Brave Art

When it comes to animated movies, I love concept art.  It's just the artists, cutting loose, trying to figure out the look for the film.  You see familiar designs in its earliest forms, and you see some really unorthodox ideas that never panned out.

Pixar's next movie is Brave, and I stumbled across this bit of concept art of the film's heroine, the Princess Merida.

And here's the finished design, as it appears in the film.  It's toned down, softened, and I admit, I kind of miss the "crazy eyes."

I sure hope Brave is a return to form with Pixar.  Like a lot, I wasn't too impressed with Cars 2 last year.  I'm liking what I see so far from this film.  Some online are already claiming that it rips-off How to Train Your Dragon.  I guess that's just the fate of Pixar and DreamWorks.  Ever since A Bug's Life and Antz came out so close together, they'll always be accused of ripping off each other.

In addition to these pics, Disney also released this neat featurette about the character of Merida.








Brave hits theaters on June 22.