Jirka Vinse Jonatan Väätäinen, a multifaceted designer based in Helsinki, Finland, has gained widespread attention after recreating Disney characters as real people.
Growing up with Disney, the 28-year-old artist draws inspiration from its characters. He has been making portraits and the images look amazingly realistic.
“Back in 2011 I just randomly thought I’d challenge myself and have a little fun in Photoshop, and explore what the character of Ursula from the Little Mermaid could look like in real life,” Jirka told Bored Panda. “Since I grew up with a lot of these characters, the sense of nostalgia made it such a fascinating and a fun personal project.”
“I’ve been inspired by the idea of re-envisioning these characters that we all know and love, in a way I would imagine them to look like if they were ‘more real,’ while still staying somewhat true to their original designs.”
Jirka said he has a clear idea in his mind of what a character should look like in real life but creating their portrait can be of trial and error process. “As all of [them] do not particularly have extremely distinct facial features, it is often more about getting a sense of their personality across.”
