 Henn revealed that he was drawn to "Mulan's story [because it] was so unique and compelling that it just captivated me from the beginning". Animating the characters' distinct emotions using the traditional Chinese style turned out to be somewhat challenging for Henn. The animator explained, "We don 't create realism in the sense that if you're doing a human character, it's not going to look realistic ... the balance is finding an appealing way of drawing using the visual tools that you have in the design to convey the believable emotions that you want to get across." In addition to Mulan, Henn was also responsible for animating Fa Zhou, Mulan's elderly father. He described the complex relationship between the two characters as "the emotional heart of the story". Fathering one daughter himself, Henn drew inspiration from his own emotions as well as past personal experiences while animating several intimate scenes shared by the two characters.
