SATURDAY SIX Artist Spotlight: The Disney Related Artwork of Kristi O (AKA KOMakesThings)

This week the SATURDAY SIX Proudly Presents: The Disney Related Artwork of KRISTI O! Each February, The SATURDAY SIX spotlights artists in the theme park community to coincide with Disney’s Festival of the Arts. Each of these artist spotlight features gives us a chance to appreciate an illustrator whose work uses characters, attractions, or any other element of the Disney or Universal theme parks. We began this annual tradition in 2021 and have continued each year (you can find all the previous artist spotlight features by CLICKING HERE.) The class of 2025 kicked off with Brandon Starr, and today we are following up with our second artist, the imaginative and creative Kristi O.

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Hello! My name is Kristi O., otherwise known as KOMakesThings. Firstly, a huge thank you to Derek for asking if I’d like to take part in the spotlight series. I always feel very honored when someone sees my art and thinks highly enough of it to include it in a showcase like this.

Growing up I always thought one day I’d be an animator. As a result, the majority of my spare time was spent trying to teach myself how to draw. As I grew up it slowly dawned on me… not only was I not cut out for a career in the animation industry, I learned that I really didn’t like using up my creative juices working for other people. I wanted to save that creative energy for when I got home at the end of the day and finally had time to work on the things I wanted to do.

Not only that, but drawing wasn’t the only thing I wanted to do creatively. I wanted to start exploring other mediums, ways that I could see my creative energies take 3-dimensional form. And what is my go-to creative output? Well, that’s a very odd blend of laboriously replicating props from animated/non-animated films, and drawing the Muppets in various movie-mash-ups. The works of Jim Henson and Disney were two major influences for me growing up, fueling my imagination with their visions of fantastical worlds that seemed so close, yet so far away. Also, who doesn’t love a good Muppet? So it should be no surprise that both Henson and Disney show up a lot in my art, sometimes at the same time…

# 6 – The Little Merpig

I’m a ’90s kid, which of course means that Disney’s The Little Mermaid reigned supreme in my childhood home. The urge to cast Piggy in the role of Ariel started as mostly an excuse to draw Piggy as a Disney Princess. Is Piggy the best choice for the role of Ariel? Well, probably not, but that’s the great thing about being the one making these drawings, I get to make the entirely selfish call to cast my favorite Muppets as my favorite characters (which is why you see the somewhat obscure Taminella Grinderfall appear as Ursula).

While all of these drawings show a fairly glamorous depiction of Piggy as Ariel, I like imagining what really goes down on set. How does Piggy react when she has to do yet another 8 hour shoot in cold sea water? How many times does Piggy blow a scene because she can’t help talking after Ariel’s voice gets taken? Does Piggy resist going off script and giving Ursula a karate-chop to save her beloved Prince Kermie?

# 5 – Piggy and The Beast

While The Little Mermaid ruled my childhood, as an adult I’m very much a Beauty and the Beast kinda gal. So of course, why not insert Piggy into this story too?

A fun decision I’ve had to make several times now when drawing these adaptations… Does Kermit wear a wig, or go au natural? At least for a Muppet version of Beauty and the Beast, I think Kermit in a wig would really enhance that final reveal. Just picture the audience eagerly awaiting their first look at the Prince’s true form, he turns around, luscious locks flowing in the breeze… and it’s dear Kermit saying “Piggy, it’s me!”

These Muppet/Disney mash-ups are often my way of getting through my artist block. I’m sure other creatives can relate, how many times do you have the urge to create, but not the brain power? When I get into one of those states, I start thumbing my way through iconic Disney moments and see which one strikes my fancy. I don’t have to worry about coming up with the pose or composition, the great artists behind the films already did that for me. So I get to hunker down with a cup of hot chocolate, and spend a few very zen hours puttering away, turning more Disney characters into Muppets.

# 4 – Great Mouse Detective

My other great creative love is the world of prop replicas. It’s pretty much what it says on the tin, trying my best to replicate the fun and memorable whozits and whatzits that appear in my favorite films. There’s an extra bit of challenge that happens when the prop you’re trying to replicate comes from a traditionally animated film, where the details and design can fluctuate wildly from scene to scene.

I’m a fan of both Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series and traditional animation, so naturally The Great Mouse Detective, which happens to occupy the middle area in that very specific Venn diagram, is one of my favorite Disney films.

I also replicated a few props from The Rescuers, and when I realized the two movies fit together quite nicely, I decided I had a perfect opportunity to give the shelves that house my collection a themed makeover.

