The most favorite childhood heroines for many are, of course,

Cartoons with them always enchanted with their kindness, beauty and picturesqueness.

But have you ever wondered why these heroines look so realistic?

In fact, the answer is very simple - all the famous heroines from Disney's animated fairy tales are drawn from real women.

Actresses were invited to a specially equipped stage with some scenery and played a theatrical production in costumes and using props, while artists at that moment made a sketch, trying to convey the fluidity of movements, facial expressions and emotions of the characters as accurately as possible.

Also used for this was photo-editing - a technique in which a cartoon or combined segment of a film was redrawn from the filmed film.

Therefore, let's see who our favorite characters really were, how the main childhood fairy tales were filmed and who voiced them.

Snow White

The cartoon "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" of 1937 is one of the first in the arsenal of full-length works of the Disney studio.

Accordingly, neither the animators, nor others who worked on it, had any special experience in creating realistic human characters using photo rendering.

Walt Disney didn't like the first sketches of Snow White at all, because they were very similar to another female character, Betty Boop, who was popular at the time.

Therefore, Disney decided to change the concept and hire dancer, choreographer and actress Marge Champion, who posed for the artists.

She became the prototype of Snow White.

Snow White / Photo: Giphy.com

Marge was dressed as a cartoon character and danced to the music while artists sketched her movements.

Also, the camera recorded all the girl's movements and worked with these frames.

Marge Champion / Photo: Getty Images

But the voice of Princess Snow White was given by another girl - singer Adriana Caselotti.

Adriana was strictly forbidden by contract to sing in movies or on the radio, but this behind-the-scenes role was a real triumph for her - her voice became one of the most recognizable in America in the 1940s.

Little Mermaid

American actress and writer Sherry Stoner played the sweet and naive inhabitant of the seabed.

She also posed for artists in the studio and even swam in a specially arranged water tank.

Many of the habits we saw in the cartoon, such as biting the lower lip, appeared in Ariel thanks to the Stoner game.

Mermaid / Photo: Giphy.com

But it was decided to draw the face of the main character from another actress - Alisa Milano, who was 16 at the time, like Ariel herself.

Alice Milano / Photo: Getty Images

It's also interesting that the position, or rather the swaying of the Little Mermaid's hair underwater, was modeled after astronaut Sally Ride and how her hair behaved on a spaceship.

The voice of Ariel was given by actress Jodi Benson.

During the work on the villain and sea witch Ursula, the image of the outrageous drag performer Divine was used.

At first they wanted to make Ursula an ordinary mermaid, then the character was reworked several times and in the end they decided to make the thief an octopus.

Devine / Photo: Getty Images

Fairy Din-Din

Initially, there were rumors that the mischievous fairy from the Peter Pan cartoon was modeled after Marilyn Monroe, but this is not the case.

The prototype for this character was the actress Margaret Carrey.

She posed on the set in a costume and used props.

Din Din / Photo: Giphy.com

It is also interesting that the animators adopted some gestures and character traits from Margaret's game.

Cinderella

It was the first full-length cartoon released by Walt Disney after the Second World War, so the studio took a lot of risk, because if the picture failed, most likely the financing of such projects would be stopped.

One of the artistic techniques in the film was a complex color solution.

To create the backgrounds, cold colors were largely used, so that in contrast with them the heroes seemed even more bright and alive.

Cinderella / Photo: Giphy.com

The main star of the world of princesses was played by actress Helen Stanley.

And the voice of Cinderella was given by Ilin Woods.

She was chosen from more than 400 applicants.

Walt Disney later admitted that Woods' Cinderella was his favorite female character.

Sleeping Beauty

It was another project filmed based on the famous fairy tale.

They wanted to make a cartoon even before the war, but due to a difficult financial situation, they decided to postpone this idea.

After the success of "Cinderella", they decided to return to the realization of "Sleeping Beauty" and not for nothing, because the cartoon turned out to be very successful.

Sleeping Beauty / Photo: Giphy.com

Helen Stanley / Photo: Getty Images

They depicted the main character from Helen Stanley, who also played Cinderella.

She voiced Princess Aurora Mary Costa.

But talking about this cartoon, one cannot fail to mention another important character - the sorceress Maleficent.

The animators drew inspiration for this character from the appearance of the actress Eleanor Audley.

She also played the stepmother's stepmother.

Eleonor Odley / Photo: Getty Images

Beauty and the monster

The animators drew the main characters of this cartoon, being in different parts of the United States, and in order to coordinate all the details, they sent drawings to each other by mail every day.

So that they could draw real human movements, as in all previous cases, an actress was invited, who again became Sheri Stoner.

Beauty and the Beast / Photo: Giphy.com

Belle was voiced by Broadway actress and singer Paige O'Hara.

But here the appearance and cute facial features were drawn from the superstar Judy Garland.

Judy Garland / Photo: Getty Images

Alice in the country see

The cute fair-haired girl from the cartoon "Alice in Wonderland" was played by Catherine Beaumont, and this role became the main one in her life.

Catherine Beaumont and Walt Disney / Photo: Getty Images

Walt Disney himself offered to become the prototype for the cartoon Catherine after watching the film "On the Island with You", where she played a small role.

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