‘Frozen’ Concept Art Showcases Amy Winehouse-Inspired Character Design [Photo]
Early Frozen concept art shows off a character that was originally influenced by late singer Amy Winehouse.
Although Winehouse served as the inspiration for Elsa during the early days of Disney’s hit animated flick, these elements were eventually removed from the final film. To show how the character changed over the course of pre-production, artist and former Disney animator Claire Keane released the concept art on her official Tumblr page.
“Early exploratory drawings of Elsa inspired by Amy Winehouse’s pathos. I imagined her to have a deep, soulful voice and dramatic mood swings,” Keane explained in her recent post.
Check out some of the artist’s work below. If you’re curious to see more, don’t hesitate to pay a visit to her Tumblr page. It’s stuffed to overflowing with incredible stuff.
New blog post: Early version of Elsa inspired by Amy Winehouse #Frozen pic.twitter.com/T8LO9Yu9Qa
— Claire Keane (@claireonacloud) January 24, 2014
As you can tell from the above image, the Frozen character’s hair is reminiscent of Amy Winehouse’s bouffant. Although Keane drew inspiration from the singer to design Elsa, she changed drastically by the time she reached the big screen
According to the folks over at Moviefone, another early design choice was inspired by actress and singer Bette Midler. Keane said she wanted Elsa to capture the Hocus Pocus star’s considerable stage presence.
While the characters may have changed a bit from concept to finished product, this didn’t stop Frozen from becoming a massive hit at the box office. As of this writing, Disney’s family-friendly feature generated around $867 million in ticket sales worldwide.
Not surprisingly, Disney CEO Bob Iger was beyond thrilled with the movie’s performance at the box office. He said the studio intends to move forward with both a sequel and a Broadway show.
“It’s not about the bottom line. The bottom line is for the quarter. This is for something bigger and longer. If you think long term about what Disney is and the success and the vitality of the brand, this is a very, very important event,” Iger told Fortune.
Although Disney intends to capitalize on the success of Frozen, Iger didn’t say when the big-screen follow-up or the Broadway show will be ready for mass consumption. He added, “We’re not demanding speed. We’re demanding excellence.”
What do you think about the early concept art for Disney’s hit animated flick Frozen? Are you surprised that Elsa was originally inspired by late singer Amy Winehouse?
