Sketch for Voice Actors
I’ve basically figured out who I want to do my voices so it’s just a matter of communicating who the character is for them to create the performance.
Above is a sketch of the character “Ned” just so the actor can see who they’re going to be. They have what are called “sides” which are just the lines that pertain to that character (we don’t send them whole scripts for casting) and I accompany the sides with a quicksketch to give them an idea of what the character looks like.
Voice actors are really good at what they do, I can do lots of whacky voices, but it’s different from being a professional performer. They end up sculpting a great of who the character becomes so I like to give them a lot of room. That also goes for how they read lines. It’s considered cheesy when a director gives them specific line readings, “Not like you just did…do like me!” There are of course times when line readings are appropriate, but if you’re feeding every line then you’ve got the wrong actor in the role (or you’re the wrong director for the reading…gulp!).
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