Jen Library Archives and Special Collections

Last year, Special Collections was contacted by Fraser Maclean, an animator and teacher from Scotland.  He was finishing up a book on the art of animation layout and wondered if he could use some materials from the Don Bluth Collection of Animation in his book.  We already had some layouts from the Secret of NIMH scanned, so sent him some samples.  He loved them and selected a few to use.  That was the easy part.  The hard part was all of the legal stuff to allow permissions to publish, etc.   Somehow we got through that and sent the images on to Fraser.

Setting the Scene, cover.

We saw that the book came out just a few weeks ago and ordered copies for the library.  Setting the Scene: The Art & Evolution of the Animation Layout came in to the library the other day and it is beautiful!  And so full of information!  The book contains interviews, examples, gossip, history, and process on the art of the layout for animation. Full of lavish color illustrations, it gives the reader a peek into  the history of how animators plot the scenes and pull all of the elements together into one cohesive work.  There is a copy in Special Collections, and also a few in the circulating collection.   Come in to the library and take a look at this beautiful book (if you can find a copy on the shelf.)  Here is one of the images SCAD supplied for the book.  It appears on pages 159.

Sequence 006, Scene 101, layout.