Workflow
AI Storyboard Generator
You have a script or a brief and you need a visual board — fast, accurate, and ready to animate. Astorie lets you generate storyboard frames in image nodes, lay them out as the cut on one canvas, then chain each frame straight into a video node when you are ready to test motion. Concept to animatic, in one surface.
What this feature solves
Storyboarding a real production used to mean either an in-house artist (slow, expensive) or a stack of stick figures and arrows that the client could not read. AI image generators solved part of this — you can now produce decent storyboard frames quickly — but they leave you with a folder of disconnected images that bear no relationship to each other or to the eventual video work. The board is a deliverable, not a workflow.
What teams actually need is a board that connects to production. The opening establishing shot frame should be the literal reference for the animated establishing shot. The hero close-up frame should drive the hero close-up clip. Frame and clip should share characters, style, and composition. Without a canvas that links the storyboard layer to the video layer, every frame is a one-way deliverable that has to be re-created when the team moves to motion.
The third gap is iteration. Clients will ask for frame three to be tighter, frame five to be a different angle, frame eight to swap the location. Tab-based image generators force you to re-prompt from scratch and lose the look you established. A real storyboard tool needs character locking, style references, and shot-by-shot revision without rebuilding the whole board.
Why Astorie is different
Astorie puts the storyboard on the same canvas as the production pipeline. Generate frames in image nodes — one per shot, laid out left to right like a board — and feed each frame into a video node when you are ready to animate. The board is not a deliverable that gets thrown away when you start production; it is the literal upstream of every clip in the final cut.
Reference and character anchors keep the board coherent. Pin a character image and a style reference, wire them into every storyboard frame node, and your board reads as one project — same person, same lighting language, same world — instead of eight unrelated stills. Image models like Nano Banana 2 and Flux give you frame-level fidelity; chaining them into Seedance 2 or Kling 3 turns the board into an animatic.
Iteration is surgical. Client wants frame three tighter? Re-run only that node — the rest of the board, and the downstream video chain, stay intact. Swap the location reference, and every frame and clip downstream re-renders against the new world without re-prompting. The canvas treats the storyboard as a graph you edit, not a deck you redo.
Common use cases
Pre-vis for ad campaigns and commercials
Generate the full shot list as frames before the shoot day so the client signs off on visuals, not just words.
Concept boards for pitch decks and treatments
Build a polished visual treatment for new business pitches in hours instead of waiting on a freelance illustrator.
Short-film storyboards with character and style locked
Plan a narrative short shot by shot with consistent characters and locations across every frame.
Storyboard-to-animatic pipeline
Generate frames, then animate the strongest as motion tests so the team sees the cut before any expensive production.
Director and DP shot planning
Visualize camera angles, blocking, and lighting for each shot before scouting locations or booking talent.
Music video and editorial visual planning
Map the visual journey of a music video or editorial piece as a board the artist and label can react to.
Recommended model stack
gpt-image-2
imageStrong prompt fidelity for frame composition and shot intent.
midjourney
imageCinematic look development and style reference for the board.
flux
imagePhotoreal frames for live-action and product storyboards.
nano-banana-2
imageCharacter-locked frames so the talent stays consistent across the board.
seedance-2
videoAnimate storyboard frames into motion tests with reference adherence.
kling-3
videoCinematic motion when the board is ready to become an animatic.
How the workflow works in Astorie
- 1
1. Drop the script or brief onto the canvas
Use a text node to hold the source material. This becomes the prompt source for each frame and keeps the board grounded in the brief.
- 2
2. Pin character and style references
Add anchor image nodes for the main character and the visual style — color, lighting, world. Wire them into every storyboard frame node so the board reads as one project.
- 3
3. Generate frames shot by shot
Add an image node per shot, prompt it with the shot intent (establishing, hero, reaction), and pick GPT Image 2, Midjourney, Flux, or Nano Banana 2 based on the look you need. Lay nodes out left to right.
- 4
4. Iterate per frame, not per board
When the client requests changes, re-run only the affected frame nodes. Reference and style anchors keep the rest of the board untouched.
- 5
5. Chain frames into video nodes for an animatic
Wire each storyboard frame into a Seedance 2 or Kling 3 video node to test motion. The animatic shows the team how the cut breathes before any production cost.
- 6
6. Export the board or the animatic
Export the board as a stills sequence for client review or push the animatic into Premiere, DaVinci, or Final Cut via NLE export for editorial review.
Example workflow
A production company is pitching a 60-second narrative ad and needs a 12-frame storyboard plus a 3-frame animated sample for the treatment deck. They drop the script into a text node and pin a character reference for the protagonist plus a style reference for the soft-light, warm-tone visual world. Twelve image nodes line up left to right, each prompted with a shot intent — establishing wide, hero close-up, reaction, etc. GPT Image 2 handles the structured shot frames, Midjourney handles the look-development hero frames, Nano Banana 2 keeps the character consistent across all twelve. The three strongest frames chain into Seedance 2 video nodes to produce a motion sample. Board exports as a stills sequence; the animatic exports to Premiere for the deck. Client signs off in two days instead of two weeks.
