Motion

Storyboards & Art Boards

Animation for VERAP

Storyboards and illustrated art boards developed for an explainer animation.

Selected project · Storyboards & illustration

Make a difficult topic
easier to approach.

Storyboarding and illustrations for a landlord–tenant mediation explainer, created in collaboration with Aaron Barton of Extensity Creative.

Context

Client work
Vermont Landlords Association video

My role

All storyboarding
All illustrations

Creative collaboration

Aaron Barton · Extensity Creative
Remaining video production

The challenge

Explain the process.
Respect the pressure.

Housing disputes can be stressful, and an explanation of mediation needs to be both clear and approachable. The visual challenge was to communicate the process while acknowledging the situations that bring landlords and tenants into conflict.

I worked with Aaron Barton of Extensity Creative, creating all of the storyboards and illustrations. Aaron handled the rest of the production, bringing the visual material into the finished video.

The finished video

See the illustrations
in motion.

The finished explainer brings the storyboard and artwork into a sequence introducing landlord–tenant mediation and the kinds of issues it can address.

Watch the video on YouTube ↗

Published by the Vermont Landlords Association. Storyboarding and illustration: Courtney Reckord. Creative collaborator: Aaron Barton, Extensity Creative.

Planning the sequence

Give each idea
a visual role.

The storyboard pairs narration with proposed scenes, establishing how the explanation will unfold. This working page includes revisions and scene notes, showing the development behind the finished animation.

Working storyboard page with six scenes, narration, illustrations, and revision notes for the landlord–tenant mediation video. — Working storyboard, shown as a process artifact. Select to view at full size.

Plan the progression

The opening moves from a communication problem to the program and the role of a neutral mediator.

Connect words and images

Each scene gives a spoken idea a concrete visual counterpart, from a conversation to a rent-payment concern.

Make room for refinement

Notes and proposed changes keep visual decisions visible as the sequence develops.

Selected illustrations

Use familiar situations
to make the subject tangible.

The artwork uses recognizable objects and situations to communicate financial pressure, housing instability, and payment arrangements. A consistent illustration style connects these different moments.

Illustration of a hand holding an empty pocket. — An empty pocket communicates a difficult situation with a direct, familiar gesture.

Illustration of a payment passing between two hands in front of a calendar. — Hands, money, and a calendar combine to make the idea of scheduled payments visible.

Illustration of household belongings placed outside a home. — Belongings outside a home bring the potential human consequences into the visual story.

Select any illustration to view it at full size.

The contribution

A visual foundation
for a clear explanation.

My work carried the project from a planned visual sequence to a coordinated set of illustrations for the finished explainer. The project shows how I use storyboarding and image-making to support understanding while attending to the tone of a sensitive subject.

Client project · Storyboards and illustrations by Courtney Reckord · Created with Aaron Barton of Extensity Creative.

Next project Data Tea Set →

Storyboards & Art Boards

Make a difficult topic
easier to approach.

Explain the process.
Respect the pressure.

See the illustrations
in motion.