Have you ever wondered what makes the animated characters so cute? Sure, the colors and the fluff help, but the key selling point have always been their child-like features. And over the years animation companies like Disney have made that adorable look an industry standard.

Illustrator Roosa Karlsson aka TheNamelessDoll, calls it the "baby face": "The reason I call the phenomenon “baby-face” has nothing to do with a round face shape, but more with 'huge eyes+big head+tiny body'," writes Roosa. "Basically, when animated women are designed to have the same main features as babies/children. This has recently started appearing a lot in CGI animation, but has been very common in manga/anime for a while (especially shoujo)."

To highlight the technique Karlsson has Photoshopped a series of images where she gave famous animated characters a more realistic face proportions. The changes are subtle, but the overall impression actually changes quite a bit.

To the artist's surprise, her work has sparked a full-on debate on which version is better. Some say that animation doesn't have to represent real life, while the others think these unrealistic beauty standards are distorting our point of view. What do you think?

More info: TheNamelessDoll | Deviant Art (h/t: collegehumor)