action and character intent readable before the final production work begins.