Tips and common mistakes
Tips
- Generate the board left to right in shot order. The visual layout becomes the cut — keep it readable.
- Use one consistent character and style anchor for the entire board. Mixing references mid-board breaks coherence.
- Pick the right image model per shot: GPT Image 2 for structure, Midjourney for cinematic look, Flux for photoreal.
- Animate only the 2-3 hero frames for pitch decks — full animatic comes after greenlight, not before.
- Save the storyboard canvas as a template once it works for one project. The next pitch is faster.
Common mistakes
- Generating frames in random order and trying to arrange them after. The canvas is the board — lay it out as you generate.
- Skipping character and style references. Without anchors, the twelve frames will look like twelve unrelated images.
- Using one image model for every frame. Different models suit different shot intents — mix per frame.
- Animating every frame in the board for a pitch. Greenlight first, animate later — frame work is cheap, motion work is not.
- Treating the board as throwaway work. The canvas links board to production — don't rebuild from scratch when motion starts.
Related how-to guides
Related models and tools
Tool
AI Image Upscaling
Upscale images and keyframes before final video generation on Astorie.
Tool
AI Video Frame Extraction
Extract frames from video for reference and image-to-video workflows.
Tool
AI Video Breakdown
Analyze videos into shots and reusable frames on Astorie's canvas.
Provider
OpenAI
OpenAI's GPT Image and Sora video model workflows available on Astorie.
Provider
Google's Veo video, Imagen image, and Nano Banana model workflows on Astorie.
Provider
ByteDance
ByteDance's Seedance video and Seedream image model families on Astorie.
Provider
Kling
Kling 3, O3, and Avatar video model workflows on Astorie.
Provider
Runway
Runway's Gen4, Aleph, and image model workflows on Astorie.
3D model
Marble 3D AI
Marble 3D and world generation workflows on Astorie.
3D model
Image to 3D
Convert images into 3D assets and scenes on Astorie.
3D model
Gaussian Splat AI
Gaussian splat 3D outputs on Astorie's canvas.
World model
World Labs
World Labs image/text-to-navigable-world workflows on Astorie.
World model
Image to 3D World
Turn a visual reference into a reusable navigable 3D world on Astorie.
Related features
AI 3D Model Generator — Generate 3D Assets for Scenes
Generate 3D assets, scene references, and dimensional scenes on Astorie's canvas — Sora 2, Kling 3, Nano Banana 2 chained into 3D-aware video and world workflows.
AI Video Workflow — Node-Based Production From Concept to Final Sequence
Build node-based AI video production pipelines on Astorie's canvas — from concept and storyboard to final NLE-ready sequence.
AI Character Consistency Across Images and Video
Keep a subject consistent across image and video generations on Astorie using reference workflows.
Image to 3D World — Convert References Into Navigable Scenes
Convert image references into navigable world and 3D scene workflows on Astorie.
AI Video NLE Export — From Generation to Premiere, DaVinci, Final Cut
Move AI-generated sequences from Astorie into Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Final Cut Pro.
AI Video to Premiere Pro — Export Workflow on Astorie
Move AI-generated sequences from Astorie into Adobe Premiere Pro for finishing.
AI Video to DaVinci Resolve — Export Workflow on Astorie
Export AI sequences from Astorie for color and finishing in DaVinci Resolve.
AI Canvas Workflow — Node-Based AI Production on Astorie
Build node-based AI production workflows on Astorie's infinite canvas.
Related docs
Related reading
Comparisons
Frequently asked questions
Which image model is best for storyboard frames?
GPT Image 2 leads for shot-intent fidelity — it understands prompts like "low angle hero close-up, warm key light from camera right." Midjourney is unmatched for cinematic look development. Nano Banana 2 is the choice when character continuity matters across the whole board.
Can I export the storyboard as a PDF or stills sequence?
Yes — export the frames as an ordered stills sequence ready for review in Frame.io, a PDF treatment deck, or a client share. For an animated version, chain frames into video nodes and use NLE export to push the animatic into Premiere, DaVinci, or Final Cut.
How do I keep characters consistent across all twelve frames?
Pin one strong character reference image as an anchor node and wire it into every storyboard frame. Use Nano Banana 2 for the frames where character identity is critical — it has the strongest reference adherence among the image models in the registry.
Can I animate the board into an animatic?
Yes. Each storyboard frame chains into a Seedance 2 or Kling 3 video node to produce motion. For a pitch deck, animate the two or three hero frames; for a full animatic, animate every shot and assemble in the sequence builder before NLE export.
How long does a 12-frame storyboard take?
On Astorie, a small team can produce a clean 12-frame board in 2-4 hours including iteration on a couple of frames. Compared to a freelance storyboard artist (days to a week), the canvas approach compresses the loop dramatically while keeping output quality high.
Will the board hold up against a hand-drawn artist board?
For client pitches, treatments, and pre-vis, AI storyboard frames are now competitive with — and often more polished than — hand-drawn boards. For the rare projects that require a director's specific drawing style, AI is a complement, not a replacement.
Build it on the canvas
Open Astorie and wire this workflow up in minutes. Free to start — no card required.