Sharing is caring!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and this year is the year of the Mermaid. To celebrate I’m sharing some tidbits from Disney animator Mark Henn, the genius behind our Little Mermaid, Ariel. Watching Mark draw Ariel inspired these easy Little Mermaid Valentine bags for my daughter’s class. And you can make them too! (Affiliate Links are included in this post).

During the Ralph Breaks the Internet Event, we were treated to amazing moments. The entire magical Disney-nerd dream experience was all thanks to a partnership with Disney Studios who hosted me for the trip in November.

You can catch up on the other Ralph Breaks the Internet Event posts through the list at the bottom of this post. Don’t forget to check them out!

You can download the digital release TODAY on Amazon and iTunes. 

 
Talking with Disney Animator Mark Henn, “The Princess Guy”

Animator Mark Henn has been with Disney Animation Studios since the early 80s and is known as “The Princess Guy.” 

Mark is responsible for creating Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Giselle, Tiana… you get the idea. He’s had his hands in a lot of our favorite Disney Animation Studios movies over the last 30 years! 

As we talked, he drew Ariel, and we were thrilled to learn we’d get a copy of this drawing to take home. 

While he was drawing, we had some time to ask a few questions about his history and his craft.

With so many animated movies being remade as live-action movies, we wanted to know how it felt to see his creations come to life.

Spoiler alert: he thinks you’ll like Aladdin, so simmer down, haters!

It’s kinda weird, I guess. I saw a rough cut of Aladdin – it was a lot of fun! If you liked our version, you’re going to like this one too. It’s different, they’re trying different things. And they’re making it their own.- Mark Henn, Supervising Animator of Jasmine

I even pressed him a bit, “You promise we’ll like it?!” and he just laughed and said he didn’t have a Bible on him but, yeah, he thought it worked out pretty well!

I’ll take that and my tickets to Aladdin now, please and thank you. 

Switching over to The Lion King, Mark said that Simba came together very quickly for him. We asked if this process usually took a long time to put together a new look for a new character.  

Simba seemed to go really fast, we had a lot of pre-poduction art, it’s a lion cub… I just started drawing and sketching. Next thing I know I was in a meeting and we put them all up front and they all went ‘Yeah, good!’ and (Lion King Producer) Don Hahn said- ‘You just got your Simba approved!’ — I did? It was so fast- it was crazy! -Mark Henn, Disney Animator

While he talked, I just watched in awe as he continued bringing Ariel to life. 

He was so effortless with the strokes of his pencil – true talent and true art created before our eyes. 

One of his biggest challenges as an artist was making sure each princess he created was unique, and not just leaning on the work he did on a previous princess. 

From an animator’s viewpoint, he didn’t want to repeat himself. 

I just want to keep getting better in what I do! Directing (John Henry) was a ball and I thoroughly enjoyed that. It was a great experience and I’m hoping to maybe get a chance to do that again. We’ll see! I’d love to do that again. – Mark Henn

When it came to creating Jasmine, he admitted that he came to a bit of a creative block. He turned to a picture he had in his wallet of his younger sister, Beth. 

With the help of her senior portrait, he broke through the block and Jasmine was born!

As far as Ariel was concerned, her hair turned out to be one of the trickier aspects with animating her. 

They tried to simplify the hair design and make it as “animatable” as possible. So, not every single strand was flying off- this would have made it hard on the cleanup artists!

Cinderella was the first inspiration for him as an animator, and she’s still a favorite of his to this day.

But where does Mark Henn think the next generation of Disney Princess will take us?

Ariel kinda set the mold for the new style of princess. She’s very different. What makes this generation of princesses different from the Cinderellas and the Snow Whites? My theory is that the stories are a lot more evolved, and the princess role in those stories are much more proactive. The early princesses were very reactionary, whereas Ariel set the mold for a more proactive heroine that advanced the story by her decisions (good or bad!). – Mark Henn, Disney Animator

I loved the time with Mark and it was special to watch him draw Ariel for us. This was one of the movies I remember seeing in the theater with my baby sister! 

She’s turned out to be more Belle than Ariel, but that’s ok, I have my own Little Mermaid swimming around at home. 

Easy Mermaid Valentine’s Day Bags

While other little girls are going crazy over unicorns right now, my daughter is still living her mermaid dreams!

She had just one request for Valentine’s Day: a mermaid Valentine’s Day bag to take to school this week.

Even though the teacher asked for bags to be turned in a week ago, I, being the oh-so-on-top-of-things mom that I am… waited until the last minute to pull this together.

Super not cool, but also, supernormal over here. 

The good news for you, fellow last-minute moms & dads,  is that I can 100% promise you that this craft project is a 10-15 minute craft. It’s right up there with my printable Donut Valentine’s day cards from last year!

Here’s how you can make your own easy Little Mermaid Valentine’s Day bags or boxes.

Mermaid Valentine’s Day Bags Materials

• white paper sacks
  or
• cereal box
• mermaid scales printed paper (card stock or scrapbook paper)
• glitter cardstock
• scissors
• glue stick
• decorative crafting tape

Easy Mermaid Valentine Day Bags Instructions

1. Print out the mermaid tail template.
2. Trace the tail on the back of your decorative paper. Cut the tail out.
3. Use the glue stick to adhere the mermaid tail to the bag or box.
4. Cut a smaller tail fin out of a contrasting glitter paper and glue it on top of the tail fin.
5. Print out the clamshell name tag template and cut it out. Then add it to the bag with your glue stick. You can put a contrasting layer underneath the clamshell if you like!
6. Cut out a bottom border of waves and add to the base of the bag. Your mermaid is diving in!
7. Finally, use the decorative crafting tape to embellish the tail fin. Make a bow and your mermaid valentine day bag is complete!

You can really use your imagination with colors for your mermaid Valentine’s Day bags. 

We made a purple one with full-on glitter card stock as well! This one was put on a cereal box and it was a little more challenging due to the size, so I’d suggest sticking to the smaller bags. 

More Posts You’ll Love

• Funny Valentine’s Day Memes (2024)
• Best 2024 Super Bowl Memes: SF vs KC (Taylor’s Version)
• February Memes: Celebrating That It’s Not January
• Thrilling Movie Quotes From Argylle (2024)
• St. Patrick’s Day Puns To Sham-Rock Your Instagram Captions

Sharing is caring!