It had been a long time since I had been able to create any new artwork, so I made it a priority in April to create a piece of artwork just for fun and all for me. My daughter loves Disney movies and we watch many together. It’s fun to re-watch many of the films that inspired me to become an artist.

One film that I loved re-watching was Cinderella. The artwork and animation are beautiful. I’m especially in love with the colors and style. Cinderella’s dress transformation might just be true animated magic. I love many other adaptations as well including, but not limited to, the Rodger’s and Hammerstein Cinderella TV musicals (1965 and 1997), EverAfter, and Gail Carson Levine’s young adult novel Ella Enchanted.

I decided to create my interpretation of Cinderella’s dress transformation. In addition to wanting to work for Disney, I also dreamed of being a children’s book illustrator and wanted to replicate these loves and ambitions through my art. I’m currently reading a book on children’s book illustration (a dream is to someday create my own illustrated book) and wanted to make a finished piece that might look like the page from a book. I hoped to create a sense of scene and story in one image as well as experimenting a little bit with style and technique.

My inspirations were all of the film versions of Cinderella I love and the artwork of Disney concept artist Mary Blair who helped create the look of the animated Cinderella.

I started with a really REALLY rough thumbnail using the ArtRage app on my phone. I had a vision, and wanted to quickly block it out with some colors I thought might work together. Afterwards, I created a pencil sketch, transferred the sketch to some smooth watercolor paper and began to block in the background using wet-on-wet watercolors and placing saran wrap over the paint while it was still wet. This technique create a fun texture, one of my favorite ways to play with backgrounds in my pieces.

I had envisioned a roughly painted tulle skirt created using thick gouache, but when I struggled to get the effect I was looking for, I had to switch tactics. I took a gamble of the dress by using a combination of wet-on-wet technique with lots and lots of salt to create a crystallized effect. Thankfully, it turned out even more magical than I had anticipated. When I started adding fine details on top of the dress, it really came to life and had a dimensional quality to it that I loved.

Cinderella’s face and the pumpkin were painted using gouache. I wanted to include the pumpkin and mice to foretell what else Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother would transform to get her ready for the ball. I had originally started with a solid black silhouette for the pumpkin and mice, but felt it looked too flat when compared to all of the textures used in the background. The addition of blue and purple gouache helped tie it into the rest of the piece.

I am very happy with how this piece turned out. I hope to create a Snow White themed piece in the near future.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video depicting my process on Cinderella: