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Being the history geek that I am, I guess it is kind of surprising that I haven't really done a "historically accurate" animation series before, but after seeing that awesome Buzzfeed Disney Princess video, and of course all the amazing art on here, I was inspired to make my own. I guess it is better late than never!
As I've said before elsewhere, from an artistic standpoint, I'm not at all bothered by the animated designs of the characters in Disney and Dreamworks films. They weren't documentaries after all so in most cases they didn't need to be accurate, and in animation in particular, it is more important to convey character and style in the designs. I am not trying to "fix" anything because I don't think there is anything to fix! That being said, it can still be fun to learn how your favorite characters might have looked if they had existed in real life.
For my series, I am trying to be as accurate as I possibly can. I'm taking the country of origin, the social class, the culture, and the specific decade into mind (instead of just a general sweep of multiple decades), and also adapting the colors and styles to fit what was available and worn everyday. I will try to keep the characters recognizable where I can, but I want to make my pictures realistic and so some elements of the original designs might be altered in the process.
---
You knew it had to happen some time, and here it is - the first entry in my Historically Accurate Frozen miniseries! The next four installments will be my take on the movie's four main characters, and goodness knows the kids from Frozen need some serious historical help!
If you are wondering why Hans is the first in the series, it is because I still have a crush on him. Gotta love a cute redhaired prince...I think I should have stopped the movie halfway so he could have been a good guy forever! Some folks have speculated that, as prince of the "Southern Isles," Hans might be Danish - however, his clothing is based on the Norwegian folk costume (specifically the Telemarken bunad), and also, Norway is the only country identified in canon, so that's what I've settled on for this drawing. As for the year, it is hinted that "Frozen Fever" takes place in 1840, while the movie took place the year before - thus my date of 1839. Just judging from the overall look, I had already guessed a late-1830s setting, but I was glad to have some confirmation of that theory.
Initially, I planned to draw Hans in his "ballroom" uniform, but I felt that his introductory outfit was more iconic and a better challenge. As I said above, Hans' clothing is almost a direct copy of the traditional Norwegian folk costume for men. That is an...interesting design choice, and a nice way to pay tribute to the culture, but the clothing of the common folk is not at all appropriate for an aristocratic gentleman like Hans, who would have dressed according to English and French fashion styles, the way you see in fashion plates of the time. (Also, for what it is worth, Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid would wear basically this same kind of clothing as well.
At the beginning of the Victorian era, mens' fashion was a bit dandyish by modern standards. Starting from the top, Hans' restrained, straight hairstyle would have been very unstylish - in 1839, it was all about the side part and curled hair! Even men with straight hair (as Hans presumably naturally has) would use curling tongs to get the fashionable look. This Tumblr post (in fact all of this user's 1830s posts) was very helpful, it sums up most of the styles throughout the 1830s. I based Hans' style on these two portraits. As you can from those portraits, his trademark side whiskers are right on trend.
Although it was for just a brief time, a man's figure was almost as artificial as a woman's in the 1830s. Fashionable men had broad shoulders and chests (usually assisted by padding in their coats), and sometimes even cinched their waists with male corsets! I doubt a trim young man like Hans would take such measures, but his waistcoat would have hit at the waist to create a similar visual effect, and it would have been tightly cut to keep him looking as slim as possible. His waistcoat and tie actually didn't need much modification from his original design - striped waistcoats with shawl collars, and magenta neckties were perfectly appropriate for this period. However, shirts were uniformly white. As the closest layer to the body, the shirt absorbed a lot of sweat and body oils, so they had to be regularly laundered and bleached, and needed to be white for this purpose. The fold-down collar Hans has in the movie is fine though, so I kept that here.
Victorian men followed strict dressing protocol, with different requirements for different times of the day. Hans' arrival to Arendelle would have qualified as a "formal morning" situation, which would have called for a "cutaway" tailcoat as opposed to the more casual frockcoat - you can see both kinds here. Men's coats were very rarely light colors, particularly for formal occasions, but a blue coat with brass buttons would have been very typical of the era, so I took the detailing from Hans' trousers and applied it to the coat, and made the pants the same shade of gray as his jacket from the movie, so as to preserve his original color palette.
As for the boots, those had to go. Something modern costume designers ignore is that, through most of the history, high leather boots were a very activity-specific piece of clothing, and were almost never worn out of the context of riding. By the 1830s, they weren't even worn then. Instead, shorter half-boots were worn under the trousers, usually with the addition of detachable spurs. For the finishing touches, I gave Hans his customary white gloves (again, perfectly fine for this era) and the requisite top hat no man of character would be without. I also decided to give him a riding whip, which would be necessary for his arrival on horseback when he runs into Anna, and which serves as both a *symbolic* and stylish accessory.
