Did you know there is a Don Bluth archive filled with original work they did on the films? Recently, I was very fortunate to get a tour of the Savannah School of Art & Design’s Don Bluth Collection of Animation. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman donated two storage rooms filled with art from their films (Pictured Below). Pencil tests, concept art, backgrounds, pans, sketches, painted cels, deleted scenes and much more. Even things that the archiving staff have not even gone through or cataloged yet! I got to pick up and hold actual Dragon’s Lair cels, and flip through Banjo the Woodpile cat animation tests; what a great experience! I took a few photos and I hope you enjoy them, and hopefully one day you too can visit the Don Bluth Collection of Animation archive!



Written by SCAD staff

“The Don Bluth Collection of Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design is a unique collection in the world of academia. No other art school or university has such a complete archives of an animation studio. With over one million pieces of works on paper and acetate, the collection has presented some big challenges along with the prestige and the benefits. Archiving this huge collection while making it an accessible teaching collection for students and faculty has been an ongoing balancing act between preserving the collection to the best archival standards and providing a hands-on experience to an extraordinary educational resource in the study of animation. This presentation will provide some background about the studio(s) involved in creating this archive and also discuss the challenges and benefits of having this amazing resource at SCAD.”

Some Resources:

Official SCAD Don Bluth Collection Link:
The Don Bluth Collection of Animation Online
History of the acquisition of the Don Bluth collection.

Also be sure to check out our pencil test section, with some Don Bluth pencil tests!
Don Bluth Pencil Tests

Don Bluth Films Official Website:
Don Bluth Films

Don Bluth Animation – Animation Tutorials by Don Bluth
Don Bluth Animation

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The Author

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee has been creating animated cartoons online since 1999/2000 for his website flashcartoons.org. Many cartoons on the site have gained viral video status reaching millions of viewers online. In 2009, Lavalle started learning hand drawn animation from Don Bluth in his animation classes, as well as attending his Masterclasses in Arizona. He has also personally studied animation and visual effects from Veteran Disney animators in Orlando, FL.

Lavalle is widely known in the animation industry as the creator of the TraditionalAnimation.com website. After seeing that most animation sites were about all types of animation, not any specific to classical hand drawn animation, Lavalle knew Traditional Animation needed to be represented online. TraditionalAnimation.com has become the leading website and social media account for all things 2D. The website served as inspiration for “The Traditional Animation Show” in which Lavalle was both producer and host.

His partnership with Don Bluth began when he championed the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign as lead project manager, editor, voice actor and in-betweener. The campaign reached $730,000 dollars to produce a 7-minute pitch video. In 2017, Lavalle brought the idea of creating a school to Don Bluth, and Don Bluth University was born. After a decade of learning from Don Bluth and working together on multiple pitches and business ventures, Lavalle accepted the position as Vice President of Don Bluth's new company Don Bluth Studios.

1 Comment

  1. James
    April 8, 2012 at 6:15 pm — Reply

    Holy crap that’s awesome!

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