100 Best Apps for Storyboard Artists
Storyboard artists often combine drawing software with tools for scripts, references, collaboration, and production tracking. This first selection covers 25 widely used options for building a practical visual-development workflow.
Storyboarder
Storyboarder is a desktop application for quickly sketching boards, adding dialogue, and exporting animatics. It reduces the friction of turning rough visual ideas into timed sequences for review.
Toon Boom Storyboard Pro
Toon Boom Storyboard Pro combines drawing, panel management, timing, camera moves, and animatic editing. It helps artists keep boards, scene timing, and presentation assets organized within one production file.
Boords
Boords is a web-based storyboard platform for creating panels, scripts, shot lists, and animatics. It helps distributed teams share storyboard revisions without circulating multiple local file versions.
StudioBinder
StudioBinder provides production-management tools for scripts, shot lists, storyboards, schedules, and call sheets. It helps filmmakers connect visual planning with the logistical documents needed for a shoot.
Canva
Canva is a browser-based design platform for arranging images, text, graphics, and presentation layouts. It helps non-specialists assemble clear storyboard presentations from existing visual assets quickly.
Milanote
Milanote is a visual workspace for collecting notes, images, links, checklists, and creative boards. It helps artists consolidate scattered inspiration and narrative notes before drawing individual panels.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor for painting, compositing, retouching, and preparing storyboard artwork. It gives artists precise image-editing controls when panels require layered painting or photo reference.
Procreate
Procreate is an iPad drawing application with brushes, layers, animation tools, and touch-oriented controls. It lets artists sketch and paint panels away from a desktop workstation using a tablet.
Clip Studio Paint
Clip Studio Paint is illustration software with drawing tools, perspective rulers, comic features, and 3D references. It helps artists maintain consistent characters and perspective across detailed sequential storyboard panels.
Krita
Krita is an open-source painting application offering brushes, layers, animation tools, and color-management features. It provides a capable digital painting environment for artists seeking an accessible desktop alternative.
Blender
Blender is a 3D creation suite for modeling, layout, animation, rendering, and Grease Pencil drawing. It helps artists block complex camera angles and environments before committing them to storyboard drawings.
Adobe Fresco
Adobe Fresco is a drawing and painting app featuring vector brushes, raster brushes, and live brushes. It helps artists create expressive mobile sketches while retaining editable vector strokes where useful.
Concepts
Concepts is a flexible sketching application with an infinite canvas, layers, guides, and vector-based strokes. It helps artists explore compositions without being constrained by fixed canvas boundaries or page sizes.
Sketchbook
Sketchbook is a digital drawing application with customizable brushes, layers, rulers, and symmetry tools. It offers a focused workspace for quickly drafting clean thumbnails and expressive storyboard sketches.
Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is vector and raster design software for illustration, typography, shapes, and export preparation. It helps artists create scalable graphic panels and polished pitch materials without switching applications.
Figma
Figma is a collaborative interface design tool for arranging frames, comments, graphics, and shared libraries. It helps teams review visual sequences and leave contextual feedback directly alongside individual frames.
Miro
Miro is an online whiteboard for mapping ideas, arranging media, collaborating, and documenting workshop outcomes. It helps creative teams visualize narrative flow during remote brainstorming and early sequence planning.
PureRef
PureRef is a reference-image organizer that lets artists freely arrange images on a lightweight canvas. It prevents reference hunting from interrupting drawing by keeping visual sources visible beside artwork.
Autodesk ShotGrid
Autodesk ShotGrid is production-tracking software for managing assets, tasks, reviews, and approvals in media projects. It helps larger productions track storyboard status and feedback across many artists and departments.
Celtx
Celtx is a preproduction platform for writing scripts, organizing projects, and planning screen productions. It helps storyboard artists work from structured scenes rather than manually parsing unformatted script drafts.
Final Draft
Final Draft is screenwriting software for formatting scripts, managing scenes, and collaborating on revisions. It helps artists navigate properly formatted scripts and identify scene changes during board planning.
Arc Studio
Arc Studio is collaborative screenwriting software with outlining, commenting, revision tracking, and script formatting. It helps story teams follow evolving scripts and discuss changes before visual sequences are finalized.
FrameForge
FrameForge is previs software for building 3D sets, placing actors, and planning camera shots. It helps artists test staging and lens choices when live-action scenes are difficult to visualize.
Storyboard That
Storyboard That is a web application for composing storyboard panels from characters, scenes, and text. It helps users communicate basic visual sequences when they need boards without drawing every element.
