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Artist Reimagines Disney Sidekicks As Their Corresponding Princesses (10 Pics)
Interview With ArtistDisney princesses always steal the show and get all the attention. However, each movie has more awesome characters that deserve to be appreciated because the stories wouldn't be the same without them. An artist known as HatterpillarArts brings the well-earned spotlight to the adorable sidekicks who support the leading ladies along their journeys. She reimagined Mushu, Pascal, Olaf, Rajah, and other iconic Disney sidekicks as lead characters in their movies by giving them a princess makeover.
HatterpillarArts told Bored Panda how this illustration series started:
"The idea came about when I was watching Mulan, and I just started thinking about how funny it would be if Mushu was dressed up as Mulan with the fan and the flower in his hair and everything. I then just decided to give drawing it a go, it came out really well, I posted it to Reddit and people loved it, so I did some more princess/sidekick mash-ups that were requested. I am actually planning on continuing the project soon and doing a few more!"
Here are the adorable Disney mashups she's done so far. Who is your favorite sidekick you'd like to see in this list?
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Mushu As Mulan
HatterpillarArts said art has been a part of her life since she can remember:
"I've been drawing since I was a toddler. My dad is an amazing artist, so I took after him and had my first tiny art studio under the stairs when I was about 4 years old."
Pua As Moana
We asked the artist where she draws inspiration for her art from.
"Inspiration for me can come from a lot of different sources at once. It can be something as random as the weather, or it can be a song lyric. It definitely changes a lot. Sometimes I do pieces where I can't pin down any kind of inspiration, and the art piece 'just kind of happened.'"
She added that she is inspired by the greatest artists like Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and Van Gogh. She also highlighted modern artists as a big influence—Australian YouTuber Jazza, who does a lot of cartoon-style art, and Jim McKenzie, who's an amazing sculpture artist.
Olaf And Sven As Elsa And Anna
HatterpillarArts says her favorite thing about Disney is the light-heartedness and positivity that brings you back to childhood.
"What I like about Disney is the fact that you can sit and watch a Disney film, and you and everyone you're watching it with can feel like a child again for those 2 hours. Bright colors, great art, and fun songs to sing along to. What more could you want?"
Rajah As Jasmine
The artist shared the most rewarding and the most challenging parts of the Disney series: "The most rewarding thing about any series, but especially the Disney project, is the audience reaction. These pieces appeal to everyone, old or young, and there's always so much happiness surrounding them in the comments. There aren't many challenging things about it, but if I had to say something, I'd probably say the hours I put into the work. For example, Louis as Tiana (my latest addition) took me about 8 hours non-stop from start to finish. Definitely not as long as a lot of art pieces take, but it definitely took it out of me."
Louis As Tiana
"There's like a 90/10 reaction of people loving and hating the series," HatterpillarArts told us about how people are receiving the series online. "90% of people think it's absolutely adorable, funny, entertaining, and original, and the other 10% make it very well known that they think it's cursed and ugly. It definitely means a lot to me, because I started posting my art online purely to try to brighten people's days, and the Disney project achieves that so well for both adults and children. That's all I care about."
Pascal As Rapunzel
Meeko As Pocahontas
HatterpillarArts says her drawing is a little bit all over the place as she likes to experiment with new styles: "My personal original style is realism. I do a lot of realistic portrait oil paintings and/or digital art. However, I do draw in a LOT of different other styles too. For example, the Disney project is very cartoon, and the Pokemon project, another popular ongoing long project I do, are purely calligrams (art made completely out of words). I like dabbling in all kinds of art, I don't like sticking to one style."
Gus As Cinderella
The Owl As Aurora
The artist already has a lot more planned for the Disney series and other artwork in the nearest future.
"Other characters I have planned are Merida (Brave), Megara (Hercules), Giselle (Enchanted), and Snow White. After I've run out of princesses, I will hopefully be doing the same kind of thing with princes and villains because I think that'll be super fun. My future art will also consist of a lot more of my other ongoing project, the Pokemon project, and also I would really love to be posting more of my original work in the next year or so. Hopefully, people like it!"
Besides running her art Instagram account, HatterpillarArts is also a Twitch streamer where she plays video games live and does insightful art streams with original artwork, including new illustrations for Disney and Pokemon series.