Just as with scripts, movie concept artists go through many a draft until they get the final approval for their character portrayals. Take Shrek for example. A recent photo posted to Reddit revealed that our favorite green ogre with a hero's heart started out looking more like the star of 'Coneheads.' And Yoda, 'Star Wars'' supreme Jedi master, was originally depicted as a combination of hobbit and elf from the upcoming 'Hobbit' trilogy.
It's safe to say that if things had gone differently -- maybe if one day Pixar studio reps had drank too much coffee than usual and approved the wrong sketches -- all these classic characters, from 'X-Men' mutants to Woody and Buzz in 'Toy Story,' wouldn't have looked the way they do today.
So, just for fun, we've tracked down some early (and we mean early) movie concept art and sketches to see what was going on in these artists' heads when they first started imagining characters into existence.
Shrek, 'Shrek'
Shrek early concept art
DreamWorks/Barry Jackson for DreamWorks
Yoda, 'Star Wars'
Yoda early concept art
LucasFilm
Chewbacca, 'Star Wars'
Chewbacca early concept art
LucasFilm/Ralph McQuarrie
Jabba the Hutt, 'Star Wars'
Jabba the Hut early concept art
LucasFilm
Thor, 'Thor'
'Thor' early concept art
Marvel Studios/Wesley Burt
Silver Surfer, 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'
Silver Surfer early concept art
20th Century Fox/Constantine Sekeris
Whiplash, 'Iron Man 2'
'Iron Man 2' early concept art
Marvel Studios
Beast, 'X-Men: First Class'
Beat early concept art
20th Century Fox/Constantine Sekeris
Azazel, 'X-Men: First Class'
Azazel early concept art
20th Century Fox/Jerad S. Marantz
Emma Frost, 'X-Men: First Class'
Emma Frost early concept art
20th Century Fox/Jerad S. Marantz
Spider-Man, 'The Amazing Spider-Man'
Spider-Man early concept art
Sony Pictures/Eddie Yang
Neytiri, 'Avatar'
Neytiri early concept art
20th Century Fox
The Kraken, 'Clash of the Titans'
Kraken early concept art
Warner Bros./Jerad S Marantz
Ravenna, 'Snow White and the Huntsman'
'Snow White and the Huntsman' early concept art
Universal Pictures/Jeff Simpson
Hagrid, 'Harry Potter'
Hagrid early concept art
Warner Bros.
The Caterpillar, 'Alice in Wonderland'
'Alice in Wonderland' Caterpillar early concept art