15 Disney Princesses Reimagined As Breathtaking Elements

We will never get tired of reimagined Disney Princesses

Kylin

• Published in Disney
• July 1, 2022

Listen, I don’t think we, as a collective of Disney fans, will EVER get tired of seeing artists' different renditions of the Disney Princesses as “something.” There’s something captivating about seeing an artist take a beloved character and alters the perspective of the character.

Adding their personalized style or unique view helps create another work of art for everyone to enjoy. And it can be a rewarding challenge for the artist as well, to revamp a well-known character completely, but in a way that retains the character's essence, so viewers can still recognize who they’re looking at.

We’ve seen countless artists work up Disney Princesses in different ways, like Gothic-themed Princesses, Zodiac-themed Princesses, Witches, Spider-Man, and even cats. There are literally endless takes on the very popular Disney Princess characters.

And today we get to enjoy Disney Princesses reimagined as elements, thanks to artist Joel DuQue. The Seattle-based artist decided to try his hand at recreating Disney Princesses, and he knocked it out of the park.

When he’s not recreating Princesses for fun, DuQue gets to focus his skill and creativity at work as a senior concept artist and illustrator for Powerhouse Animation. There, he’s working on the Netflix Tomb Raider animated series.

Before his work at Powerhouse Animation, DuQue worked at Harebrained Schemes, helping develop the popular PC game series BATTLETECH, and the multi-platform Shadowrun series. All this to say, Disney Princesses were a fun jumping-off point before he got his start following his artistic dreams.

Keep scrolling to see his Elemental Disney Princesses, and read what he had to say about each creation.

1. Rapunzel: Element of Light

Again, another obvious choice. I don't think I could've gotten away with doing anything else. Her sunny disposition was so fitting in the film, I had to give her a little smile.

Agh, I'm not sure why but this one was/is very difficult for me! The idea in my head was blinding light. Whether that came across, not sure. I hope so. Its difficult to paint something light while maintaining a good range of darks and lights. (I thinking painting is just difficult.) But after wrestling with it and taking a day away from it, I think i got the darks to play with the light. Can't have one without the other. Hope you enjoy!

2. Rapunzel take 2: Element of Sun & Light

I know what you're thinking... I've already done her! As I said before, I wanted to re-do her and make her more interesting and overall better quality. I wasn't proud of the old version by any means.

I wanted her to be opposite, or the "anti" of two of my other pieces.

3. Megara: Element of Darkness

I know BIG surprise she's the dark element! Well Perhaps i'm unoriginal, but I couldn't think of a more appropriate candidate. I mean MAYBE Snow White... that could have been interesting actually. However it has been decided. 

4. Mulan: Element of Fire

Here's is my interpretation of Mulan, element of fire. This made sense to me, and I hope to you too. Dragonfire, plus she is such a strong passionate woman. My other candidate for Fire was Jasmine, as she has a similar attribute. But I mean Mulan DID have a dragon.

5. Pocahontas: Element of Wood/Earth

This seemed obvious for me. She was also the first element I thought of. I have yet to decide whether she will be "wood" or "earth" since I could have more ideas for Earth on another Princess. Hrmm. We'll see. Hope you enjoy.

6. Jasmine: Element of Wind

Jasmine as Wind. I couldn't get the idea of her swirling in a sandstorm out of my head. I guess in actuality its Earth/Wind, but we'll just ignore that. Jasmine seems like a Storm to me, Calm at times but has great potential to be strong and powerful.

7. Merida: Element of Heart

So I had a lot of different ideas for her after watching the movie Brave. At first I was thinking a transmogrification element, her essentially half beast, but after thought that didn't really stick. Then I thought of the wisps and what sort of element that could be. None of those were really calling out to me, so i went back and thought about her. Ultimately her love for her mother changed everything. I needed an element that fit her sweetness as well as her strength. Nothing is more fierce, strong and capable of love than the heart.

8. Vanellope: Element of Thunder/Electricity

Oh. My. God. Was I struggling with this one. Ever since I saw Wreck It Ralph I wanted to do Vanellope. She was so adorable, albeit a little bit crazy! I couldn't pass up to play on her "glitchy" side. I had an idea of half of her body in mid teleport but it quickly started looking like that "saw in half" magic trick gone horrible awry. So I came up with -many- iterations of her. Like 20 sketches and even still i'm not 100%. At this point I've seen her so much I don't even know if this picture looks ok... everything is... hazy.

