Thursday, August 22, 2013

Getting to know Milt Kahl

I originally prepared these interview clips as part of a presentation for the 2009 Milt Kahl Tribute at the Academy. This is a series of brief, but fascinating statements which reveal Milt's passion as well as his artistic ego (watch for his comment about the use of live action, priceless).
He reflects on certain character assignments, talks about the genius of Walt Disney, and he even draws a few characters.
It is shocking to watch him start a sketch, he begins with details, as if he sees the complete drawing already on paper.
One thing is clear, this is an artist who challenged himself constantly to raise the standard of character animation. He had no patience for people who didn't try as hard as he did…he called them lazy bastards.
It's a shame he left Disney so early in 1976. As Brad Bird mentioned, at that time he had two or three more pictures in him.



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28 comments:

  1. DonaldAugust 22, 2013 at 8:15 PM

    Amazing to watch that drawing come out of his pen onto the paper fully formed. Thanks for another wonderful post, and some great insight into classic Disney animators. I have been enjoying your blog VERY much.

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    1. Torbjörn AnderssonAugust 24, 2013 at 9:16 AM

      At the risk of sounding sappy, it reminds me of that scene in the movie Amadeus where Salieri is looking at some of Mozart's notes:

      "It was actually-- It was beyond belief. These were first and only drafts of music. But they showed no corrections of any kind. Not one. He had simply written down music already finished in his head. Page after page of it. As if he were just taking dictation."

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    2. joelAugust 24, 2013 at 3:14 PM

      I'm biased because I love the movie, Mozart, but I think that's a great analogy. I asked my wife to watch this interview. While he was drawing I turned to her and exclaimed, "He's drawing with markers and not one mistake!"

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  2. Brian SlatkyAugust 22, 2013 at 8:33 PM

    This is AWESOME!!!!!! I remember seeing this footage on Milt's episode on "The Disney Family Album" and now we're seeing even more to it!!!!!!! Thank you so much for another amazing post, Andreas!!!!!!!

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  3. UnknownAugust 22, 2013 at 9:53 PM

    Amazing indeed how he starts Shere Khan with the nose!! Talking about Milt Kahl, there is a drawing of the Prince in Snow White made by Mr. Kahl. Do you know if it was a design suggestion on an early stage of production? What is the story behind it? It is a wonderful prince, a sort of Rodolfo Valentino type. I loved it! Thanks for the post!

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    1. UnknownAugust 23, 2013 at 4:37 AM

      I forgot to say, I saw the drang on John Canemaker's book on the Nine Old Men.

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    2. Andreas DejaAugust 24, 2013 at 4:53 PM

      Milt was involved with the design of the prince in Snow White.
      That early design drawing already shows his extraordinary draughtsmanship, amazing appeal and subtleties.

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  4. Sandro CleuzoAugust 23, 2013 at 12:21 AM

    Thanks for giving us this, Andreas. It's priceless.

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  5. Jamie McCueAugust 23, 2013 at 5:47 AM

    I love his facial expression as he's drawing Shere Khan. He's living and channelling that emotion onto the paper.

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  6. Nicolas SpilmanAugust 23, 2013 at 5:48 AM

    It is fascinating to watch his expressions as he draws. There appears to be a certain level of intensity as well as a few moments were he appears to be smiling. Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. UnknownAugust 23, 2013 at 8:29 AM

    This made my day! Thank you. Milt Kahl is one of my inspirations.

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  8. Jeff Maka MerghartAugust 23, 2013 at 9:35 AM

    man! man o man. Thanks for that clip Andreas. I'm with Sandro.... priceless. And always relevant, inspiring and humbling.

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  9. Matt JonesAugust 23, 2013 at 9:42 AM

    Marvellous! Milt was in a good mood that day - he did his Ferdinand voice with no resistance! Nice to see Sausalito in the bg there

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  10. JavierAugust 23, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    Great Interview Andreas! im a fan of Milt as an artist, but his ego was a bit too much for my tastes, and i dont agree with his opinion about reference, he did study tons and tons of reference , no way you can animate an animal or a person without ever seeing one move, thats totally ridiculous. He was an amazing artist no one will question him that, but as a person he doesnt seem very likeable to work with

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    1. Jean MorelAugust 23, 2013 at 12:38 PM

      I think what he means is that he usually didn't have to have the reference right there next to him as he drew.He had it up there in the ol' noodle from daily observation and retaining.The art of looking.Egos make great performers,a bit of a mystery to most europeens...

