Chris the word Pygmalion usually refers to a transformation a metamorphism like a caterpillar to a butterfly or as in "Pygmalion" the book by George Bernard Shaw, a gutter snipe into lady, later to be the film My fair lady and a little while back Pretty woman,in this case I think it means the merging of fomats, real (life like) and cartoon, does this analogy answer your question?
Pygmalion Myth - Greek I
Pygmalion is the king of Cyprus who fell in love with a statue of his own making, kissed the ivory statue and thought the kisses were returned. He talked to it with words of love and brought to it the kind of gifts that are thought to please girls, such as shells and pebbles, little birds and flowers of all colors. Besides all this he also draped it with robes, put rings upon its fingers and a necklace around her neck. And by night Pygmalion put the statue on a bed, called it the consort of his bed and rested its head upon soft pillows.
So when the time came for the festival of Aphrodite to be celebrated, Pygmalion visited it and prayed to the goddess to have as wife one like his ivory maid. Aphrodite understood he did not mean one like his ivory maid but the ivory maid itself. So when Pygmalion returned home and kissed his ivory statue he discovered it was warm as he was kissing not ivory but flesh.
Pygmalion married she who had been a statue and Aphrodite, who had given life to it, came to the wedding. Pygmalion himself was given a long life.
Pygmalion Myth - Greek II
Pygmalion was a gifted sculptor from Cyprus who had no interest in the local women as he found them immoral and frivolous. Instead Pygmalion concentrated on his art until one day he ran across a large, flawless piece of ivory and decided to carve a beautiful woman from it. When he had finished the statue, Pygmalion found it so lovely and the image of his ideal woman that he clothed the figure and adorned her in jewels. He gave the statue a name: Galatea, sleeping love. He found himself obsessed with his ideal woman so he went to the temple of Aphrodite to ask forgiveness for all the years he had shunned her and beg for a wife who would be as perfect as his statue.
Aphrodite was curious so she visited the studio of the sculptor while he was away and was charmed by his creation. Galatea was the image of herself. Being flattered, Aphrodite brought the statue to life. When returned Pygmalion to his home, he found Galatea alive, and humbled himself at her feet. Pygmalion and Galatea were wed, and Pygmalion never forgot to thank Aphrodite for the gift she had given him. He and Galatea brought gifts to her temple throughout their life and Aphrodite blessed them with happiness and love in return.
