Don Bluth

I’ve been so interested in Don Bluth of lately that I’ve decided to give him his own post.

The man is an excellent animator – one of the best in terms of draftsmanship and believability in the fruitful life that comes out of his drawings. He is no great storyman, and it is the plot in his films where he usually falls down in, but this is partly what interests me about him – he’s not completely brilliant, but he’s still brilliant!

I was intrigued to see how ‘Rockadoodle’, one of his biggest film-flops, was actually one of his best in terms of the flow of the plot and in what it really offered the audience. I got a lot out of watching it. A lot more that An American Tail and The Secret of Nimh

I’ve been looking into him. He’s had his ups and downs, but on general he’s got a wise view on life. Some of his quotes I find very inspirational:
“Draw to Please Yourself.”
– Don Bluth, Youtube Animation Tutorials
“Rather than complaining about it, just do something about it.”
Don Bluth, an interview for some sort of thing I can’t remember right now.

Both quotes are simple and sweet 🙂

 

Don Bluth’s rich, classic style of drawing continued Disney’s quality animation-style in a different form. You may notice in his Artwork of Dirk, the knight (above) there is a similar style to  ‘The Sword in the Stone’ – in which Don was an uncredited Assistant Animation Director. He also worked on many films, remaining uncredited (for whatever reason): such as Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmations and The Rescuers – [See Tag Provided].

Don Bluth left to challenge the failing Disney-studios at the time, and boy did he give them a run for their money. The Land Before Time became the highest grossing animated film at the time, during its release in 1988 – grossing $84 million dollars worldwide, of which the Disney film – Oliver and Company – did not surpass. It was followed later by several (direct-to-video sequels).

Gary Goldman, Don Bluth’s producer and close co-worker who left Disney Studios with Don Bluth in 1979 to establish their own animation company, said in an interview alongside Don at the Fantasia Film Festival that the-minds behind Disney Studios from the time where he and Don had worked there approached them not too long ago and told them how much trouble the competition between the two studios had been and how the Disney Sudios “didn’t know how to put you down from there.”

Gary Goldman said another thing during that interview that I feel quite strongly about – whilst he was talking how when he and Don were working at Disney the studio was only focusing one cheaper ways to make these movies: “We felt that if we didn’t do something drastic, the quality of animation would continue to diminish and would be lost forever.”

It’s clear, looking back on the history of animation greats, that calculated risks, logical anarchy, big scary steps in the right direction often have led to great things. Walt Disney with Snow White, John Lasseter with Computer animation, The pioneers of Computer Animation themselves. Even the pioneers of animation in the early days – such as Emile Reynaud, inventor of the early Theatre Optique – took big risks in trying to keep innovating. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them died poverty-stricken. But they pioneered animation and steered it in the direction where it is today…

But anyway, Don Bluth was another man with the right vision. In my opinion, his execution of it in his films was not always done as beautifully as Disney and Lasseter did with theirs, mainly falling down in his generic story-lines, but thank goodness the world of animation has him!