Hello, dear readers! In continuation of the “Disney Princesses” section, I set out to find art with our heroines, but in roles that are unusual for themselves. I was wondering what the princesses would look like on a different playing field, so to speak. And I found a lot of interesting art on various topics. I will share them with you today. We will see pin-up princesses in old age. Let's find out what they would look like if they starred in an anime. Let's see our beauties in prison. And let's see what they would look like if they were painted by Renaissance artists. Let's start with the last one.
Disney Renaissance Princesses
Bangok artist Tanyamon Charoensuttikul tried to depict princesses as if they were painted by Renaissance artists. In her paintings she combined two styles, two eras, two completely different approaches to depiction. And this is what came out of it.
Cinderella
Snow White
Belle
Ariel
Jasmine
Pocahontas
Mulan
Rapunzel
Merida
Tiana
Anime princesses
What distinguishes anime from all other art. Right. Huge, expressive eyes in half the face, a little nose and neat lips. There are many variations on the princess theme. Both beautiful and not very beautiful, somewhere vulgar, somewhere quite beautiful. But I chose these particular works because they seemed to me the most reliable or something, not too cartoonish.
Cinderella
Snow White
Aurora
Ariel
Belle
Mulan
Pocahontas
Merida
Rapunzel
Elsa
Anna
Pinup style
The Disney Pin-up series of drawings belongs to Russian illustrator Andrei Tarusov, who lives in Los Angeles. The artist decided to show the famous Disney princesses in a piquant pin-up style.
The princesses ended up in prison
In old age
Let's imagine for a moment that our princesses have aged. What would they be like? Similar to whom? Were they still as slender and were they still kind? Or maybe time has taken its course and the princesses have changed beyond recognition? the authors of the works tried to depict the princesses in old age, as if they had lived to this day.
Brazilian artist Isaac Areas decided to create several portraits of very aged princesses and showed what age-related changes would occur to the heroines now. Most of them already have gray hair, wrinkles, but still have the same kind look.
Snow White is already 92 years old, and she is still just as beautiful and charming.
Cinderella was 19 years old at the time of the release of her cartoon. So she is now 84 years old.Old Cinderella was inspired by Julie Andrews (“Mary Poppins”).
16-year-old Aurora, the sleeping beauty, remains just as beautiful despite the fact that she is already 72 years old.
Ariel is a year older than Belle, she is now 42 years old. In 1989's The Little Mermaid, she is 16 years old.
At the time of her encounter with the Beast, Belle was 17 years old. So she is now 41 years old.
Jasmine in the cartoon was 15 years old when Aladdin was released (1992).
She is now 38 years old.
Pocahontas was 18 years old in her 1995 cartoon. That is, she is now 38 years old.
In fact, the real Pocahontas was 12 years old when she saved John Smith from death. But reality often does not coincide with the plots of cartoons.
Mulan fought the Huns at the age of 16. The cartoon was released in 1998, which means Mulan is now 33 years old.
Chinese actress Ming-Na Wen served as inspiration for the artist.
Well that's all for today. I hope you were as interested as I was when I found them. Smile and enjoy life.
Film scholar Daniel Kotenschulte is a lucky man: he has the opportunity to rummage through the archives of the Disney studio as much as his heart desires. As a result, he discovered a lot of interesting sketches and concept art that had never seen the light of day before.
Daniel Cotenschulte: “You unwrap pastel drawings that are still folded, and all this colored dust appears on the table. Amazing moment. The film about Donald Duck was practically prepared: there are his beautiful storyboards and pastels that give an idea of the whole picture.”
From all this, he compiled the book The Walt Disney Film Archives: The Animated Movies 1921−1968, which included fifteen hundred illustrations and essays written by studio experts. The book will be released on October 1, but in the meantime here are a few pictures that were included in it.