Plot
Plot is a creative project-management platform for organizing productions, tasks, files, and feedback. It helps small creative teams centralize approvals and deliverables that otherwise become scattered across tools.
Storyboard Hero
Storyboard Hero uses AI to turn written scripts into editable storyboard panels and shot sequences. It helps artists overcome blank-page planning by quickly generating visual starting points from scene descriptions.
Flix
Flix is a collaborative storyboard management platform for organizing panels, versions, notes, and editorial workflows. It reduces confusion around changing boards by centralizing revisions and feedback for production teams.
ShotDeck
ShotDeck provides a searchable library of film and television stills for visual reference research. It helps artists find cinematic composition and lighting references without manually scrubbing through films.
Eagle
Eagle organizes images, videos, fonts, and other visual assets into searchable local libraries. It solves scattered-reference problems by letting artists tag and retrieve inspiration files quickly.
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator creates vector illustrations, diagrams, and scalable graphic assets using precision drawing tools. It helps artists revise clean linework and graphic elements without losing quality at different sizes.
Inkscape
Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor for creating illustrations, shapes, text, and diagrams. It gives budget-conscious artists vector drawing tools for reusable storyboard assets and visual layouts.
DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve combines video editing, color correction, visual effects, and audio post-production tools. It helps artists turn animatics into polished review videos without moving between separate post-production applications.
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is a video editor for assembling clips, sound, titles, and animatic sequences. It solves timing-review issues by allowing storyboard panels to be edited against dialogue and music.
Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects creates motion graphics, compositing, and animated visual effects for video projects. It helps artists communicate camera moves and transitions that static storyboard panels cannot fully convey.
Cinema 4D
Cinema 4D is a 3D modeling, animation, simulation, and rendering application for motion design. It helps artists build three-dimensional scene references for difficult angles, lighting, and camera blocking.
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is a real-time 3D creation platform for building interactive environments and cinematic scenes. It addresses complex scene visualization by enabling rapid exploration of virtual sets and camera positions.
ZBrush
ZBrush is a digital sculpting application for creating detailed 3D characters, props, and environments. It helps artists develop custom dimensional references when existing models do not match a scene.
Nomad Sculpt
Nomad Sculpt is a mobile 3D sculpting app for creating models on tablets and phones. It gives artists a portable way to shape quick three-dimensional references away from their desktop.
SketchUp
SketchUp is a 3D modeling application for designing spaces, structures, objects, and architectural scenes. It solves perspective inconsistencies by letting artists construct and view locations from planned camera angles.
Twinmotion
Twinmotion creates real-time visualizations from 3D models with lighting, weather, and environmental assets. It helps artists test atmosphere and natural lighting before committing those decisions to storyboard panels.
Gravity Sketch
Gravity Sketch is a spatial 3D design tool for sketching and modeling in immersive environments. It helps artists explore forms and compositions three-dimensionally when flat sketches feel limiting.
Keyframe Pro
Keyframe Pro is an animation and storyboard application for organizing drawings along a timeline. It helps artists evaluate pacing by arranging storyboard drawings, notes, and timing in one workspace.
OpenToonz
OpenToonz is an open-source 2D animation program for drawing, compositing, and scene production. It helps artists test movement between key storyboard poses before animation production begins.
TVPaint Animation
TVPaint Animation is a 2D animation application built around raster drawing and traditional workflows. It supports artists who need to rough out expressive action and timing with hand-drawn frames.
Moho
Moho is a 2D animation program offering drawing tools, bone rigging, and compositing features. It helps artists preview character movement efficiently when repeated pose changes require rapid testing.
Dragonframe
Dragonframe is stop-motion animation software for camera capture, exposure control, and shot review. It helps practical filmmakers plan miniature or stop-motion sequences with controlled frame-by-frame previews.
Character Creator
Character Creator builds customizable 3D human characters with adjustable facial features, clothing, and proportions. It reduces time spent searching for pose references by supplying adaptable digital character models.
Daz Studio
Daz Studio is a 3D scene creation application for posing figures, arranging assets, and rendering images. It helps artists stage characters and lighting references when live models or locations are unavailable.
Cascadeur
Cascadeur is a 3D animation software focused on posing characters and refining physical motion. It helps artists plan believable action poses when anatomy and momentum are difficult to visualize.
Magic Poser
Magic Poser lets users arrange articulated 3D figures, props, lighting, and cameras for reference images. It solves pose-reference gaps by allowing artists to build specific character interactions and viewpoints.