I hope you like Hans' redesigned look! Next up is the complete opposite when it comes to fashion, Kristoff!
As I've said before elsewhere, from an artistic standpoint, I'm not at all bothered by the animated designs of the characters in Disney and Dreamworks films. They weren't documentaries after all so in most cases they didn't need to be accurate, and in animation in particular, it is more important to convey character and style in the designs. I am not trying to "fix" anything because I don't think there is anything to fix! That being said, it can still be fun to learn how your favorite characters might have looked if they had existed in real life.
For my series, I am trying to be as accurate as I possibly can. I'm taking the country of origin, the social class, the culture, and the specific decade into mind (instead of just a general sweep of multiple decades), and also adapting the colors and styles to fit what was available and worn everyday. I will try to keep the characters recognizable where I can, but I want to make my pictures realistic and so some elements of the original designs might be altered in the process.
---
You knew it had to happen some time, and here it is - the first entry in my Historically Accurate Frozen miniseries! The next four installments will be my take on the movie's four main characters, and goodness knows the kids from Frozen need some serious historical help!
If you are wondering why Hans is the first in the series, it is because I still have a crush on him. Gotta love a cute redhaired prince...I think I should have stopped the movie halfway so he could have been a good guy forever! Some folks have speculated that, as prince of the "Southern Isles," Hans might be Danish - however, his clothing is based on the Norwegian folk costume (specifically the Telemarken bunad), and also, Norway is the only country identified in canon, so that's what I've settled on for this drawing. As for the year, it is hinted that "Frozen Fever" takes place in 1840, while the movie took place the year before - thus my date of 1839. Just judging from the overall look, I had already guessed a late-1830s setting, but I was glad to have some confirmation of that theory.
Initially, I planned to draw Hans in his "ballroom" uniform, but I felt that his introductory outfit was more iconic and a better challenge. As I said above, Hans' clothing is almost a direct copy of the traditional Norwegian folk costume for men. That is an...interesting design choice, and a nice way to pay tribute to the culture, but the clothing of the common folk is not at all appropriate for an aristocratic gentleman like Hans, who would have dressed according to English and French fashion styles, the way you see in fashion plates of the time. (Also, for what it is worth, Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid would wear basically this same kind of clothing as well.
At the beginning of the Victorian era, mens' fashion was a bit dandyish by modern standards. Starting from the top, Hans' restrained, straight hairstyle would have been very unstylish - in 1839, it was all about the side part and curled hair! Even men with straight hair (as Hans presumably naturally has) would use curling tongs to get the fashionable look. This Tumblr post (in fact all of this user's 1830s posts) was very helpful, it sums up most of the styles throughout the 1830s. I based Hans' style on these two portraits. As you can from those portraits, his trademark side whiskers are right on trend.
Although it was for just a brief time, a man's figure was almost as artificial as a woman's in the 1830s. Fashionable men had broad shoulders and chests (usually assisted by padding in their coats), and sometimes even cinched their waists with male corsets! I doubt a trim young man like Hans would take such measures, but his waistcoat would have hit at the waist to create a similar visual effect, and it would have been tightly cut to keep him looking as slim as possible. His waistcoat and tie actually didn't need much modification from his original design - striped waistcoats with shawl collars, and magenta neckties were perfectly appropriate for this period. However, shirts were uniformly white. As the closest layer to the body, the shirt absorbed a lot of sweat and body oils, so they had to be regularly laundered and bleached, and needed to be white for this purpose. The fold-down collar Hans has in the movie is fine though, so I kept that here.
Victorian men followed strict dressing protocol, with different requirements for different times of the day. Hans' arrival to Arendelle would have qualified as a "formal morning" situation, which would have called for a "cutaway" tailcoat as opposed to the more casual frockcoat - you can see both kinds here. Men's coats were very rarely light colors, particularly for formal occasions, but a blue coat with brass buttons would have been very typical of the era, so I took the detailing from Hans' trousers and applied it to the coat, and made the pants the same shade of gray as his jacket from the movie, so as to preserve his original color palette.
As for the boots, those had to go. Something modern costume designers ignore is that, through most of the history, high leather boots were a very activity-specific piece of clothing, and were almost never worn out of the context of riding. By the 1830s, they weren't even worn then. Instead, shorter half-boots were worn under the trousers, usually with the addition of detachable spurs. For the finishing touches, I gave Hans his customary white gloves (again, perfectly fine for this era) and the requisite top hat no man of character would be without. I also decided to give him a riding whip, which would be necessary for his arrival on horseback when he runs into Anna, and which serves as both a *symbolic* and stylish accessory.
I hope you like Hans' redesigned look! Next up is the complete opposite when it comes to fashion, Kristoff!
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by some reason he looks like a circus performer of some kind to me 