One more in a series of posts regarding Milt Kahl's work on Sword in the Stone.
Milt loved working on this film, because his character design sensibilities and overall draughtsmanship dominate the movie. (This is the only time he got character design credit, along with Bill Peet.)
He did plenty of drawings for fellow animators to improve the characters' appearance.
The following two sketches were done for Frank Thomas scenes.
This one is for an Ollie Johnston scene.
Being the fisherman that he was, Milt probably enjoyed designing the villainous pike.
Milt drew these poses of Madame Mim as a rhino, ramming into a tree, for John Lounsbery.
A sequence of drawings from one of his own scenes. Sir Ector is arguing with Merlin over the issue of Wart's education: "I'm running this place, and if you think you gonna fiddle (with my schedule, you better pack up your bag of tricks and be gone!)"
The scene was re-used and extended later on in the film when Ector is wearing armor.
A final frame including both characters.
By the way, if you want to see a pristine HD version of The Sword in the Stone, check out Amazon Prime TV. Disney's DVD release years ago already looks very nice, but to see it in such high definition on Amazon is pure joy. For the first time you can fully appreciate Walt Peregoy's incredibly inventive color scheme for the film.
Unfortunately I can not recommend the film's Blu-ray release, I find it unwatchable. The characters look like they were animated with thick sharpies.
For more of Milt's drawings from the film, go here:
Why do you think at this point in time at Disney from 101 Dalmatians to the Rescuers The Design work was so appealing?
ReplyDeleteMilt Kahl had a lot to do with that. He designed just about all characters during that time.
DeleteAndreas, did you see the trailer of the live action of Beauty and the Beast there's your character Gaston.
DeleteAgree with you about the Blu-Ray version. Looks like a coloring book, with those re-drawn outlines. I hear it comes from allowing a computer program to "clean up" an old movie print. And the results are appalling!
DeleteYay! Live action Beauty and the Beast. Milk that cash cow!!!!
ReplyDeleteYay! Live action Beauty and the Beast. Milk that cash cow!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Very Much Mr. Dejas for posting more on my all-time favorite The Sword in the Stone. I did purchase the Walt Disney's Studios ARL Book that was just released and was very disappointed at the lack of content covering the Sword in the Stone (though the book itself is so beautiful). So thank you for covering some ground for me. I would love to see more about the concept and visual design for this movie as it was developed from the book, as it is always sort of skimmed over and I think that is a shame. ( Or maybe they should make a art of animation book for The Sword in the Stone??). It is funny because I always ask people what their favorite movie is from Disney... You would be surprised how many times I have heard this film out of 30 year olds, and in particular men (this was when they released it on TV during the early 90s so maybe we were exposed to it more). So to me, by not promoting and marketing this movie now, there is a whole generation of kids that have never heard of it and that is egregious in itself! ( Never any sketchbook ornaments on Sword in the Stone, very few snowglobes hardly any product for marketing it) I showed this movie to my niece and she loved it but had never heard of it. I still believe there is huge grounds for 2D animation as I remember that when I was a child I LOVED all the colors and characters and animation so best of luck on the future endeavors there as well. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteAmazing
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