2015’s Inside Out is now considered by many to be one of the best Pixar films ever. Although it was a kids’ film, there was quite an emotional depth to Inside Out that took it leaps and bounds beyond most animated movies. Any parent that decided to take their kids to the theatres was likely surprised by the complex storytelling they found in this Pixar film.
The story of Inside Out dove deep into the complex emotional state of a young girl named Riley who had recently moved to a new town. Audiences got to see all of Riley’s emotions personified, including Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust. What many fans of the movie may not know is that there are lots of ideas the filmmakers came up with in the concept stage that never made it to the final product. Here are ten pieces of Inside Out concept art that will make you feel.
10 Envy
The next several bits of concept art depicts characters that didn’t end up in the finished product of the movie. Envy is the first of these characters. He appears to be quite mischievous and up to no good, which would have been an interesting dynamic to add to the movie.
Another possible antagonist or maybe just a more negative emotion would have really added to the dimensions of this Pixar movie. Or, on the other hand, maybe he would have mucked everything up.
9 More Envy
That wasn’t the only possible Envy that the filmmakers behind Inside Out played around with. This other Envy, who appears female rather than male, is seemingly much less sinister in nature. Instead, she seems to be a sort of victim of her emotions.
This version of Envy looks totally obsessed with holding onto what appears to be one of the memories from the movie. Her character could appear much more tragic in the same way that Sadness did throughout the first two acts of the movie, and that would have been fascinating to watch.
8 Love
One character who would have been a great addition to the team of emotions is Love. Depicted here as being an ethereal being full of light and warmth, Love would have been an interesting juxtaposition to the rest of the characters.
As fun as this character would have been, this concept art is just a bit too abstract for the movie. He/she simply wouldn’t have fitted in with the other characters of the film.
7 Another Love
Another take on the aforementioned character, this version of Love would fit in with the other emotional characters in Riley’s head much better than his concept art counterpart. Even though he is a little more streamlined, this version of Love still looks like he’d add a unique dynamic to the team.
Perhaps during some of the more tense moments of the film Love could have wandered off and been nowhere to be found. Either way, this would be a very great character to add if they ever make a sequel.
6 Gloom
A much more negative emotion, Gloom would have been a great addition to help balance out the main team of emotions inside Riley’s mind. Other than Sadness, most of the other emotions are very high energy, so Gloom would help in bringing things down a bit.
The concept art of Gloom is really creative and tells a story in and of itself. Dark colors and a grim face make for a very fascinating character to look at.
5 Guilt
Riley goes through a wide range of emotions during her story-arc in this great movie. One great addition that could have added some emotional complexity would have been Guilt.
Over the course of Inside Out, Riley goes through quite an emotional journey and does some things that maybe she shouldn’t have. Guilt could have played an important role in all that, but maybe he/she would have also been one character too many.
4 Hope
Joy is perhaps the only emotion-character in the movie that is 100% positive. Hope could have added to this positivity and maybe even have been a sidekick of sorts to Joy.
The only problem with including Hope into the movie is that she is too powerful of emotion, much like Love would have been as well. Including something like that would have taken the whole story in a new direction.
3 Joy & Sadness
The two characters whose relationship truly defined Inside Out were Joy and Sadness. Going on many adventures together, it wasn’t until the end of the movie that they both truly figured out who each of them truly was, and what their roles should be in Riley’s life.
This beautiful piece of concept art was likely from closer to the beginning of the movie. At that point Joy was still trying to change Sadness, trying to make her more like Joy. By the end of the movie, Joy realized how wrong she was to do that, but nonetheless this is a cute picture representing the two’s relationship towards the start of the movie.
2 Irritation
This concept art for Irritation leaves us endlessly interested in what the character would have looked like in the final version of the film. Conceptually, this character’s design is radically different than all of the others in the movie.
The rest of the characters at least have some sort of human features. For the most part, Irritation is nothing even close to that. He certainly wouldn’t be an easy character to cosplay as.
1 Shame & Embarrassment
The last piece of concept art depicts two emotions that Riley clearly experienced over the course of the movie: Shame & Embarrassment. A new kid at a new school in a new city, Riley certainly felt out of place and it seemed like she felt all eyes were on her.
It’s a true shame that these two didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie. They could have very easily been two inseparable characters that stuck with each other and quietly lurked in the background behind the other emotions.
