Category: Aaron’s Art Tips

Hand Drawn Animation – “Trunk Troubles”

I’ve been excited more and more recently by the possibilities of TVPaint. It had been a little while since I had sat down and created any original animation so I got the itch to do something fun. This was just a quick little piece that I created in 8 days using my Wacom Cintiq and TVPaint. I was thinking about elephants when I got the idea for this character name Cyrano. This short animation shows some of the hijinks he gets into with his trunk. I hope you like it… I think I’ll do more with this character soon. Continue reading Hand Drawn Animation – “Trunk Troubles”

A Basic Introduction to Illustration in Photoshop with Aaron Blaise

I often get questions from new artists of all ages on the best way to get started with digital illustration/painting in Adobe Photoshop. There are probably thousands of methods and techniques so it can sometimes seem overwhelming. To address this I put together 1 Hour and 11 minute video giving a brief overview of my techniques and my approach. 

This is a basic overview intended to help less experienced artists or those who are new to Photoshop. Ultimately you will develop your own approach but I hope this helps some of you that are looking to get started. Continue reading A Basic Introduction to Illustration in Photoshop with Aaron Blaise

“The Dude” – Sloth Animation Sneak Peek

So today I wanted to get back into TVPaint and do some traditional animation. So I decided to grab a snippet of dialogue from one of my favorite actors (Jeff Bridges) in one of my favorite films “The Big Lebowski” – So without further ado I present “The Dude… Sloth”

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This is a sneak peek at an upcoming series of animation training videos and lessons that I am working on coming early this year. Enjoy!

UPDATE: My Animation Tutorials are now available.

Interested in Digital Art & Animation Instruction? I offer a line of tutorials videos and lessons. CLICK HERE to Learn More.

 



First Ever “Art Giveaway Contest” Winners + Happy 2015!!

Hi Everybody!

We had a great response to our first ever “Art Giveaway Contest”.

First, I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who purchased my Custom Photoshop Fur Brushes. I’ve had a great time experimenting with them myself and I wanted to let everyone know now that I’m currently working on creating a second set, so stay tuned!

Note: There were too many entries for me to provide individual feedback on each one. But as a general rule I must say that I was very impressed with what I saw and each and every one of you who participated has talent and should continue to develop and pursue it! 

As for the art we received…We had such a wide variety of subjects. It was so much fun going through everything and seeing how the brushes were used. There were illustrations, photo-retouches and more! Everything was really great and I could see the fun you guys were having. That being said, there were a few that stood out for me. Out of the entries I picked five.

I’d also like to announce that along with the first place winner receiving a signed original drawing from me, the remaining four will receive signed prints. So here they are!

Ann-Lauwers-Mouse-in-Cup
First Place: Ann Lauwers – Mouse in Cup

Click the Images Below to See the Other Winners:

 

Interested in Digital Art & Animation Instruction? I offer a line of tutorials videos and lessons. CLICK HERE to Learn More.


A final note on the the “Photo-Retouches” there were some really fun and solid ones that were this close to making the final cut so please don’t hesitate to keep them coming in future events. There were also some great images that unfortunately came in after the deadline. Sadly, to be fair to everyone I’m trying to keep the cut-offs as serious as we can. So if you don’t see your name here, keep at it and be on the look out for my next art challenge which is coming soon !

Once again, Thank you so much for your participation and Happy 2015! 

– Aaron Blaise

P.S. I’ll be contacting all the winners shortly to get shipping details, etc. – Congrats Again!

Timelapse Digital Painting of Yao from “Mulan” in Photoshop

Lately, I’ve been having a blast revisiting my “old friends” from the Disney films I worked on. Yao was a character I designed and supervised the animation for the film “Mulan”. Here I’ll take you through my process as I paint him in Photoshop.

Below is a time-lapse video of the process and the final image:

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Interested in Digital Art & Animation Instruction? I offer a line of tutorials videos and lessons. CLICK HERE to Learn More.


