Artist Behind the Iconic Look of ‘Aladdin’ And ‘The Lion King’ Dies at 68

During Disney Animation Studio’s renaissance in the early 1990s, CEO Michael Eisner was famous for letting his creative people just work and see what would come of it. One of those people was a young Kent Melton.

Melton’s job at Disney Animation Studios was as an animation sculptor who created maquettes made of clay. Kent Melton was one of the few artists who still worked with clay and helped give Disney animators a three-dimensional view of the characters.

oh no… not him, damn it.

just go on pinterest and look at Kent Melton's work. Nobody understood it like he did.
The entirety of 3D animation or just animation in general owes him so much.
If you've ever studied maquettes like I have, he is THE guy….
I'm heartbroken https://t.co/WmavRjvhnO pic.twitter.com/3rtKvO8NAz

— jess a.m. artposting (jam-etc.bsky.social) (@jam_etc_art) February 23, 2024

He would go on to help create the iconic look for Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004). 

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Melton died at his home in Missouri of Lewy body dementia late last week. The famed animation sculptor was 68.

Melton was born in Springfield, Missouri. He never actually studied art but worked at it on his own. He left a job at an amusement park in Missouri to head to Los Angeles to work for Hanna-Barbera Studios.

Disney Animation Studios hired Melton in 1989 after an executive saw his work at a birthday party. Three years later, he became one of the first artists to work in computer-animated images. He would use the computer to create the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin. 

Melton said of his work on Aladdin:

When I saw it on film, I said, ‘It’s alive! I created this thing!’ It was scanned right off of my sculpture. And it was so nice because I was just this kid who grew up on a farm, and here I am sitting in a theater with this giant character that I made happen.

After his work with Walt Disney Animation, Kent Melton went to work for Laika Studios, which helped pioneer stop-motion animation. The character sculptor would work on Laika’s classic Coraline (2009). 

Melton also worked with Warner Bros and helped create the animation for the Martin Short series, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley. 

Kent Melton, the remarkable artist and sculptor. R.I.P. pic.twitter.com/ac3izXuB25

— Tom Ruegger (@tomruegger) February 23, 2024

Kent Melton is survived by his wife, Martha, and children Seth, Jordan, and Nellie.

Years ago, when asked about his art, Melton said: 

When I was a kid, I never kept anything. I never cared about the final work; it was just the process that I loved. I love the experience of painting, drawing, sculpting, playing music, carving — anything. That’s what art is; it’s an experience.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.