Historical Disney Princesses FAQ

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Rather than answering these individually over and over again, I'm just going to leave this here and add to it as needed:

First off!
- I'm not telling you which princess I'm doing next.
- I would appreciate it if you didn't tell me what character I should do next, or what you're looking forward to, or what character you hope I'll do!  It's very sweet and I definitely appreciate the sentiment, but consider the fact that you're something like the 400th person to tell me about Elsa, or Anna, or Merida- it's not adding a lot to the conversation.
- No, I'm not doing any Kingdom Hearts characters.  There's no particular historical precedent, so they don't really have anything to gain from this series.

Are you going to do Merida?
Every time someone asks, I am 5% less motivated to do it.  I am currently 325% unmotivated to do Merida.

Are you going to do any more pieces in this series?
Nope!  Not as finished illustrations, anyway.

Which princess are you going to do next?
I honestly don't know until I start working on it, and I also don't like spoiling the surprise.

Can I make a request?
Please don't!  There are only so many Disney princesses, so requests come across as a bit redundant.

Are you going to do [INSERT DISNEY CHARACTER HERE]?
I'm researching all of the Disney princesses simultaneously, actually, since I tend to find reference for one while I'm looking through books for another.  As to the order in which I do them, it's completely up to my whim.

For further clarification, I literally have a list of the female (or otherwise) characters in the grand Disney pantheon- I know what my options are, I can promise I'm not forgetting anyone, and I don't have some master plan where I know which one's I'm going to be doing.

When are you going to do [INSERT DISNEY CHARACTER HERE]?
See above- I also don't have some master plan as to the order of these things.  I usually have a couple files going at once.

BUT MULAN ISN'T A PRINCESS.
Oh hey, look at that.

What about Alice/Esmeralda/Jane Porter and all of Disney's other non-royals (or, in Kida's case, non-official royals)?
They are not being ignored.  I have some weirdly obscure Disney tastes, though, so you might end up seeing a certain cowgirl on a catfish before you see Esmeralda.

What about the men/ancillary characters like Aladdin and Lottie?
I'm honestly not planning that far ahead, and I also have a lot of other non-Disney art projects that I'd rather spend time on.  Granted, Inca Emperor Kuzco would be...  Yeah.  Epic.  We'll see.

Are you going to do Anastasia?
I'm afraid not.  I never liked the film much (Let's ignore the fact that I own the soundtrack what of it SHUT UP DON'T JUDGE ME), and I want to stick to Disney.  It's what I grew up with.

Actually, I meant Cinderella's stepsister, Anastasia.
Oh!  Well then.  Possibly.

Did you know the original story of [DISNEY PRINCESS] actually took place in [YEAR] and/or [PLACE]?
Yes!  I've researched all of these to a fault.  If it honestly feels like I've missed something please do comment, but also remember that I'm basing these specifically on the Disney versions...  Imperfections and all.  Sometimes the date of the original source material is relevant (Pocahontas, Esmeralda, etc), sometimes it isn't.

No, but really, Princess Badroulbadour is supposed to be from China, and-
Yup!  I read that Wikipedia page too.

I disagree with your choice of time period, and only one of us can be right!
In the long run, these are compleeeeetely for personal gratification and enjoyment.  Sure, The Little Mermaid fits pretty well into 1837, but I don't like the '30's (seriously guys WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… ) and Ariel's legomutton sleeves are placed high enough to scream "Belle Epoche," so, y'know.  Loophole.  I'm thrilled to hear how other people interpret the films, just not to the point that I'm going to go back and change my art.

Well these aren't entirely period accurate, are they?
These are for fun.  Stylistic liberties have been taken.  If the films themselves are at about 50% historical accuracy, these are more around 85-90%.  Closer, but they're not diagrams.

Why are all their eyes closed?
I really like the demure sideways/lowered glance, so after doing Belle looking down at her mirror it seemed like another way to tie the series together.  I like that they're not engaging the viewer, that they're in their own world, but in the long run I just really enjoy drawing them!  It implies large eyes without looking too cartoony.

Are you doing these because you hate the original Disney princess dresses?  THEY'RE SO PRETTY WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM I BET WALT IS ROLLING IN HIS GRAVE
These aren't meant to be better, just more historically accurate.  Don't freak out.

How long does it take you to finish one of these?
Judging from my process videos, somewhere around ten hours if you don't count pauses, the earlier design process, etc. It depends- some of the princesses were pretty effortless, but it takes a lot more time and thought when I'm less familiar with the time period.

How long does it take you to research each character?
Hard to say! I'm researching a lot of these simultaneously, so these are now the result of research spread out over the course of months, or even years. It's a lot easier if I'm familiar with the time period- Cinderella and Ariel were proverbial walks in the park- but sometimes it's a solid week of reading books, looking up inspiration, doing studies. I put way more work into it now that I did back in the beginning.

Do you have any suggestions as to where I can research historical costuming?
I do, finally!  You can go check out the journal entry here shoomlah.deviantart.com/journa… , and I'll try to update it regularly.

What specific references were you looking at while designing Jasmine's costume?
Racinet's plates were a primary source of inspiration: www.darvillsrareprints.com/Rac…, along with paging through sites about Persian miniature painting and middle eastern clothing terminology. have handled her completely differently had I drawn her today, but these are the references I was looking at at the time.

Can I cosplay your costumes?
Please do, I encourage it!  All I ask is that I get to see photos of the final product. :)

Favourite Disney princess?
LILO I DON'T CARE IF SHE ISN'T A PRINCESS. Best all around Disney character. Ever.
© 2011 - 2024 shoomlah
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beefcakemistake's avatar
Thank you for doing this series!! 
I think its easy to see how much fun it was to make them c:

I am excited to see more (including other projects) from you