The Queen’s slave in the magic mirror in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs naturally presented a major challenge: only its facial features are visible. No body, no eyes, no hair. Nothing that could potentially betray a personality. Moreover, its face is partially hidden by the distortions of the mirror (obtained through the technique of frosted glass).
It is the young animator and future director Woolie Reitherman who animates it, and obtains a perfect symmetry by folding his sheet of paper in the middle. But Thor Putnam tells us, in his interview with David Johnson, that it was Hugh Henesy, the creator of the character’s appearance, who served as the model for the rotoscope by applying make-up and lighting his face from below.