Poser
Poser provides poseable 3D human figures, props, and lighting for creating visual reference images. It helps artists resolve difficult anatomy and camera-angle questions before drawing panels.
DesignDoll
DesignDoll lets artists pose adjustable 3D mannequins and view them from custom camera angles. It reduces time spent constructing perspective-correct body poses from imagination.
Pose Tool 3D
Pose Tool 3D offers articulated human models that users can pose, light, and photograph. It addresses uncertainty about foreshortened gestures by supplying manipulable anatomical reference.
Comic Draw
Comic Draw is an iPad app for scripting, sketching, inking, and lettering comic pages. It keeps sequential-page planning together when artists would otherwise switch between several mobile tools.
Comic Life
Comic Life turns photos and illustrations into comic layouts with panels, captions, and speech balloons. It helps communicate storyboard concepts clearly when presentation-ready annotated panels are needed.
PanelFlow
PanelFlow is a web-based storyboarding tool for drawing panels, adding notes, and sharing boards. It reduces revision confusion by keeping visual sequences and feedback in a shared workspace.
Previs Pro
Previs Pro is a mobile previsualization app for arranging 3D sets, cameras, and actors. It helps filmmakers test shot composition without building physical sets or moving performers.
Shot Lister
Shot Lister creates scheduled shot lists with timing, camera details, and production-day updates. It organizes storyboard-derived coverage so crews can track planned shots during busy shoots.
Shot Designer
Shot Designer provides virtual sets, cameras, actors, lights, and overhead blocking diagrams. It clarifies complex staging when artists need to map character movement across a scene.
Notion
Notion combines documents, databases, task lists, and collaborative pages for organizing creative projects. It centralizes scripts, reference notes, and revision tasks that can otherwise become scattered.
Trello
Trello uses visual boards, lists, and cards to track tasks through production workflows. It makes panel assignments and approval stages visible when small teams need simple coordination.
Airtable
Airtable combines spreadsheet-style tables with databases, attachments, views, and linked records. It helps teams track shots, assets, and statuses without maintaining disconnected spreadsheets.
Frame.io
Frame.io enables video review, frame-accurate comments, file sharing, and approval workflows. It streamlines feedback on animatics by attaching discussion directly to specific video frames.
SyncSketch
SyncSketch supports collaborative review of images, videos, and PDFs with timed annotations. It reduces ambiguous notes by letting collaborators draw and comment on exact storyboard moments.
Kitsu
Kitsu is production-tracking software for managing tasks, assets, shots, and review workflows. It gives animation teams a shared view of storyboard progress across artists and departments.
ftrack
ftrack is project-management software for creative productions, including tasks, reviews, and asset tracking. It helps coordinate dependencies when storyboard work must connect with larger production pipelines.
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya provides 3D modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, and rendering tools. It helps artists build precise spatial references for scenes involving complex characters or environments.
Houdini
Houdini is a procedural 3D application for modeling, animation, simulations, and visual effects. It supports rapid environment exploration when scenes require repeatable, adjustable procedural elements.
Rhino 3D
Rhino 3D offers precision modeling tools for creating curves, surfaces, solids, and architectural forms. It helps artists understand challenging built environments before translating them into storyboard perspective.
Adobe Substance 3D Stager
Adobe Substance 3D Stager assembles 3D scenes with models, materials, lighting, and camera views. It speeds product or interior shot reference by enabling realistic scene arrangement and rendering.
MetaHuman Creator
MetaHuman Creator lets users create customizable digital human characters for use in Unreal Engine. It supplies detailed character reference when storyboards need consistent faces across multiple scenes.
Mixamo
Mixamo provides downloadable character rigs and motion animations that can be applied to 3D models. It helps visualize movement quickly when artists lack time to animate reference poses manually.
Rokoko Studio
Rokoko Studio records, cleans, and exports motion-capture data from compatible capture workflows. It provides natural movement reference when action scenes are difficult to pose convincingly.
iClone
iClone is a real-time 3D animation application for characters, scenes, cameras, and motion. It helps creators block animated sequences quickly before committing to drawn storyboard panels.
RoughAnimator
RoughAnimator is a hand-drawn animation app for creating frame-by-frame sketches and timing tests. It helps test action pacing when static panels cannot fully communicate movement or rhythm.
Toon Boom Harmony
Toon Boom Harmony creates 2D animation using drawing, rigging, compositing, and timeline-based production tools. Artists needing animated storyboard samples can test timing and movement before committing scenes to full production.
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate builds vector and bitmap animations for interactive content, video, and motion-focused visual sequences. Artists who need reusable character poses can animate and revise assets without redrawing every frame.
