An artist recently unveiled the ‘first iteration’ of Shrek, sparking amazement over how different the beloved character originally appeared.
If you consider yourself a dedicated Shrek enthusiast for spotting every detail since the film’s 2001 debut, you might be surprised to learn that your favorite green ogre almost looked drastically different than he does in the movies today.
Barry E. Jackson shared this early version of Shrek on Instagram last year, noting that the drawing was done by Mike Ploog, while he himself handled the painting.
DreamWorks Tours Shrek’s Adventure in London verified this transformation, also sharing the concept art on their website. They noted: “There was a much-changed concept design for Shrek in the early stages! As you can see below, he would’ve looked completely different – we know which one we prefer…”
Jackson further elaborated on his YouTube channel, The Zoom Art Studio, where he posted ‘the original Shrek test’ from 1995.
“Shrek started out as a dark edgy low budget film. This animated short was ‘kind of’ my production design. Years later Shrek became a big budget blockbuster and found its place in animation history,” he explained.
While some social media users complimented the design as ‘good artistically,’ others reacted with comments like: “This is like… some nightmarish mix of Wallace and Gromit with Grinch.”
“The amount of changes from the original test to the final product is insane,” one person remarked, while another expressed they were ‘still in awe’ of Shrek’s original appearance, suggesting it ‘would’ve been a horror movie if it’d been released in theaters.’
Check it out for yourself:
Ruben Hickman, another early concept artist for Shrek, revealed he collaborated with Jackson.
In a conversation with Vice, Hickman explained that the ‘new directors’ vision for the film was heavily inspired by ‘a lot of Wizard of Oz,’ contrasting with Jackson’s preference for influences from ‘underground comic[s]’ that were more ‘edgy’ and ‘darker.’
This creative clash reportedly led to ‘a tug of war,’ with then-DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly disliking the short film.
Hickman commented, “The more toned down version ultimately won out, because in a lot of ways it had to. A dark color scheme was not going to go over in a mass audience the way that Shrek did.”
So, what are your thoughts?