forgive me while i post about disney on main, but i literally cannot believe that they put a disney princess face... on a dragon
like... what the fuck is this
for contrast, here are some actual dragons, from Thai mythology, which is clearly the inspo for her design, except they’re infinitely cooler
i hate that she’s furry, and has EYEBROWS, and eyelashes and liner? i understand modifying a creature’s design for the sake of animated emotional clarity, but this is weak creature design. this is a human face superimposed on a mythological creature. even worse, it’s disney’s favorite face— with giant eyes, pencil brows, and a button nose, on a dragon.
you can create animated creatures that still look animalistic. the dragons from httyd do this extremely well; they clearly show emotions, but are still obviously, and delightfully, dragons.
they’re covered in scales, have prominent snouts, and reptillian eyes. these are dragons! and they look the part!
anyways, disney really, really needs to get its head out its ass about marketability, and create characters that are actually interesting to look at.
And I Guarantee the httyd dragons will continue as the more beloved and remembered dragons for years, simply because they have better designs that appeal to more than just the disney princess crowd.
Nearly every person you ask will say they know who toothless is and say that hes a cute dragon, despite his more realistic design. You can have appealing and memorable characters without forcing them into an overused and overly polished mould.
Obviously not disney levels of quality but here’s a quick attempt at honoring traditional Thai dragons while still having a pleasing and relatively simple design for a kids movie. Its Not That Hard, if I could whip up this design in an afternoon I’m sure that a multi million animation and arts company could do much better than me. Anyways!
It’s actually harder for a multi million animation and arts company to make a unique and memorable design than an individual artist because you don’t have someone with no art experience standing over your shoulder and demanding you make it look like the last thing that sold well