Sleeping Beauty's Art Style: A Classic Fairytale Look

The 1959 Disney film Sleeping Beauty is known for its distinct art style, which was devised by Eyvind Earle and inspired by pre-Renaissance European art. The film's tapestry-like style, with its bold, graphic look, was a departure from the soft, rounded aesthetic of previous Disney films. Earle's background paintings were so detailed that it was challenging for animators to make the characters stand out. The character designs were also influenced by Earle's style, with strong horizontal and vertical lines incorporated into their costumes.

Tapestry-like art style inspired by pre-Renaissance European art

The 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty was designed with a tapestry-like art style inspired by pre-Renaissance European art. The film's art director, Eyvind Earle, was chiefly inspired by the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, an illuminated book of hours by Herman and Jean Limbourg, from which he derived key colours such as the yellow-green for Maleficent's flames and the pink and blue for Aurora's royal dress.

Eyvind Earle's other influences included pre-Renaissance Northern European art, Gothic and Persian art, medieval tapestries, and Japanese prints. He created hundreds of visual development paintings, thumbnail scene sketches, and dozens of key background paintings, some of which were 15 feet long.

Earle's background styling was also influenced by his visit to the Cloisters museum, where he saw the Unicorn Tapestries series. He made sketches inspired by the tapestries, suggesting them as a visual template for the film's design.

The tapestry-like style of the film was also influenced by the production designer, Ken Anderson, who was impressed by the artwork of Kay Nielsen, which suggested an ethereal style with soft colours. John Hench, who visited the Cloisters with Earle, also made sketches inspired by the museum visit.

The tapestry-like art style of Sleeping Beauty is characterised by its use of complex figurative images, intricate patterns, and a range of colours and materials, including silk and gilt-metal-wrapped silk. The style also incorporates elements of Gothic architecture, with straight, tall, perpendicular lines, and the use of one-point perspective.

The film's character stylist, Tom Oreb, incorporated strong horizontal and vertical planes into the character designs, reflecting the background styling. The animators, however, found it challenging to work in this unfamiliar style and felt that it hindered character animation. Despite this, the tapestry-like art style of Sleeping Beauty has been praised and is considered one of the most influential designs in the animation industry.

Musical score and songs based on Pyotr Tchaikovsky's 1889 ballet

The musical score and songs for the 1959 film Sleeping Beauty were composed by George Bruns and are based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1889 ballet of the same name.

Bruns studied and experimented with Tchaikovsky's music for three years to make it work as a film score. The opening number, "Hail to the Princess Aurora" (sung by the royal subjects going to the castle for Aurora's christening), was based on a march in the ballet's prologue. The third strain of the "Garland Waltz" became "I Wonder", sung by Aurora as she walks through the forest with her animal friends. The suspenseful "Puss in Boots" theme from the ballet's third act was used for the scene in which Maleficent lures Aurora to the spinning wheel.

Bruns made several attempts to create a song from the "Silver Fairy" theme, resulting in "Riddle, Diddle, One, Two, Three" (sung by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather as they prepare birthday presents for Aurora). The song was eventually cut, but its melody remained in the scene. Among other deleted songs were "Evil—Evil", which would have been sung by Maleficent and her goons, and "Go to Sleep", in which the Three Good Fairies put a sleeping spell on the castle.

Four of Bruns' songs based on the ballet score were used in the film: "Hail to the Princess Aurora", "The Gifts of Beauty and Song", "I Wonder", and "Sleeping Beauty". For "Skumps", sung by King Stefan and King Hubert as they toast their children's upcoming wedding, Bruns composed his own tune in Tchaikovsky's style because he could not find anything suitable in the ballet.

The film's score was the first true-stereo soundtrack. It was recorded with the Graunke Symphony Orchestra from September 8 to November 25, 1958.

First animated film to use the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process

The 1959 film Sleeping Beauty was the first animated film to use the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process. This was a deluxe film exhibition format that was most popular in the 1960s. It was the 70mm version of the Technirama exhibition format.

