"No Carrots!"

This scene proves that Milt Kahl was capable of animating most subtle and realistic acting extremely well. 

Prince Phillip has just fallen off his horse Samson into the water, and he is not amused. The previously promised carrots for Samson are not going to be handed out.

Some of you might know that Milt absolutely despised working on the prince. During one of our get togethers I asked him, how he could do such a beautiful job on a character he loathes.

To my best recollection he said: "Well, the character needs to be in the picture, I didn't like the assignment, but you do the best you can."

That's saying something about Milt's work ethics. Whatever goes into a Disney film needs to be top notch. 

The clarity in this scene is awesome. Phillip recovers from the fall, moving forward toward the horse. After Samson picks up his hat he splashes him and then says his line within a final pose. That way dialogue and the subtle raise of his eyebrows read beautifully.

By the way, this is rough animation, which was still traced in clean up for the inkers.

I can guarantee you, this is by far Milt's least favorite assignments out of all the characters he ever animated. Yet…there is absolutely no sign of frustration or lowering standards. Just look at those drawings!

When talking about high standards Milt said: " You owe it to yourself and the medium!".

Those are important words to remember!!!


PS. Blog reader XAV created a pencil test with these drawings. Check it out:
https://vimeo.com/40482016