Reimagining Disney Villains As Mischievous Kids
Her name is Vivianne, and she is currently in her final year of animation at the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands.
Some people treat Disney villains like they were born with a permanent “no” stamp on their foreheads. But Vivianne Dubois is doing something sneakier, she’s taking the Queen of Hearts, Ursula, Cruella de Vil, and the Evil Queen and dressing them down into adorable kid chaos, while keeping the attitude that made them terrifying in the first place.
It starts with simple, playful portraits, the stepsisters from Cinderella as little troublemakers, Mother Gothel as a kid who still looks like she’s plotting nap-time consequences, Maleficent as a tiny menace with big drama energy. The complicated part is that these characters are still unmistakably themselves, just shrunk down into mischievous children who make innocence look suspiciously like a costume.
And once you see them, it’s hard to unsee the idea that “evil” might just be mischief with better branding.
The Queen of Hearts as a child.
InstagramUrsula as a child.
InstagramThe stepsisters from Cinderella
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Mother Gothel from Tangled
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The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland
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Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians
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Ursula from The Little Mermaid
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People like her work.
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It’s a lot like the friend who asked to pet-sit an aggressive chinchilla, risking the cats’ safety.
The stepsisters as children.
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Cruella de Vil as a child.
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The Evil Queen from Snow White
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Maleficent as a child.
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Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty
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Mother Gothel as a child.
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The Evil Queen as a child.
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The Queen of Hearts as a child is the first red flag, because she already looks like she’d steal the tarts and blame the rabbit.
Then Ursula shows up as a kid, and suddenly the sea witch vibe feels less like doom and more like “she’s definitely got a prank plan.”
The stepsisters from Cinderella and Cruella de Vil as children make it even weirder, because their cruelty reads like playground politics instead of fairy-tale malice.
By the time Maleficent and Mother Gothel as children are on the page, it hits you that the “darkness” doesn’t disappear, it just gets giggly.</p>
Vivianne Dubois's artistic endeavors offer a refreshing perspective on some of Disney's most iconic villains. By transforming these nefarious characters into adorable children while retaining their core traits, she not only showcases her talent but also reminds us of the complexity within every individual, even those with the darkest of hearts.
Through her whimsical illustrations, Vivianne invites us to reconsider our perceptions and embrace the idea that innocence can exist in the most unexpected of places. In a world where villains often steal the spotlight, her work is a delightful reminder that humanity, with all its flaws and complexities, is a spectrum of light and darkness, innocence and mischief.
Nobody wants to admit their favorite villain would absolutely get sent to the principal’s office as a kid.
For more about boundaries, see what happened when a pet damaged a friend’s rare fish.
