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then I wanted to talk to you about your career. Should we start with Ken or Mel?

Randy Cartwright: My first impression of Mel was while I was a trainee. Next to the trainee room was a big room with Mel Shaw’s inspirational pastel sketches for Black Cauldron completely filling the room. I remember that they were breathtaking. There were so many of them. Almost every major moment of the story was illustrated. In another room across the hall were more of Mel’s sketches for The Fox and the Hound. We were making the original Rescuers at the time, so these were both future movies. I didn’t know who the artist was at the time, but I’d spend long periods studying the pastel sketches. It was just amazing work. I became excited about The Black Cauldron in particular. Later on the excitement died, but at the time there was a lot of potential for the Black Cauldron.

I don’t remember when I first met Mel, but I do remember he was always very dapper. He had a little mustache and wore a cravat all the time. He’d always dress precisely and was a really nice guy, very friendly I remember. I didn’t work directly with him since he was in Visual Development and I was in Animation. Mel did the drawings for the title sequence of The Rescuers. Burny Mattinson storyboarded the sequence, which was originally supposed to be animated. But the effects animation of the bottle being thrown around in the ocean was going to be too expensive, so Mel illustrated Burny’s story sketches in pastel form instead. It turned out to be pretty impressive as still images with Mel’s sketches.

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