Scene from artist David Hall's Alice in Wonderland treatment (1939) frame: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Concept art for "Sleeping Beauty" frame: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Sketch for the cartoon "Fantasia" (1940) frame: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Concept art by Mary Blair for Cinderella (1950) frame: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Early sketch for The Jungle Book (1967) still: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Sketch by Gustaf Tenggren for Pinocchio (1940) frame: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Sketch for Dumbo by Bill Peet (1941) still: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Sketch for the cartoon "Jack and the Beanstalk" from the series "Merrily and Carefree" (1947) frame: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Material from the short film "Mickey Mouse on a Construction Site" (1933) still: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Virginia Davis poses for the closing shots of Alice and the Ghosts (1924), Disney's first animated short with live action. frame: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Walt Disney Animation is considered a titan of industry when it comes to animated feature films. Their movies span decades and have reached all over the world.
In recent years the Disney art departments have been more relaxed about releasing their animation art to the public in official art books. These books show rendered character sketches, storyboards, and everything you’d want from a behind-the-scenes look at their animated features.
And with so many new movies releasing every year it’s tough to know which art books have the best material. That’s why I’ve collected this gallery of the best Disney art books from years of animation history.
They’re perfect for aspiring artists and animators, or even folks who love the beautiful artwork produced by Disney’s talented animation team.
Tangled
The blonde female lead in Tangled is still memorable all these years after the film’s release. This was an incredibly popular movie and proved to be one of Disney’s biggest hits, eventually leading to a massive art book full of production work.
Every character in the movie was enchanting with beautiful fantasy worlds and environments. And Pascal the chameleon was a riot as Rapunzel’s trusty sidekick.
It turns out this was Disney’s 50th feature animated film and the art book goes all out to show it. The art book totals 160 pages full of production art like sketches, color keys, storyboards, and environment paintings.
You’ll also get a few written pieces explaining how the film was created and who worked on which aspects of the feature. But in my opinion the sketches are the true beauty of this film. They stand out against Disney’s emotive animation style and immediately capture your attention.
Frozen
Another loveable Disney feature with a female lead is Frozen. The character designs for Anna and Elsa are featured prominently in the Frozen art book along with all the supplementary characters.
The binding is tight and it feels like a very sturdy book. I like the quality prints of each characters which seem to radiate off the page. You can easily make out colors, tones, textures, and lighting from the glossy page material.
The Art of Frozen would be perfect for aspiring entertainment artists who want to mimic quality work and learn from professionals. Everything in the book is very high quality and it goes far beyond what you’d expect from a production team.
Most of the content focuses on interiors and exteriors with interviews talking about “setting the mood” of the film. This is vital information for a to understand, so it’s perfect for anyone curious to learn more about the animation process.
The Jungle Book
But this can be a fun addition to your collection if you’re a big fan of Disney or the new Jungle Book picture.
Big Hero 6
This weird mix of robotics, superhero/adventure and comedy blend together nicely in the Big Hero 6 movie. It was released in late 2014 with a brilliant animation art book to follow the film.
Anyone can appreciate the art but true fans of the movie will enjoy this art book even more. There’s so much to look through and context really helps. Big Hero 6 is a strange movie and there are lots of characters & environments to absorb.
Story artists share lots of storyboards and explain their writing process for the movie. You’ll also get concept art for characters and background paintings. There are pieces of artwork for every step of the animation process.
It also has a large commentary section explaining the history of this classic Disney tale. You’ll learn more about the movie’s background and its reception after being first released. It even features a small chapter discussing the stage adaptation of Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.
Admittedly this book doesn’t have as many storyboards as other books. However it does offer a deeper glimpse behind-the-scenes of the movie’s history and it’s a brilliant compilation for anyone interested in the film.
I can’t recommend enough art books for aspiring entertainment artists. Video games and animation both have their own unique styles and pipelines for completing projects.
These Disney art books provide a look behind the scenes of animated features to help new artists familiarize themselves with the process.
If you didn’t see anything particularly interesting in this list then try browsing Disney artbooks on Amazon to see what else is listed. Newly released Disney movies often get artbooks published in the same month as the movie release so there’s always new content being put out each year.