Disney animal characters reimagined as humans

What would Simba look like as a human? See how this artist took the painstaking effort of transforming popular Disney characters into humans.

The artist known to the world only as Pugletto is a 24-year-old animation graduate from Wisconsin who takes on private art commissions when not working on her own nifty projects like this one. In transforming the animals into humans, the artist even took the effort to feature the realistic ethnicities and cultural backgrounds associated with each film's location and time period.

In an email, Pugletto told ABC that she was inspired to recreate the Disney characters as humans with heavy cultural detail due to "the lack of diversity in the fandom."

"Disney fans come from all over, and there are plenty of us who grew up without many cartoons made in our image," wrote Pugletto. "I wanted to take iconic characters and forge something that could reach out to more people."

The artist said she became more conscious of racial diversity in media and cartoons through discussions with friends, though admitted she didn't give it too much thought when choosing the ethnicities of the humanized animals. Instead, she just let it come out naturally.

"With Lady and the Tramp, I thought about the time period and maybe some aspects of each of their personalities, but that was it," Pugletto told ABC. "People want to ask why I decided to make them darker-skinned Latinos, and my attitude, at this point, is just, 'Why not?'"

Pugletto says she has been grateful to the positive reception of the art project, which has been shared all across the world, though does not consider it her "best work." She says she has struggled for much of 2015, but the new recognition has lifted her spirits.

"I'm just really thankful for the support I get from my family, my friends, and especially all those people who stuck with me through all my hardships," wrote Pugletto. "It's like the first half of 2015 was horrible for me and this has truly lifted my spirits. I'm glad everyone has enjoyed my work so far!"

To see more of Pugletto's work and support her art, head to her Patreon page.