Max Curious · All Stars Project · New York City · Explainer Video · Whiteboard Animation
All Stars Project — Storyboard, Illustration & Whiteboard Explainer Video Production
For Max Curious in New York City, I storyboarded, illustrated and produced the hand-drawn visual elements for an explainer film created for the All Stars Project.
The assignment brought together the core parts of my explainer-video work: visual interpretation, storyboarding, custom illustration, visual metaphors, animation and production of moving illustrated sequences.
The finished film
The video shows how hand-drawn imagery can support spoken content with a parallel visual narrative — not simply decorating what is being said, but clarifying and extending the ideas through images.
Project overview
- Client: Max Curious, New York City
- Project: All Stars Project
- Year: 2016
- Format: hand-drawn explainer / whiteboard animation
- My role: storyboard · illustration · production of animated visual elements
- Approach: original drawings developed specifically around the content of the film
Turning spoken ideas into a visual sequence
For this kind of project, the key step is deciding what the audience should see while the narration is developing.
A literal illustration of every sentence quickly becomes repetitive. The stronger approach is to identify the main ideas, relationships and transitions and then develop images that make those concepts easier to follow.
The storyboard therefore becomes the bridge between the verbal content and the finished visual film. It defines the sequence of images, establishes timing and makes it possible to review the narrative structure before the final drawings are produced.
Visual metaphors instead of decorative drawings
Explainer illustration works especially well when the subject contains ideas that are difficult to film directly.
Concepts such as growth, perspective, possibility, development, connection or change can be translated into a visual metaphor that the viewer understands almost instantly.
That is one of the reasons I still find drawing so effective for explanatory communication: the image does not have to reproduce reality. It can reorganise reality in whatever way makes the idea clearest.
Illustration created for the specific message
The drawings were developed for the content of this particular film.
That means the visual language can respond directly to the audience, tone and subject rather than forcing the script into a predetermined library of figures or symbols.
Some scenes can be humorous, some diagrammatic, some metaphorical and others almost purely typographic. The style can change with the communication need while the overall film remains visually coherent.
A complete hand-drawn explainer-video service
Today I develop hand-drawn explainer films for companies, organisations, agencies and publishers from the initial visual thinking through to finished moving-image production.
Depending on the project, my involvement can include:
- briefing & communication objectives
- script review and narrative development
- visual concept
- storyboarding
- scene planning
- character design
- custom illustration
- visual metaphors & diagrams
- 2D animation
- whiteboard-style animation
- motion graphics
- timing & editing
- voiceover coordination where required
- subtitles and additional language versions
- final files for web, social media, presentations, e-learning or events
Starting with a script — or helping shape one
Some clients arrive with a final script and voiceover. Others have a presentation, article, technical document or set of ideas that still needs to be organised into a short narrative.
I can work in either direction.
When a script already exists, my task is to find the strongest visual interpretation for it. When the material is still developing, I can help structure the sequence so that words, images and timing are designed together.
That early integration usually creates a better film than writing everything first and only afterwards asking what can be drawn over it.
Direct production or collaboration with an agency
The All Stars Project was produced for Max Curious in New York City, making it a good example of how I can work as the illustration and animation specialist inside a larger production.
I also work directly with end clients.
Depending on the production structure, I can therefore deliver the complete illustrated film or provide selected parts — storyboard, illustration, character development or animation — for integration into an agency or video-production workflow.
Not every explainer needs to look like a whiteboard film
Whiteboard animation is one visual approach, not a fixed template.
Depending on the subject, a project may work better as character animation, illustrated motion graphics, sequential comic scenes, diagrammatic animation or a combination of several techniques.
The visual language can be:
- editorial
- technical
- cartoon-based
- character-led
- minimal
- diagrammatic
- educational
- humorous
- narrative
The style should follow the audience and message rather than forcing every client into the same visual system.
Multilingual explainer-video production
I work directly in English, German and French, which is particularly useful when a film is intended for more than one market.
Additional language versions can also be planned into the production. Text length, voiceover timing, on-screen labels and subtitles can all affect animation, so multilingual use is best considered during the storyboard stage rather than after the master film is complete.
What can an illustrated explainer video be used for?
- company and service explanations
- software and digital products
- education and e-learning
- internal communication
- employee onboarding
- health and safety
- technical subjects
- research and science communication
- sustainability and behaviour change
- public-information campaigns
- presentations and conferences
- social-media communication
The common factor is not the industry. It is the need to make an idea, process or story easier to understand through moving images.
Why hand-drawn explanation still works
Drawing can simplify without becoming sterile.
It can show something that does not yet exist, move between physical and abstract ideas, exaggerate a relationship, compress time or make a complex process feel approachable.
That flexibility is useful when the content needs more than a sequence of product shots or talking heads. A drawing can construct exactly the situation required by the explanation.
Hand-drawn explainer videos today
The All Stars Project dates from 2016, but the production principles remain central to my current explainer-video work: understand the idea first, develop the visual narrative, establish the storyboard, then build the final illustrations and animation around that structure.
More recent projects range from short animated explainers to multi-film series, business communication, educational content and illustrated sequences designed to work across several channels.
Related services & projects
Business Comics & Sequential Illustration →
Commissioned Illustration & Campaign Visuals →
Planning an explainer video?
If you have a subject that needs to be explained visually, send me a short outline of the message, audience, approximate length and intended use. I can work from an existing script or help shape the visual narrative from the briefing stage onward.
