Book Review: The Art of the Disney Princess

This book is more on fan art than concept art. That said, you won't see any sketches from original Disney artists. The illustrations of princess are based on the artists' interpretation. I don't recognise the names of any artists other than Glen Keane, who wrote the introduction.

The princesses included are Snow White, Tiger Lily, Belle, Ariel, Pocahontas, Mulan, Aurora, Jasmine, Cinderella and even the newest Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.

The variety of style is great. There's art created from acrylic, collages, gouche, water colour, digital and there are even handmade dolls and photographs. What I didn't like is the quality of the illustrations, which can be quite varied, depending on the skill level of the artist contributing. Remember after all, this is sort of a fan art book, although I have seen better fan art books.

While some are beautifully drawn, there's not one that truly stands out. Most of the pieces stay on the wholesome track, although someone did try to break out of the box with Snow White in a futuristic skin-tight outfit. There's another one, which I think didn't work well, had Snow White fixed onto a deer's body much like a Centaur. The idea might not be bad but the technical execution (which should not be mistaken as style) could be better, which happens some other pieces. I also realised that manga style chibi eyes don't work well on princesses, or maybe because it's not done right (by a Japanese artist).

The ones I like are the ones which stayed true to the original designs but done in a different style. There are two artists Dan Beltran and Eric Tan who created simple vector illustrations with nice compositions.

This book could be so much better if the selection is stricter. It's recommended only if you're really interested, like seriously interested in Disney princesses.

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