Disney Princesses Got a Makeover

[Vlad]

I think they're AI, yes.

[DisneyFan09]

I liked that picture of the Princesses and their transition to CGI. With the exception of Pocahontas, as they couldn`t really capture her angular features. However, Ariel looked cheap in the first picture.

[Thumper_93]

Probably AI generated though, no?

They do look better here than they did in the movie.

And they also look better than in the recent renders that they are using for the merchandise.

[UmbrellaFish]

A Disney partner artist, Dylan Bonner, is debuting a new series on Disney Princesses’ “epilogues” at this year’s Festival of the Arts at EPCOT. He’s sharing a look at the artwork and also his influences and research that went into creating these artworks on social media.

I’ve really enjoyed reading what he has to share. He’s doing four princesses this year: Belle, Cinderella, Tiana, and Ariel. He’s already posted the first three, I expect Ariel will come out tomorrow. Here’s a link to his official Facebook page where you can find the images and his explanations. Enjoy!: https://www.facebook.com/share/1ATecCTW ... tid=wwXIfr

Two things: 1) I’d love to read some thoughts from, perhaps some art historians, about the influence of “The Swing” in Disney art. I’m not a visual artist or knowledgeable about art history, but I seem to only hear about this painting in reference to Disney movies from the 2010’s. I’d love to read more if its influence goes deeper, especially in the Disney canon.

And 2) I just really appreciate his choice to depict Tiana singing in her epilogue. We see Tiana cooking all the time in artwork set after the events of the movie. It’s just nice to see Tiana doing something a little more glam this time.

[PatchofBlue]

Oh, those are lovely. I'm excited by the thought that's been put into these, both in the way of character and the artistic influences. I love when "Disney Adults" get to display how their work coexists with "real art."

[Sotiris]

I’d love to read some thoughts from, perhaps some art historians, about the influence of “The Swing” in Disney art. I’m not a visual artist or knowledgeable about art history, but I seem to only hear about this painting in reference to Disney movies from the 2010’s. I’d love to read more if its influence goes deeper, especially in the Disney canon.

Prior to Rapunzel, the only overt reference to The Swing as far as I know was in Richard Purdum's version of Beauty and the Beast. Peter J. Hall, Mel Shaw, and Hans Bacher produced visual development art and storyboards for it, respectively. In fact, the entire opening sequence was based around the painting. The sequence started by showing a musical box depicting The Swing and then fading into Belle being on a swing in their home's garden with her father pushing her.

The unused opening sequence would have introduced the wealthy merchant (Belle's father in this early version) pushing his daughter on a swing, accompanied by the storybook narration: "Once upon a time, there lived a wealthy merchant, whose wife died and left him two children." This evocative scene was part of Disney's first attempt to adapt Beauty and the Beast, during a period when the studio was exploring more European, painterly visuals inspired by French art and fairytale traditions.

Source: https://propstoreauction.com/lot-detail ... BEAST-1991


Source/: https://www.designboom.com/design/inspi ... 2-10-2021/


Source: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/fine-a ... 1637955036


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZBeMGDs1M4


Source: https://propstoreauction.com/lot-detail ... BEAST-1991


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRQpC09KMcw


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRQpC09KMcw


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZBeMGDs1M4

[UmbrellaFish]

That’s fascinating, Sotiris! Thank you for sharing!

[Disney Duster]

Those Epcot International Festival paintings are amazingly gorgeous! I, also, like that Tiana is singing. But even though Cinderella is my favorite princess, and this isn’t the first time the character was influenced by The Swing (The Slipper and the Rose did it, Bryan Forbes confirmed), couldn’t they find something more interesting for her to do, like putting on a mice play? She still has a great fashion sense though. Ariel’s is the best!!! It’s beautiful! I just wonder why she has like a weird cut out neckline. And this is not a mark against the artwork, but the idea reminds me of what Ariel does in The Little Mermaid II.

[Disney's Divinity]

That Bonner has some gorgeous artwork.

While Googling him, I saw another beautiful artwork (not sure if it's his or not) called the Ever Afterings that put together all the wedding dresses. So pretty! Just a shame Belle and Aurora didn't have them. See, putting together and/or comparing these kinds of aspects together is one of the things where WDAS has lost the plot in some ways with the princess films. It was funny so many of those films checked certain boxes--villain, romantic interest, music, "I want" song, nice outfits, castles--but seldom felt "formulaic" because the way they went about them is where the differences would shine (differences in music, voice types, personalities, culture, dress designs, etc.). It was fun to compare and contrast a new film to the old on those different lines. Most of the time now there's either no villain, no love interest, no music, no nice outfits / locales, etc.--a mixture of the aspects missing or lacking all of the above.

There was also some princess swap artwork that was really nice, too. Belle's design in Aurora's dress, for example. Fun.

[Thumper_93]

The one with the princesses on their wedding gowns is stunning. It came out the year that I went to Disney World for the second time and I couldn't find a copy of it. Since then I follow the artist on instagram because he does a great job.