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Growing up,The Little Mermaidwas my favorite Disney movie.
Courtesy Disney/Design by Bella Geraci
But what happens when you have to create the illusion of non-merpeople swimming and talking underwater?
Because I’m old, jokes Swords King, [Ursula] inspired me as someone from the 1950s.
[The original character is] in a cocktail dress, which is very 50s.
Courtesy Disney
That, however, was intentional.
If you look at her eyebrows, they’re not perfectly identical, he says.
No one’s eyebrows are perfectly identical unless they’re plucked or threaded to an inch.
Courtesy Disney
I don’t like super-manicured eyebrows.
It starts looking a bit forced.
This will be less noticeable in the film, he notes, because we rarely will see Ursula straight-on.
Courtesy Disney
We tried to smudge the lips and it didn’t work because it was justtoobad.
So the only thing I did was raise her eyebrows slightly differently.
Instead, McCarthys look took a mere hour and a half.
Giles Keyte/Disney
So we ended up with green eyes and red lips.
Swords King also said the green complemented the purple in the skin.
Making Hair Float Without Water
Hair is a major focal point in this film.
Giles Keyte/Courtesy Disney
Bailey also wore a tracking cap over her locs.
Camille gave us references for how the braids were wound and the different colors used within it.
We started building it as an asset for our computer generated (CG) mermaid.
That’s when they started to fine-tune the movement of the hair.
We didn’t film underwater, so it was all done, essentially, on the computer.
Everything underwater is basically digital apart from the actors' faces.
Therefore, the team decided to take some artistic liberties with her CG locs.
Then, more tests.
If she was traveling dynamically underwater, we’d let it flow more.
Marshall wanted Ursula’s hair to look more modern than the animated version.
The design Peter came up with was fantastic and had this lovely verticality to it, says Burke.
It naturally defied gravity.
Yes, Ariels got eyelash extensions.
After designing the hair, Friend passed Baileys day-to-day styling duties to Tiffanne Williams.
While most of the cast had wigs created, Baileys hair was her own.
Overall, it took several months to nail down the final hair design.
In between the locs, we added in a loose, wavy, three, 3B/3C hair texture.
“That’s what building good characters is about.