Compared to The Great Mouse Detective the props from The Rescuers have a very “found object” feel to them, that the mice in this world grabbed whatever discarded items they could and DIY’d them to suit their needs. You can see several of them in the scene depicting a meeting of the Rescue Aid Society. It was really fun to track down similar bits and bobs and slowly assemble my own “Mouse-built” props. Though don’t worry, the little step ladder isn’t made of real matches, I wouldn’t dare risk my collection by including anything actually flammable.

Prop making is often an experiment in problem solving, especially as a hobbyist. How can I recreate these items without the big budget of a major film studio behind me? The answer is often to get creative with what you already have on hand. For example, the Rescue Aid Society banner was made by temporarily gluing a bit of fabric to some printer paper, then sending that through my standard inkjet printer. The fringe and tassels are all made out of embroidery thread, sewn to fabric I already had on hand in my craft stash. My hand-stitching isn’t great, but I imagine mice wouldn’t be great at it either, so I’m giving myself a pass there.

# 3 – Prop Replicas

I was first attracted to making prop replicas because, whether it’s a replica or not, there’s something very magical about being able to hold an iconic piece of a beloved movie in your hands. Who hasn’t watched Aladdin and wanted to rub the magic lamp, or to try on Cinderella’s slipper? Prop replicas are a very tactile way of experiencing the things we see in movies, that normally are trapped beyond the flat TV screen. Plus, who doesn’t like adding a one-of-a-kind piece of art to your collection?

The more props I made, the more I realized that there’s also another magic to be found in learning new skills and experimenting with unfamiliar tools and mediums. In addition to the making of the props themselves, I also started exploring photography as a hobby. You can kinda carbon date when I made a prop by how good I photographed it, these days I take a lot of pride in not just carefully replicating a prop, but by trying to capture a scene or mood in my photos that references the original movie in some way.

My Beauty and the Beast props were made out of a wide variety of materials. Lumiere is a mix of wooden candle sticks, a plastic coat hanger, craft foam, hot glue, and LED tealights. Cogsworth is entirely made out of craft foam, and has a real working clock mechanism and pendulum. Mrs. Potts is a real tea pot that I customized using some oven-bake Super Sculpey to make her hat and base.

Sometimes the simpler props are the most satisfying to complete, because I can usually make them pretty quickly using supplies I already had on hand (and, if I’m lucky, I can finish them in a single afternoon!) For example, I made Hercules’ Medallion from Disney’s Hercules out of cut pieces of cardboard stacked together on a wooden round base. Some cotton stuffing for the clouds, with a bit of photoshop magic, makes the medallion look fit for the gods

I think one of the most unique films in the entire Disney library is The Hunchback of Notre Dame, thanks to its very mature themes. It is a one of a kind film that I doubt we’ll ever see again from Disney, which is why it’s one of my favorites. And as you might expect, to honor my affection for Hunchback I decided to try and recreate one of its props: Quasimodo’s wood carved figurines from the film.

I made these two figures out of oven-bake Super Sculpey clay, roughly sculpted around a wire base. After the clay was baked I carved it into shape with an exacto blade, trying to mimic the look of actual wood.
By the way, if you want to see the work-in-progress pics of how I brought these figurines to life, I’ve shared the step-by-step instructions over on my blog.

In fact, I have a whole collection of Prop Tutorials that will walk you through many of the items I have made over the years, including Ariel’s music box from The Little Mermaid.

As a side note, if you do use my tutorials to make your own props, I’d love it if you could share pictures with me on social media! It always brings a smile on my face to know when my tutorials have been put to good use.

Sometimes prop making is more about finding an existing object and giving it a slight makeover. It’s something that real prop makers do on movie sets,and if they can do it so can I! Here’s a quick little project I put together that should hopefully need no introduction. Cinderella’s slipper was a lucky eBay find that I added a little glass heart onto. The only major bit of crafting I did on this particular project was to sew the velvet pillow the slipper rests on.

# 2 – The Simpsons

As a ’90s kid I definitely watched my fair share of The Simpsons. I can remember watching it all the way from Elementary School to University, dropping off somewhere around Season 19 or 20. I ended up getting back into the classic Simpsons episodes through the podcast Two Bad Neighbors (named after the infamous episode where Homer becomes the neighbor of former President George Bush Senior).
Thanks to my renewed interest in the Simpsons I started attending my local Simpsons Trivia night, and before too long I felt the urge to contribute a few props for their prize table. I actually haven’t attended in a while now, thanks to life getting much busier in recent years, but Derek asking me to speak on these items is sending me on a nostalgic trip down memory lane… I may just have to try and fit Simpsons trivia back into my schedule again.