*Falls out of chair*

Ahem, but anyways here is Vanellope the Thunder/Electric Elemental! She wields thunder "wheels" 

9. Aurora: Element of Fairy/Magic

...Alright, again, not a traditional element, however I couldn't resist the temptation of making her into a Fairy, she should be! I mean, she's the only important female from her movie that isn't. Again, tried to incorporate some elements, like the spindel and her flowing hair. Her face gave me some trouble, but I think i kind of got... something here. Also, I couldn't decide between red or blue! Haha so i put them both, and a touch of green.

Other idea was much darker, think lots of thorns. Something similar to a Castlevania picture from Ayami Kojima. Although I could never be as great as her!

10. Kida: Element of Gemstone/Earth

Finally got this done. It's not as if it took me a extremely long to paint, but getting around to it.

Kida, element of Gemstone/Earth.

Oh Kida, the lost princess. I feel bad for her, she really was pretty much forgotten. I always liked her though, even though Altantis wasn't my favorite movie, her tribe and strength always interested me! I find her being the element of Gem/Earth very fitting. Such strength and shine hidden away underneath the ground.

11. Tiana: Element of Sound

She is the element of Sound... and plant? Not intentially, but leaves are so iconic to her look I had to put them in there! I really enjoyed the music in Princess and the Frog, it had a great Jazzy style to it! I listened to Almost There and Dig A Little Deeper while painting it. Got me in the mood! Had some issues with the question: "How do you show "sound" in a painting?" Hopefully I didn't fall too far off the mark. Also tried to add some elements of Froggyness. Hope those elements show. She is by far the most "human" of all the DE i've done I think. 

12. Snow White: Element of Snow/Ice

I was struggling with concepting this one. At first I wasn't sure which element i was going to go with. My first idea was Earth/Gems. To reflect the Dwarves mine full of colorful gems, and in fact that Snow Whites dress is the most colorful out of them all. (Primary Colors scheme ftw?) But then people kept mentioning Snow. Seemed almost too obvious... then I thought about taking out all the color from her. That idea stuck with me and I couldn't get it out. Plus I've been so bright and colorful with every entry I really wanted to try to do something new here. So here is what I have i guess.

Oh I forgot to mention why she is seated but floating. My reason: as an elemental she isn't bound by gravity or earthly logic. Also its the way she is formed. I've always tried to keep the energy of the element in the picture. For snow/ice it settles and droops, it gets heavy when thick and ultimately is stationary, hence the sitting and drooping Snow White..

13. Ariel: Element of Water

Alright here's Ariel. I had this basic pose and color scheme drawn up when I first got the idea for the project about a month ago. The water elemental is an obvious choice for her, I originally was going to paint her more as a fish with swirling moss around her. How boring would that have been?

So trying to incorporate actual water, and making it look like water was/is incredibly difficult. I still don't think I pulled it quite off. If there is one thing I learned its that I can't paint water very well. D:

14. Cinderella: Element of Moon

Cinderelly! Element of Moon!

Alright... maybe i cheated a little here, as Moon isn't "technically" an element in really any country. Although if I am to go by Sailor Moon, which i most certainly did in this case, then i'm good. I'd prefer you not to judge me!

The moon is a big deal, and so is Cinderella. She's very iconic! I don't think i quite did her justice! Hope you all enjoy it though!

15. Belle: Element of Metal

This has been tons of fun to work on in between assignments and my job. I'll be honest I had a really hard time with Belle, even though she's one of my personal favorite Princesses. (I used to wear out my Beauty and the Beast VHS putting it on constant repeat.) I was scared to create her elemental because she fits well with a lot of elements I've already done. I originally thought of her as jumbled mess of metal and cogs, similar to her Father's inventions. That didn't work quite well enough since they are wood heavy. This idea came to me a bit later and her as a Candelabra/Chandelier stuck in my brain. Had. To. Do. IT.

Which Princess Element was your favorite? I really liked Pocahontas as the Earth/Wood elements and Merida as the Heart element.

There’s something particularly striking about those two for me. But I’m curious to know about your thoughts, so drop them in the comments section below!

If you want to see more by Joel DuQue, you can check out his website and follow him on:

• Twitter
• Instagram
• DeviantArt
• ArtStation

And don’t forget to share this with your fellow Disney-loving friends!

Kylin