Sunday, April 8, 2012

Skippy & Co.

A little late as an "Easter Post",  but I hope you will enjoy these drawings of Skippy, his sisters and friend Toby Turtle from "Robin Hood".
Milt Kahl drew these development sketches based on character concepts by Ken Anderson. At first glance they look like typical Disney formula designs from the 1960ies and 70ies.
But the magic is in the subtle proportions, especially in the faces. The older bunny sister is particularly appealing with her slightly elongated upper muzzle. Without Milt's touch these characters might have looked overly cute and generic.
Actually a lot of scenes in the film, animated by a variety of animators, don't look this good. The acting is ok, but they lack the charm and appeal you see here. 
Then again, everybody knows that Milt's designs were often tough to follow.

The sequencial drawings are from a Kahl scene, they show how he brakes down a fun bunny hop.