Technirama was an alternative to CinemaScope, invented by Technicolor. It used a film frame area twice as large as CinemaScope, which gave it a sharper image with less grain. The Technirama process used 35mm film running horizontally with an 8-perforation frame, the same as VistaVision.

The Super Technirama 70 process was used when films were shot in Technirama and at least some prints were made on 70mm stock by unsqueezing the image. The quality of the image was very good, but perhaps not as good as other 65mm negative processes, because the negative was not as large and had to be printed optically.

The use of Super Technirama 70 presented difficulties for animators and layout artists, who had to work with very large sheets of paper and create twice as much art to fill the frame.

Influence on later animated films, such as Pocahontas and Frozen

The 1959 film Sleeping Beauty is known for its unique art style, which was heavily influenced by pre-Renaissance Northern European art. The film's background painter, Eyvind Earle, was particularly inspired by Gothic art, medieval tapestries, and illuminated manuscripts. This influence is evident in the film's detailed, tapestry-like backgrounds, which feature bold colours, vertical lines, and geometric shapes.

Sleeping Beauty's distinct art style has had a significant influence on later animated films, including Pocahontas and Frozen. For example, Glen Keane, an animator on Pocahontas, studied how animator Marc Davis handled the art nouveau curls of Princess Aurora's hair when designing the title character of Pocahontas. Additionally, Frozen's art director, Mike Giaimo, has cited Eyvind Earle's work on Sleeping Beauty as an influence on the colour palette of Frozen, describing it as "jewel-like" and "deep, rich, [and] analogous".

The design team of Frozen II also drew inspiration from Sleeping Beauty when creating the enchanted forest setting of the film. David Womersley, the Art Director of Environments on Frozen II, specifically mentioned the strong, straight trees in Eyvind Earle's concept art for Sleeping Beauty as an influence on the detailed and vibrant forest in Frozen II. The production designer, Lisa Keene, further elaborated on their approach, stating that they wanted to create a forest that felt "stylized" and "organic" while also incorporating the "Frozen stamp".

Overall, Sleeping Beauty's artistic influence can be seen in the lush, colourful settings and distinctive art styles of later animated films such as Pocahontas and Frozen, with animators and designers citing it as a source of inspiration and a landmark in animation history.

Character design and animation

The character design and animation of Sleeping Beauty was heavily influenced by the artistic direction of Eyvind Earle, who was inspired by pre-Renaissance European art, Gothic art, medieval art, and art of the Middle Ages. The characters were designed to be stylised so they could appropriately match the backgrounds.

Tom Oreb was the first Disney artist to receive the credit of "character stylist". Oreb's character designs were influenced by the UPA style and Earle's background styling. The animators, however, complained that Oreb's character designs were too rigid to animate.

Marc Davis and Milt Kahl, the studio's top draftsmen, embraced Earle's style and were appointed as supervising animators of the film's leading characters, Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip. Davis incorporated the strong horizontal and vertical lines of the backgrounds into Aurora's design, while also adding Art Nouveau and Art Deco elements to her hair. The final design was more refined than those of previous Disney heroines, requiring much more attention to detail.

Davis was also selected to supervise the design and animation of Maleficent and her pet raven, Diablo. He decided to move on from the early suggestions for the character's design, which included more inhuman, "insect-like" elements. Instead, he opted for a more ominous figure, envisioning her as a "giant vampire bat". Davis' primary inspiration was a religious painting from a Czechoslovakian art book, which featured a figure with flame-like drapery. He added horns and bat-like wings to Maleficent's headdress to achieve a "devil image", and endowed her costume with a reptilian quality, foreshadowing her dragon transformation.

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, who struggled the most to adapt to Earle's style, were tasked with designing and animating Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Initially, Walt Disney considered making the fairies identical, but Thomas and Johnston felt that giving them more distinctive looks and personalities would be more interesting. They eventually reached a compromise with Earle, retaining a "warm, round, cuddly" feel while adding angularity to their costumes based on geometrical shapes.

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