Pencil2D
Pencil2D is a free desktop application for hand-drawn raster and vector frame-by-frame animation. Artists wanting simple animatics can sketch rough motion studies without learning a complex animation suite.
Callipeg
Callipeg is an iPad animation application for drawing, timing, and previewing frame-by-frame sequences. Artists working away from a desktop can develop motion tests directly with a tablet and stylus.
TupiTube Desk
TupiTube Desk provides free tools for creating and exporting 2D animation projects on desktop computers. Beginners needing accessible animatic software can experiment with traditional animation workflows at little technical overhead.
Storyboard Quick
Storyboard Quick assembles storyboard panels using built-in characters, props, locations, and imported visual assets. Artists facing tight preproduction deadlines can communicate shot ideas faster than drawing every element from scratch.
Storyboard Composer
Storyboard Composer organizes images, drawings, notes, and audio into presentation-ready storyboard sequences on iPad. Directors needing to present shot plans can combine visual panels and annotations in one portable document.
Panel Forge
Panel Forge creates storyboard panels and previsualization layouts using customizable characters, props, and scene elements. Artists who need consistent recurring locations can reuse scene assets instead of rebuilding compositions for each shot.
ShotPro
ShotPro provides 3D previsualization tools for arranging virtual cameras, actors, lighting, and environments. Artists struggling to explain complex camera blocking can visualize spatial relationships before live-action shoots begin.
Cine Tracer
Cine Tracer is a real-time cinematography simulator for practicing virtual lighting, lenses, and camera placement. Artists uncertain about lens choices can compare camera perspectives and lighting setups in a virtual environment.
Set.a.light 3D
Set.a.light 3D simulates studio photography setups with adjustable lights, cameras, models, and backgrounds. Artists planning reference photography can test lighting directions before arranging physical equipment or subjects.
LumaFusion
LumaFusion is a mobile video editor with multitrack timelines, trimming, effects, and audio controls. Artists assembling animatics on mobile devices can edit panels, scratch audio, and timing in one project.
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a professional video editor for organizing footage, editing timelines, color, and audio. Artists with many storyboard revisions can manage versions and build polished animatics more efficiently.
Avid Media Composer
Avid Media Composer is a professional nonlinear editor used for cutting, organizing, and finishing video sequences. Teams handling large editorial projects can keep storyboard-derived edits organized across extensive media collections.
Fusion Studio
Fusion Studio combines node-based compositing, visual effects, motion graphics, and 3D tools for video. Artists needing polished effects references can composite temporary screen graphics and visual treatments into animatics.
Nuke
Nuke is a node-based compositing application for combining image elements, effects, and live-action footage. Artists planning effects-heavy shots can create composited proof-of-concept frames for clearer production discussions.
Kdenlive
Kdenlive is an open-source video editor offering multitrack editing, transitions, effects, and proxy workflows. Artists needing a no-cost animatic editor can arrange panels and audio without proprietary editing software.
Runway
Runway provides browser-based AI video generation, video editing, and visual effects creation tools. Artists needing quick motion references can explore generated clips before investing time in detailed animatics.
Pika
Pika generates short videos from text prompts, images, and existing video inputs. Artists exploring action or transitions can rapidly create moving reference material for pitching a sequence.
Midjourney
Midjourney generates stylized images from text prompts and image references through an online interface. Artists seeking early mood references can quickly explore visual directions before drawing final storyboard panels.
Adobe Firefly
Adobe Firefly generates and edits images using text prompts within Adobe's creative software ecosystem. Artists needing alternate props or backgrounds can explore visual options without manually painting every variation.
Vizcom
Vizcom transforms sketches into rendered concept imagery using AI-assisted visualization and drawing tools. Artists whose rough sketches need presentation polish can quickly communicate intended materials, lighting, and forms.
Krea
Krea offers AI image generation, real-time visual exploration, and image enhancement tools in a browser. Artists searching for composition references can iterate visual ideas rapidly while retaining control over prompts.
WriterDuet
WriterDuet is collaborative screenwriting software for writing, revising, commenting on, and sharing scripts. Artists working from changing scripts can follow revisions and discuss scene details with writers remotely.
Highland 2
Highland 2 is a screenplay writing application that formats scripts and organizes writing projects. Solo creators developing scripts and boards together can keep scene descriptions readable and properly structured.
The strongest storyboard workflow is usually a combination of drawing, reference, script, and review tools. Choose apps based on the medium, collaborators, and level of production detail your project requires.