It was eventually accepted by veteran stage actress Elaine Stritch however she clashed with the music stylist. The first choice to voice the character was Beatrice Arthur who turned down the part. Disney Studios, specifically Ron Clements and John Musker, adapted the Hans Christian Anderson story to give the villain a much bigger role. "The Little Mermaid," 1989 was the final Disney film using hand painted animation cels.
The sea-green color of her fin was a hue specially mixed by the Disney paint lab, and the color was named "Ariel" after the character. By the end of the film, the animators required a total of 32-color models not including costume changes. A challenge in animating Ariel were the colors required to show her in various changing environments, both under the sea and on land. The effect of Ariel's hair underwater was based on footage of Sally Ride when she was in space and scenes of Sherri Lynn Stoner in a swimming pool were used in animating Ariel's swimming. He jokingly stated that his wife looks exactly like Ariel "without the fins." The character's body type and personality were based upon that of Alyssa Milano, who was starring on TV's "Who's the Boss?". Keane however, was assigned as one of the two lead artists on the petite Ariel and oversaw the "Part of Your World" musical number.
Originally, Keane had been asked to work on Ursula, as he had established a reputation for drawing large powerful figures, such as the bear in "The Fox and the Hound," 1981 and Professor Ratigan in "The Great Mouse Detective," 1986. The Little Mermaid's supervising animators included Glen Keane and Mark Henn on Ariel, Duncan Marjoribanks on Sebastian, Andreas Deja on King Triton, and Ruben Aquino on Ursula.
Broadway actress Jodi Benson (who was predominantly a stage actress when she was cast) was chosen to play Ariel, and Sherri Lynn Stoner, a former member of Los Angeles' Groundlings improvisation comedy group, acted out Ariel's key scenes. Their first projects were to produce an entire Roger Rabbit cartoon short, "Roller Coaster Rabbit," and to contribute ink and paint support to "The Little Mermaid." Another first for Disney films of recent years, was the filming of live actors and actresses for motion reference material for the animators.
Aside from its main animation facility in Glendale, California Disney opened a satellite feature animation facility in Lake Buena Vista, Florida that was within the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World. There was more money and resources dedicated by the Walt Disney Studios to "The Little Mermaid" than any other Disney animated film in decades. Wright, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, Buddy Hackett, and René Auberjonois. The voice cast includes: Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. The film was written, directed, and produced by Ron Clements and John Musker with music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Name by Hans Christian Andersen, which tells the story of a beautiful mermaid princess who dreams of becoming human.