Not at all handsome, unless you happen to be an ogre of the female persuasion, Shrek looks as if he might share DNA with the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Green Bay Packer nose tackle Gilbert Brown. All Shrek really desires in life is to be left alone and undisturbed in his swampy lair. Recent visitors to the workshop have been able to see what makes Shrek, the Princess and other characters tick. A skeletal system forms the core, and it can move. Attached to the skeleton are layers of muscles and fat, which will bulge or stretch out, depending on the requirements of the animator.
Skin slides across the muscles and fat, and acts like our skin does.
Clothes go on top of the skin. Using the old-fashioned way, everything is magnetized to the bone, and it just doesn't look right. First-time viewers probably won't notice the minute touches such as having lips stick together on the corners when the characters speak, and seeing light through the thin skin of a character's ear lobes. Rolls of fat on Shrek's forehead move when the ogre changes expression, as does his double chin. Watch the faces of Shrek and the Princess when she realizes that the hero she's been being holding out for isn't Prince Charming, but an ancestor of the Creature From the Black Lagoon.