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Disney Princess Images Reveal Characters' Real-Life Looks Using AI
AI-rendered images created with Artbreeder reveal what Disney princesses would look like if they existed in real life.

Disney Princess Images Reveal Characters' Real-Life Looks Using AI

Recently shared AI-rendered images reveal what Disney princesses would look like if they existed in real life. Following the release of Snow White in 1937, the first feature-length animated film in Hollywood history, Disney has dominated the format ever since. Throughout the decades, the animation studio’s most prominent stories feature young princesses on a multitude of adventures in various settings. Disney has built a pantheon of princesses which represent the studio’s most iconic characters such as Cinderella (Cinderella), Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Jasmine (Aladdin), Fa Mulan (Mulan),  Tiana (The Princess and the Frog), and Rapunzel (Tangled).

With the advancement of art software that can generate images using artificial intelligence based on customizable parameters, users have re-imagined their favorite characters from popular media to predict what they would look like in real life. This has been done many times by artists and fans alike with such properties as Harry Potter to create book-accurate character depictions and with The Simpsons to visualize a realistic Ned Flanders. The visual effects team The Corridor Crew even sent a plethora of character images through various AI techniques to create real-life renderings of Thanos, Gollum, and Jimmy Neutron, among others.

BuzzFeed staff writer Hannah Marder recently shared her attempt to create real-life versions of popular Disney princesses using an AI program. Through the popular machine-learning-based art program called Artbreeder, Marder generated portraits of Disney’s most recognizable characters. Check out the AI-rendered images below.

Moana – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Cinderella – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Anna – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Elsa – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Pocahontas – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Mulan – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Jasmine – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Merida – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Ariel – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Belle – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Rapunzel – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Aurora – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder
Snow White – Buzzfeed/Hannah Marder/via Artbreeder

Disney’s animated films have been so ingrained in American popular culture for over eight decades that the Disney princesses are instantly recognizable. Many of the AI renderings look remarkably similar to their animated counterparts, such as Moana and Rapunzel. This makes sense as the original characters were animated using CG which allows the artists more freedom to add details that cannot be drawn by utilizing traditional 2D techniques. This is notable with Aurora’s render as she looks quite different from her original hand-drawn style.

Similar to the character creation tools found in role-playing video games, AI machine-based learning programs, such as Artbreeder, allow artists to imagine characters in exciting new ways. With the use of these programs, characters in novels, comic books, and animated media can easily be realized with the touch of a button. Although nothing can replace the original quality of the princesses from the artists of Disney Animation Studios, machine-based learning programs offer a new way to view Disney’s iconic characters.