Mont St. Michel in Normandy, France, inspired our castle in “Tangled.” It sits out in the bay surrounded by water and feels so very fairy tale-like. When I visited it I knew this has to be the kingdom that Rapunzel will someday be Queen of.   -GLEN KEANE

[Directors] Byron and Nathan weren’t looking at classical sources, so much as they were looking at this story being a Disney fairy tale. Their basis for the art approach became other Disney fairy tales – they really wanted to tap into that Disney feel and look.  –ROY CONLI, PRODUCER

(Credit: The Smokin’ Smolder)

At Disney, you’re constantly referencing or furthering an idea generation to generation. We are … a Disney film being influenced by previous films.   –DOUG ROGERS, PRODUCTION DESIGNER 

She’s documenting things she’s discovering. So it’s not just about her art, she’s also learning things.   –CLAIRE KEANE ON RAPUNZEL

This is my best attempt at reading what Rapunzel wrote on the walls of the main tower room:

(1) different patterns make things interesting
(2) I make dresses out of fabric that mother brings
(3) so many ideas
(4) scissors thread and fabric
(5) thread
(6) all the trimming
(7) corset goes with the dresses
(8) lace underneath
(9) patterns for the dresses
(10) so many dresses to design
(11) all the small things the come through my window creep out
(12) this guy is REALLY slow
(13) really pretty dress
(14) sticky hands sticking
(15) the closest I am to flying is when I’m reading. I read my books I’m taken somewhere different
(16) too bad butterflies can’t read books [?] where they could [?]
(17) up of them so alike yet so similar
(18) every day they fly
(19) the most beautiful part of my day is when I see the butterfly big in groups I wish I had a beautiful group too
(20) books *and* wings that’s a treat
(21) the poor little guys
(22) these guys come around quite often – I need to be careful!
(23) after long tough day they are
(24) friends again
(25) whenever I leave food sitting out these ants come and steal it
(26) these guys are mean
(27) dead leaves curl up and fall
(28) it snows when it’s cold out
(29) they’ve been together since they were babies
(30) the three friends they keep each other [?]
(31) the flowers come into bloom in the spring and then leaves come
(32) there are so many plants that just grow grow grow even without water
(33) she’s pretty
(34) this one too
(35) when it’s dry I can always count on these guys to stay strong
(36) there are some plants that I must water everyday
(37) there are all my friends I wouldn’t [?]
(38) Marielle up [?] nice she’s not nice to my friends
(39) mother bird cares for her babies
(40) I want to fly with the birds and learn the songs they sing
(41) the birds make really nice beds out of leaves what would happen if I were to go down and get all those leaves to put in my room I would sleep like the birds!
(42) what’s for dinner?
(43) why do you ask? worms like everyday. maybe a few berries.
(44) so many different types of birds yet they all sing and fly too
(45) where is he going today?
(46) leaves stay on the trees
(47) mean bird took my pear today
(48) there are little ones and big ones
(49) the trees are changing constantly
(50) the trees bend when the wind blows

The comparison of this concept art with the final film version illustrates this quote about how Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard changed the tone of “Tangled” when they came on board:

We went from a Rembrandt-meets-Ridley-Scott vision to something more like ‘Cinderella’ – bright, cheerful, saturated, even in its darker story moments. More indicative of a traditional Disney feel. It’s just lighter. In all senses of the word, lighter.  –DAN COOPER, CO-ART DIRECTOR

I can completely see the “Ridley Scott” comment in the left concept art. There’s something brooding and almost menacing in it – like a Renaissance “Blade Runner.” In some ways, I expect (and hope) that “Brave” will stick a toe into this territory. 

What constitutes a villain? It’s somebody who wants something with such intensity and such great need but comes to a place of not being bound by any kind of moral code or any sense of what’s ethical. Or any sense of being concerned with any consequences and how they might affect someone else. They will do anything to get what they want.   –DONNA MURPHY

I started … documenting my life in a sketchbook and turning it into Rapunzel. Cleaning up my house, putting away clothes, separating the dirty from the clean. I’m singing while I’m doing it. That leads to a life-as-art thing, where everything Rapunzel is doing is another opportunity for art.   -CLAIRE KEANE

This collage is of all Rapunzel’s self-portraits in the tower. I love how Claire Keane had Rapunzel transfigure all her ordinary activities into magical moments.

There’s an image of Rapunzel free, flying in the air as a sunburst, which says so much. This is a girl who has to get out and bless the world.   -GLEN KEANE

Corona Series No. 5: The village

The directors didn’t just want a row of buildings; they wanted interesting things, and spaces, and nooks that you could go into. You don’t necessarily ever see them, but just the visual idea that something is around the corner or through an archway.   –MAC GEORGE, DESIGNER