Blueprint your vision: an AI-powered workflow for better storyboards

Summary

In this guide, you will learn:

• How to build a dynamic, AI-powered workflow for storyboarding that goes beyond static sketches.

• How to use specific storyboard prompts for every phase, from narrative conception to detailed scene description.

• The value of using a central collaborative workspace to maintain creative alignment and streamline feedback.

• A method for transforming your final storyboard directly into a production-ready shot list and asset plan.

Storyboarding is the foundational blueprint for any visual project, but it can be a painstakingly slow process that exemplifies the broader challenges facing creative teams today. Miro's 2025 Momentum at Work Report shows that knowledge workers spend less than 2 hours daily on creative, strategic projects like storyboarding, with the remaining time consumed by maintenance tasks like meetings, communications, and reporting. In fact, for every 1 hour of momentum work, teams spend 3 hours on maintenance tasks that often derail creative processes.

The traditional storyboarding workflow—with disconnected scripts, endless redraws, and struggles to translate written vision into clear visual sequences—reflects the 79% of workers who report "communication chaos" and the 57% dealing with "continuous re-creation" across different tools. When 69% of knowledge workers encounter collaboration struggles monthly, and 88% experience emotional overload, it's clear that creative processes need a fundamental transformation.

What if you could revolutionize storyboarding with a new workflow centered on AI and targeted visual prompts? This guide details a modern, step-by-step approach to creating storyboards. By using collaborative platforms and AI assistants, your team can easily move from a core idea to a fully realized visual plan.

Step 1: Conceptualize the narrative with AI brainstorming prompts

Every great story starts with a compelling concept. Instead of facing a blank page, use storyboard prompts with an AI assistant to spark the initial narrative. This phase is about building the world, defining characters, and finding the core conflict before you draw a single frame.

• Generate core concepts: On a collaborative canvas, start with a theme. Use an AI prompt like "Generate 5 story concepts for a short animated film about friendship and loss."

• Develop characters: Choose a concept and build on it. Use a prompt like, "Create a character profile for a shy, inventive protagonist who discovers a hidden world. Include their motivations, fears, and a key personality quirk."

• Outline the plot: With a character in place, ask the AI to "Outline a three-act story structure for this character's journey." This gives you an immediate narrative skeleton to work with.

Learn more about all AI brainstorming features Miro has to help your team capture every valuable perspective.

Step 2: Structure the scenes with sequence prompts

With a plot outline, you can begin breaking the story into a sequence of scenes. Here, you use AI to translate the narrative beats into a structured flow, ensuring the story's pacing is right.

• Break down acts: Select a part of your story outline (e.g., "Act 1: The Inciting Incident") and use a prompt like

  "Break this act down into 5 key scenes." The AI will generate a list of distinct moments that move the plot forward.

• Flesh out scene details: For each scene, use a prompt to add detail: "For the scene 'Protagonist finds the hidden map,' describe the setting, the key action, and the emotional turning point."

• Collaborate on the flow: Invite writers, artists, and directors to the shared board. They can rearrange scene cards, add notes, and refine the AI-generated descriptions, ensuring the entire team is aligned on the sequence of events.

Step 3: From text to visual scenes with descriptive prompts

This is where the storyboard truly comes to life. Use AI to generate rich, descriptive text that will guide the visual creation process, whether it's for a human artist or another AI image generation tool.

• Generate shot descriptions: For each scene card, use a detailed storyboard prompt: "Write a shot description for a wide-angle establishing shot. The scene is a sun-drenched, futuristic city with flying vehicles. The mood is optimistic and awe-inspiring."

• Define camera work: Get specific with your prompts: "Suggest three different camera angles to film the protagonist's moment of discovery. Include a close-up, a point-of-view shot, and a high-angle shot."

• Create dialogue: If your storyboard includes dialogue, use a prompt like "Write a short, tense dialogue exchange between the protagonist and the villain as they meet for the first time."

Step 4: Refine and polish with AI editing prompts

Once your visual sequence is laid out, it's time to refine it. An AI assistant can act as a narrative editor, helping you check for consistency, pacing, and clarity.

• Check for pacing: Select all your scene descriptions and ask the AI, "Analyze the pacing of this story. Are there any sections that feel too slow or rushed?"

• Improve descriptions: Pick a description that feels weak and use a prompt like "Rewrite this to be more visually evocative and use stronger verbs."

• Ensure consistency: Use the AI to check for plot holes or character inconsistencies with a prompt like,

  "Review this storyboard outline. Is the protagonist's motivation consistent throughout?"

Step 5: Transform your storyboard into a production plan

A great storyboard is more than a creative document; it's a production tool. Use AI to extract the necessary data from your storyboard to prepare for the next stage of creation.

• Generate a shot list: Ask the AI to "Create a detailed shot list from this storyboard, including scene number, shot type, camera angle, and a brief action description."

• Create asset and prop lists: Use a prompt like "Analyze this storyboard and generate a list of all necessary characters, props, and unique set locations." This is invaluable for animators, filmmakers, and production designers.

• Manage tasks visually: In a tool like Miro, you can turn these lists into tasks on a Kanban board to track the progress of asset creation, animation, or filming for each shot.

Want to see a real-life example? Join Radoslav Bali and George Radu, from Miro's Creative team, as they walk you through their complete workflow for planning a Hero video using Miro’s collaborative tools. From gathering research and brainstorming ideas to sketching frames, organizing timelines, and refining with stakeholder feedback, this tutorial covers every step of the process:

Example storyboard prompts to get you started

• For concept: "Generate a logline for a sci-fi story about an android who develops human emotions."

• For scenes: "Describe a 4-panel sequence for a chase scene through a crowded marketplace."

• For visuals: "Write a description for a match cut transitioning from a character's eye to a full moon."

• For revision: "Shorten this scene description to its essential elements without losing the mood."

• For production: "Turn this scene into a list of required sound effects."

By adopting an AI-powered workflow for storyboarding, you shift from a linear, often fragmented process to a dynamic and collaborative one. This new approach, driven by powerful storyboard prompts, allows your team to build richer narratives, align on a visual direction faster, and seamlessly transition from creative vision to practical production.

Accelerating creative workflows

The transformation is already happening for forward-thinking teams. PepsiCo brought a new product to market 3.6x faster by uniting global teams to plan and deliver the product in Miro. As Koen Burghouts, VP Innovation & Emerging Brands, explains: "68% of PepsiCo users agreed Miro helps complete projects faster and 80% agreed Miro helped improve work productivity. 'Miro inspired a different way of working on our team. We now take this as our best practice and our blueprint for complex innovation.'"

Ready to revolutionize your storyboarding process and transform creative chaos into streamlined collaboration? Try Miro for free and experience how visual workflows can accelerate your team's momentum from concept to completion.

Author: Miro Team Last update: September 16, 2025