Thought I'd post this little colored sketch I did of "Tack" the cobbler from the Thief and the Cobbler movie. I absolutely love this character! He is silent throughout the film except for a one little part. Instead of speaking his eyes and the tacks in his mouth visually explain his emotions. I acquired a fan re-creation of this movie and burned it to DVD. The animation and the story still continues to amaze me no matter how many times I've watched it.

For anyone who has seen this film during its theatrical run or on video/DVD, that is NOT the original film. The original Thief and the Cobbler was never shown in theaters, save for a few countries who saw the a slightly uneditted version before Miramax and Disney bought it. Almost thirty years in the making this was animator Richard William's pet project. He sought to create the most complicated and visually simulating 2D animated film ever and started working on it the late 60's. He almost finished in the early 90's (yikes!) but missed the deadline given from Warner Bros and the film was dropped and so did the money to finish it. Miramax and Disney eventually bought the film. Instead of letting Richard's studio finish the film they decided to take over. They retold the story, re-animated most of it, gave the main characters for the Thief and Tack the Cobbler voices, added songs, etc. In short they took out everything that made this film entertaining and interesting. It was pushed in American theaters as a Aladdin rip-off and the movie flopped. its a wonder that Richard Williams didn't throw himself off the balcony!

The fan re-creation version collected the original uneditted version as close as Richard Wiiliams would have wanted it. They even filled in the story gaps with some of the original storyboards for scenes that were not completed in animation. Who ever made it put up the same version on YouTube as "The Thief and the Cobbler Re-Cobbled" in several different videos. Its worth a look see!