Author: Aaron Blaise

For 21 years Aaron worked with Disney helping to create some of the greatest animated films ever made. During that time he worked as an animator or supervising animator on "The Rescuers Down Under", "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", "The Lion King", "Pocahontas", "Mulan" and more. In 2003 he was co-director of "Brother Bear" for which he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. After "Brother Bear" he helped to develop several projects but ultimately left Disney to pursue an opportunity back home in Florida. Aaron recently served as 2D Animation Supervisor and Character Designer for the "The Bear and the Hare" an advertisement loved by millions around the world. He is currently also working on a new animated short film, once again involving bears called "Snow Bear".

Create a landscape with the Lasso Tool in Photoshop

In this episode Aaron takes you through the process of creating a landscape with just the Lasso Tool in Photoshop. This is a lot of fun as it does not require a lot of drawing skill to achieve!

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peLlGOSm4Iw”]

Aaron’s Art Tips S2 E9 – Creating a group of repeated images

In this episode Aaron takes you through his process while he creates a school of fish through repeating one fish. He then explains creating depth through atmospheric perspective and lighting. This technique can be used any time a large number of repeated objects is needed.

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Aaron’s Art Tips S2 E8 – The importance of drawing with guest, Ronnie Williford

In this special episode of Aaron’s Art Tips, Aaron talks with long time friend and colleague, Ronnie Williford about the importance of drawing and how it should be a part of any visual artist’s skill sets. Ronnie has an extensive career in the field of art, having covered everything from music, sculpture, painting, and animation. Aaron and Ronnie worked together for 8 years at Walt Disney Feature Animation in Orlando Florida. They continue to get together and paint or play music whenever they can.

You can see more of Ronnie’s work at http://ronniewilliford.com/

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Animation Test of Nala

I recently came across and old pencil test that I did while developing the character of Nala in “The Lion King”. It’s super-short but I thought you might like it.

Aaron’s Art Tips S2 E7- Using Contrast to Create a Center of Interest

In this episode of Aaron’s Art Tips – Aaron talks about his methods for using both contrast in value and levels of detail in order to guide the eye and create centers of interest in your compositions. This applies to not only painters but to photographers as well.

[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/FjVo3H0INJc”]

Aaron’s Art Tips S2 E6- What to include in your visual development portfolio

In this episode of “Aaron’s Art Tips”, Aaron gives advice to you graduating art students out there that are getting ready to put together your portfolio for visual development for a studio position. Having served on the review board at Walt Disney Feature Animation for over 20 years Aaron will tell you what he looks for when looking at new portfolios from young talent.

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