Most of the prizes I contributed were recreations of posters or photos shown in the background of the show, so they were a fun way of spotlighting memorable gags that could use a bit more love. For example, in the episode “22 Short Films About Springfield,” Milhouse runs into the Comic Book Store desperate to find a bathroom. Comic Book Guy insists the bathroom is for paying customers only, so Milhouse attempts to buy the first thing he lays his eyes on, which ends up being the “Rare photo of Sean Connery signed by Roger Moore.”

I found this gag especially funny because my Dad was a big James Bond fan, and I ended up watching many of the movies growing up. So that was reason enough for me to make this brief gag a real prop.

For this project I took a screenshot from the episode, corrected the image’s perspective in Photoshop, and then manually traced and colored the image in Illustrator. Once that was done, it was a simple matter of getting the image printed, and finding a suitable frame from the thrift store.

I ended up making a second one of these as a prize for my local Simpsons trivia night, and it went over very well! This next photo is courtesy of the fine folks at WOO HOO! Simpsons Trivia.

Here are a few more recreations of photos and posters seen in the background of my favorite Simpsons episodes, all made using the same technique. Compared to my larger craft builds, replicating still images is a fairly simple process. In fact, I’d recommend this as a starting point for folks who are interested in prop replicas but are feeling intimidated by the idea of replicating a 3D object. We all have to start somewhere, and simple projects like these are a great way to build confidence and get a feel for the hobby.

# 1 – Muppet Princess Bride

One day my mind wandered to the concept of a Muppet Princess Bride remake. I have no idea who originally proposed the mash-up, I first saw folks discussing it on the platform formerly known as Twitter and I heartily agreed that it sounded utterly delightful.

While I’ve been a lifelong Muppet fan, I only got into the Princess Bride as an adult. But thankfully for me, nostalgia is not needed to enjoy The Princess Bride… it is an incredible film that perfectly balances humour, adventure, and heart. Inigo’s confrontation with Count Rugen, and the shared sympathy I have for Inigo in that moment, has impacted me profoundly, and will always be the first scene that comes to mind when I think of the Princess Bride.

One day I was mulling over the idea of Muppet Princess Bride when a bit of dialogue popped into my head: Kermit as Westley telling Miss Piggy as Buttercup “There’s a shortage of perfect pork chops in the world… it’d be a pity to damage yours

Inspired, I started drawing… and when I finished that drawing I had an idea for another scene, and another, and another… There are so many moments from The Princess Bride that the Muppets fit into ever so nicely. There’s also an endless amount of ways you can cast Muppet Princess Bride, my castings are in no way the definitive way to do it. I’d actually love to see more people draw their own versions of Muppet Princess Bride, there’s plenty of jokes to be made by having different Muppets cast in different roles.

 

At the risk of sounding slightly naïve, I have the hope that if enough folks talk about Muppet Princess Bride online, the right person will see it and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get an actual adaptation. If nothing else, at least we’re showing Disney that there are plenty of folks out there who still love the Muppets, and want to see them in more movies.

Thank you again Derek for asking me to participate in this spotlight. If any of your readers would like to see more of my work, I can be found as @KOMakesThings on Instagram, Bluesky, Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter. I also have my own blog, https://komakesthings.wordpress.com/, where readers can find written tutorials and work-in-progress shots of all of my prop replica builds.

So there you have it: SATURDAY SIX Artist Spotlight – The Theme Park Artwork of Kristi O. (AKA KOMakesThings)! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on bluesky (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

Artist Spotlight Class of 2021: SonderQuest | Sam Carter | Brian Cooper | Sterling Denham

Artist Spotlight Class of 2022: Rob Yeo | Ava Buric | Jess Siswick | Hayden Evans

Artist Spotlight Class of 2023: Marie Catano | Savannah Hamilton | Bunny Wars

Artist Spotlight Class of 2024: Jaime S. | Jess Feldman | Bryan Bindman

Artist Spotlight Class of 2025: Brandon Starr | Kristi O

SATURDAY SIX Artist Spotlight: The Theme Park Artwork of Brian Gweon

SATURDAY SIX Artist Spotlight: The Theme Park Artwork of Phillip Weatherford (AKA The Horizoneer)

SATURDAY SIX Presents: Artists Inspired by Universal’s VELOCICOASTER

SATURDAY SIX Presents: Artists Inspired by Universal’s HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS

SATURDAY SIX Artists Inspired by HHN Series: Declan O’mara