#aaron blaise

I had the honor and pleasure of attending one of CreatureArtTeacher's two-day online workshops with the incredibly talented and renowned Terryl Whitlatch, who has done concept work for many famous pieces of media!

The workshop focused on anatomy and character designs of the triceratops, one of my favorite dinosaurs. Here are the sketches I made over the course of the two class sessions - there's a lot that is incorrect and needs improving, but I learned a LOT from these lessons that I can apply to my art going forward.

Snow Bear - A hand-drawn, animated, short film by Aaron Blaise (he worked on Brother Bear).

And it doesn’t even have a million views yet so sit down and watch this free short film to support independent, hand drawn animation!

HAND. DRAWN. 2D. ANIMATION.

FOR FREE. ABOUT A LONELY POLAR BEAR.

It’s called Snow Bear (2024), and it was created by Aaron Blaise, an ex-Disney animator who worked on films such as Brother Bear (2003), Aladdin (1992) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).

First off, the visuals: Everything is animated in a gorgeous traditional 2D style that gave me a warm nostalgic feeling throughout, like I was a kid again watching a classic Disney film. The story is simple yet compelling to watch as we follow a polar bear building and interacting with his very own snow bear. It reminded me of Raymond Briggs’ classic children’s book The Snowman, only the snow bear doesn’t come to life, though the polar bear likes to imagine that it is. It’s so sweet to watch! I won’t spoil what happens next for the both of them, but I was actually on the brink of tears for most of the film. 🥺

The polar bear has Aaron Blaise’s fingerprints all over him! You could just tell it’s him in every single frame. It’s wonderful! He’s had experience with animating all sorts of bears in the past; Brother Bear (2003) being a good example. The only difference is that this bear in this short film is treated a bit more seriously in comparison. Aaron manages to make the polar bear feel expressive in a realistic way without it coming off as being too cartoonishly over-the-top. Also, the polar bear never utters a single word; He simply grunts and roars like a real polar bear would. That’s incredible to me! His noises and expressive features give you a clear idea of how he’s feeling. An amazing use of “show, don’t tell” in an animated medium. Kind of like how Spirit and Rain behave in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002). They are horses who communicate through neighs and nickers and act like real horses. I love it when films do this! You don’t need to rely on a celebrity voice all the time. Let the animals be…well, animals for a change!

The score is minimalistic yet sweet and emotionally riveting, complimenting well with whatever’s going on onscreen. Mellow and moving in equal measure.

If you’d like to watch this short film for yourself, Aaron Blaise himself has actually just uploaded the full thing onto his YouTube channel for your viewing pleasure. It’s 12 minutes of animated bliss!

Simply wonderful!

Presented without comment.

Just kidding, I'm going to comment.

It had to be done. The loveliest horse in all of Randland! Better than Mandarb or Pips or Jeade'en or whatever a razor is.

See below the cut for a brief process vid and more rambling (I don't know how to properly film processes, so I made it with photoshop would you believe? Photoshop is a bit of a Jack of All Master of One - not none!).

WHEEL OF TIME PORTRAIT COLLECTION: Galad - Clean - Dirty Rand - Clean - Dirty Berelain - Clean Morgase - Clean Bela - (You are here)

No spoilers below!

I wanted to do something fast and fun, and painting Bela fit the bill! Why are horses much easier to paint than people? It does raise the question if I should include other horses in my project?