Aaron-Blaise-Realistic-Yao


You can also see my take on the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast” HERE and my Rajah from “Aladdin” HERE

Time Lapse Video of Digital Painting of Rajah from Aladdin in Photoshop

Rajah (from “Aladdin”) was the first character I was ever given the opportunity to actually design and lead the animation. It was a huge deal for me. I was 24 and I remember being very nervous. It was fun to draw and paint him tonight after so many years. Thanks to John Musker and Ron Clements for having faith in me way back then.

Below is a time-lapse video of the process and the final image:

[youtube_sc url=”LuaMG0_-xWw” width=”650″]

Interested in Digital Art & Animation Instruction? I offer a line of tutorials videos and lessons. CLICK HERE to Learn More.



You can also see my take on the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast” HERE

Painting Rajah from "Aladdin" in Photoshop

Digital Painting of Beast in Photoshop

So my friend and  I were talking and he thought it might be fun and interesting to take some of the characters I’ve animated in the past and do realistic renderings of them in Photoshop using my painting techniques and photographic textures. I agreed and so I decided to do The Beast as my first one. This was the first major character I ever animated thanks to Glen Keane. I’ve always loved drawing him.

Below is a time-lapse video of the process and the final image:

[youtube_sc url=”C6Dk7EEFTG4″ width=”650″]

Interested in Digital Art & Animation Instruction? I offer a line of tutorials videos and lessons. CLICK HERE to Learn More.


ImagineFX Cover Issue – ON SALE NOW

Hi Everyone,

I am so excited and extremely honored to announce that the latest issue of Imagine FX Magazine features a cover story and new video tutorial by me. It was a lot of fun putting this together and the whole team over at the publication did an outstanding job. They are based in the UK so it hits news stands there today, November 7th and it should be in USA and other international book stores soon after! In my area I know it can be picked up at Barnes and Nobel bookstores. 

To celebrate I am offering a limited time 30% OFF promo code for my site. Just enter “ImagineFX” at checkout to receive 30% off your order.

 

Below is gallery showing the final cover and a sneak peek at the interior article. I’ve also included a number of alternative cover sketches that I did. Continue reading ImagineFX Cover Issue – ON SALE NOW

Watch My Adobe Max 2014 Session

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to give a demo on “Creating Photo Real Creatures in Photoshop” at the 2014 Adobe Max Conference.  Well today I am pleased to see that they have posted it online and I wanted to share it with you as a free demo.

NOTE: This was a screen capture so you will only hear my voice for the first few minutes. After that though the full demo is visible. Also, this was a new audience so some of the info may be familiar to you if you have watched some of my other videos. It runs just over an hour.

Enjoy,
Aaron

Creating textures with Photoshop Texture Brushes

In this episode, Aaron shows you his method for creating textured skin surfaces in his character and concept digital art. He will take you through using textured brushes, fitting the textures to the contours of your character and adding lighting details. 

Check out this link to the brushes on his site: http://creatureartteacher.com/product/custom-photoshop-brushes-set-2-elephant-texture/

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Aaron’s Art Tips Season2 E12 – Straights and Curves

In this episode Aaron talks about pushing straights and curves in your drawing line work in order to create contrast and make your drawings more dynamic. This principle applies to photography and painting as well.

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Aaron’s Art Tips S2 E11 – Creating Wipes In Your Character Animation

In this episode, Aaron takes you through his process in creating wipes for your character animation. Sometimes you have a great distance to travel across the screen with your character but only a few frames to do it in. Using a wipe is the answer to retain fluidity and avoid strobing. 

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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!

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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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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. 

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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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Lion Walk – Cintiq + TVPaint Pencil Test

This is the second pass on a recent TVPaint “pencil test”. This version has several more “in between” frames than the previous pass and is starting to show more polish.

I did this study using TVPaint software on my Wacom 24″ HD Cintiq.

This is just the first shot in a full scene I will be animating over the next few weeks. What do you think the lion is looking at? Stay tuned!

Hope you enjoy it.

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