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    2. Marc HendryAugust 25, 2013 at 6:14 AM

      I think that's where a lot of the misunderstanding between Bluth and the young animators in the 70's came from. The young artists had heard that Milt didn't use live action, so they didn't want to either. But of course the young artists didn't have 30 years of studying action behind them like Milt did, so they could have used live action like Bluth wanted them to.
      I've read that the way Mr.Deja does it is that rather than drawing over photostats he just watches the video over and over and makes notes and sketches to refer to back at his animation desk.

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    3. David August 27, 2013 at 6:18 PM

      Marc, I'm not sure what you're referring to ... Bluth and his group used a lot of live-action reference.

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  11. Jamaal BradleyAugust 23, 2013 at 10:34 AM

    Pure Inspiration.... always. thanks for posting Andreas

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  12. mark pudleinerAugust 23, 2013 at 10:54 AM

    I tell others about this video after seeing it that night at the tribute.
    It's such a great piece to watch.
    I can't believe his blunt honesty.
    As Sandro mentioned, it's priceless.
    Thanks so much Andreas for this post :-)

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  13. Deacon Andrew ThomasAugust 23, 2013 at 7:07 PM

    The perfection of expression in that Pinocchio drawing is unreal! How he could get that without starting with construction lines is beyond me. A master!

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  14. Kristi O.August 24, 2013 at 1:03 PM

    Hi Andreas,

    Sorry for the off-topic comment, but I was reading Floyd Norman's book and he made a comment that I thought was interesting, in which he posed the questions: "Will students one day study virtual frames the way we pore over the sketches of Milt Kahl and Freddie Moore? Will animation eventually produce a group of Digital Nine Old Men?"

    What do you (And your readers) think?

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    1. Andreas DejaAugust 24, 2013 at 4:54 PM

      I really have no idea.

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    2. AnonymousAugust 27, 2013 at 3:38 PM

      There is and always be more than "nine" excellent animators scattered all over the world (2D & 3D), but having them together as a reference team is what I found more difficult nowadays.

      We must know were to look and were to learn from, it doesn't necessary must be from an entitled team of animators.

      There you have Deja, Rainieri, Buxter, goldberg, keane, pablos, etc etc, and nobody has entitled them so.. my answer is no, there will be no more "9 old men"

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    3. UnknownSeptember 9, 2013 at 11:09 AM

      As for virtual frames, I'd rather study them as a reference for drawing. Like life action is useful to study natural movement, CG is useful to study the optical effects - lighting, shadow, reflections - to use them later in pencil drawing - just like Golden Age animators used sculpted models.

      But it's true there are some great contemporary CG animators, probably I might study CG frames made by Alex Kupershimidt for example.

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  15. Markus LehtokumpuAugust 26, 2013 at 5:08 AM

    Oh man. Watching such a master at drawing is such a joy. Just perfect lines. And superb laugh he have. :D

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  16. David August 27, 2013 at 6:14 PM

    "It's a shame he left Disney so early in 1976. As Brad Bird mentioned, at that time he had two or three more pictures in him."

    Three more movies would have taken him up through Basil of Baker Street . It's fun to imagine what might have been had Mr. Kahl had been a major force on Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron, and Basil.

    Andreas, do you know if Richard Williams ever tried to actively recruit Milt Kahl to work on The Thief and the Cobbler ? (I imagine he must have asked him ... ) I'm sure he must have had at least two or three more pictures in him , because his Medusa doesn't feel like the work of an "old man" who was tired of what he was doing. Too bad the studio politics made him feel that it was best to bow out when he did. I don't get the feeling that Milt considered himself a teacher or a mentor in the same way that Eric was, but it would have been great if he had at least stayed at the studio for a few more years in that sort of role , if he had the inclination, though it seems he did not ...

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    1. Andreas DejaSeptember 24, 2013 at 12:27 AM

      Dick Williams did ask Milt to work on the Thief & Cobbler.
      Milt said: You are the only one I am not saying no to.
      But after thinking about it for a while, he declined.

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  17. Edisontoons BlogSeptember 22, 2013 at 10:22 PM

    This videos made me feel like drawing again and again....

    thanks you Andreas for posting this. He was an amazing artist and this video is absolutely timeless.....

    Cheers

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