MILT KAHL’S LAST DRAWINGS
Milt had left the studio and was living in California right about when production for The Fox and the Hound was done (film in which he had no input at all). For the next Disney film though, The Black Cauldron, he was asked to help out with a few character designs.
These were in fact the last sketches Milt did for Disney. Nonetheless, they are not as masterful as usual, according to a series of animators. Milt admitted to call himself to be more of a refiner when it comes to setting the look of Disney characters for a new film. He usually had his colleagues, like Bill Peet or Ken Anderson, conceive the artistic designs first to go past him and, then, he would use that as inspiration and a starting point.
The studio didn’t send him any for this film, so the characters resemble a lot of his previous characters. Taran is a mix between Mowgli and Peter Pan whereas Eilonwy looks like Tiger Lily and Alice melt together, and the costumes need a little bit more punch.
(Source: fancysomedisneymagic)