Disney takes us behind-the-scenes of their perfect princess illustration process

If Princess Belle wants to wear a hat, there are a lot of people who need to be consulted about this hat. She can’t just grab a hat from one of the stores in town and put it on, because it’s got to match her outfit, and it’s got to be a hat from the right time period, and even more importantly, does Belle even want to wear the hat?

"Whenever anyone in the company wants to do something with the princesses, [we've created a go-to] reference," Ken Shue, VP of Global Art for Disney Publishing Worldwide explains to HelloGiggles. "If someone wants to put a hat on Belle, you not only have to have the right hat for that era and whatever time she lived in, but then you have to question if she'd ever want to wear a hat."

And why are we questioning if Belle is going to wear a hat? The new live-action Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, is hitting theaters next month. It’s a remake of the OG animated movie from 1991, so Belle is not some new character for us. Belle has been around for 26 years now, but there are still ways show us new, and exciting, life into her and her story. While we have the animated movie, and the live-action movie, there’s a whole other princess world out there — and so much goes on within it you might not even realize.

Chatting with HelloGiggles, Ken — along with long-time Disney artist Jean-Paul Orpinas – explained that everything we see in regards to the princesses, from their animated movies, to live-action and beyond, has a million different things to consider. And every time, Disney always goes back to the beginning.

"Before we go forward, we always have to go back. Learning about how they are their characters and to see their attributes," Jean-Paul explains.

Not only going back, but also breathe new life into these princesses, too. When we think of Belle, we almost automatically think of her in her gold ballgown. But that’s not the only dress she wears. Ken and Jean-Paul explained that they’ve been working for some time on making Belle recognizable in whatever she wears — ballgown or not.

“We know Belle and her blue dress…it’s taken us a while where Belle in her blue dress is just as exciting as Belle in her gown at the end of the film, and that’s what I’m most proud of,” Jean-Paul continues. “Bringing the equity of the princesses that we love and we’ve learned and we’ve fell in love with them on the screen. We can put [her] in the ballgown, we can put [her] in the [green dress], and it’s all valid right now.”

"You can put Mulan in her solider outfit, where she's the most brave. I couldn't personally do what she did [and] that's something I'm so proud of now. She can go on a [book] cover in her solider outfit and she doesn't have to wear a glittery gown."

As for where the princesses are headed in the future, “nothing is off the table,” Ken states, but notes that they’re all, “definitely more active, definitely more adventurous, definitely more involved in the narrative of the story. The stories are more complex [with] more interesting characters all around.”

Than, say, Aurora who sleeps for half the movie.

From here on out with the princesses, it’s going to be about how more aspects of their characters, and stories, can be explored. And TBH, we want to see absolutely everything.

"How do you manage the equity of [the princess characters] of the original film?" Ken continues. "But more than that, the princesses live in the hearts and minds of family all over the world. So how do you take that equity [and move it forward]..and what do you do after that? [You have the] theatrical production of it, and what do you do after that? The live-action production of that. It's all about managing the equity and, in our case, the narrative and visual aspect of it, and making sure that it [translates across for everything]."

We hope that the princesses continue grow and evolve, even beyond the screen, from here until forever. We’ll be watching them every step of the way.