Vancouver-based illustrator Rafael Mayani put himself up to a mighty challenge. In chronological order, he would watch every single Disney movie, and then he would create an original illustration based on each. Since its first movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was released in 1937, to 2014’s hit Big Hero 6, Disney has released a total of 54 feature films. For this personal project, the 26-year-old made sure not to count the movies that went direct to video, like Mulan 2 or Pocahontas 2, he only concentrated on full length feature films.
Rafael’s Disney Challenge began back in April 6, 2013 and was finally completed over a year and a half later, in December 2014. As he told us, “I didn’t have much experience with illustration, so each movie took a long time to complete. But I was really motivated, so it never felt like a burden or anything.”
Rafael created a whole website dedicated to this project. Not only does he show you his beautiful illustrations, he gives you some interesting nuggets of information about each film. “Each Disney movie had some really interesting facts about it,” he said. “The studio really has been at the forefront of innovation. But learning about the multi-plane camera and the work they did in the early films was just amazing.”
For a more current film, like the blockbuster hit Frozen, he wrote, “Frozen is Disney’s 53rd animated feature film, and the second one inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s short stories, The Little Mermaid being the first one. Loosely based on the tale of the Snow Queen, Disney’s first attempt at an adaptation of this story was way back in 1940 when Walt wanted to create a film based on Andersen’s life and the stories he wrote. The film was never produced and the project of animating the Snow Queen was shelved as so many other projects in Disney’s history. The studio’s latest effort to bring the production to life went through a lot of changes and has some really tough moments, but the end result was probably Disney’s most popular musical since the movies from the 90’s renaissance.”
Now, here are some of our favorite Disney illustrations by Rafael Mayani. Make sure to check them all out on his website or on Behance.
If you’d like to tackle a project like this yourself, Rafael has these words of advice: “Work on something you really believe in. If you’re gonna start a really long project like this one, make sure you do it with love.”
Snow White 1938
Pinocchio 1940 
Dumbo 1941 
Cinderella 1950 
Alice in Wonderland 1951 
Peter Pan 1953 
Sleeping Beauty 1959
Jungle Book 1967 
Robin Hood 1973 
Winnie the Pooh 1977 
Little Mermaid, 1989 
Pocahontas 1995 
Mulan 1998 
Tarzan 1999
Lilo & Stitch 2002
Treasure Planet 2002 
Brother Bear 2003 
Chicken Little 2005 
Princess and the Frog 2009 
Tangled 2010 
Wreck-It Ralph 2012 
Frozen 2013 
Big Hero 6