Tag: Animation

Lion King 30th Anniversary Stream: New Nala Animation

Celebrating The 30th Anniversary of The Lion King!

Use Promo Code: “STARS15” for $15 OFF Any Course or Brush Order Over $50*
Hurry… Offer Ends Monday!

width= WOW! This summer marks the 30th Anniversary  of Disney’s The Lion King!

This movie literally changed my life!
And it was not just me… the movie changed the ENTIRE ANIMATION INDUSTRY!

So, I didn’t want to let the occasion go unmarked! 

This week I did a new public live stream on my YouTube Channel where I shared stories from the making of the film, answered viewer questions and created some new animation of young Nala – The character I designed and animated for the film!

Give it a watch below:

 
Click Here to View More Art & Animation Lessons ON SALE!
I also thought it might be fun to collect some development images from the making of the film.
Plus, there is a video below of a rough pencil animation test that I did!

 

If you like this type of content, please leave a Comment Below and I will make more.

Thanks,

– Aaron

Art & Animation Lessons ON SALE!

 

We offer 3 Great Ways to Learn! First, you can purchase any ART LESSONS a la carte. Or you can become a Monthly Streaming Member and get immediate access to over 450 hours of art lessons that you can stream on your computer, phone, tablet or SmartTV. Finally, you can become an ANNUAL MEMBER and get hundreds of hours of video lessons to keep and download.

Lesson Previews:

The videos below are selected lessons from various courses.
These represent just a small portion of the 600+ hours of animation lessons, art tutorials and more available with our membership plans.

Get Immediate Access to All this Great Content + More!

“I was trained by Aaron Blaise. Aaron is Awesome!”

– Byron Howard (Director: “Zootopia”, “Tangled”, “Bolt”)

New Animation Made in Procreate Dreams

NEW Animated Short!

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I am so exited to finally be able to share this secret project that I have been working on. The fine folks over at Procreate asked me to try a very early version of their BRAND NEW Animation software to see what I could do with it.

It’s called Procreate Dreams and all I can say is: WOW! – For portable software on an iPad it is incredibly robust and the price point is a game changer! Be sure to watch their reveal keynote below. It will be available to everyone on November 22nd. 

Speaking of the keynote I had NO IDEA that my little short was going to be included as the climax of the event. They kept that a complete surprise and I found out in the audience just like everyone else. So a HUGE Thank You to James, Georgie, Nate, LJ & all of the amazing crew over at Procreate.

In just a few weeks I was able to create the animation above. This is actually the first piece of animation that I’ve been involved with that has gone all the way through to color since “The Bear & The Hare” and this is the first fully colored & finished animation that I’ve produced entirely in house. (Don’t worry though I am also still hard at work on “Snow Bear” and that is coming ASAP).

I also want to give an extra special shout out to Max Mueller who did the amazing job on the score! Max is a wonderful young composer and working with him on this project was a total joy! He has a great future ahead of him in the film world. Watching him record the score with a live orchestra was breath taking! Be sure to check out his website: HERE

I’ll have a full reaction video to the news later this week. Plus, I am pleased to announce that I will have a FULL Course on Animating In Procreate Dreams available the day the software drops! (or very soon thereafter).

Of course, as always you will be able to purchase that class a la carté. OR if you become an Annual Member it will be included FREE with your membership.

For a Limited Time if you use code: “DREAMS” at checkout it will take 20% OFF Class Orders INCLUDING Membership Plans!

Scroll down to see  the Keynote Presentation by Procreate:

Art & Animation Lessons ON SALE!
Everything is 40% OFF (or more). 

Offer Ends Soon.

+ USE CODE: “DREAMS” for an Extra 20% OFF Your Order!

Procreate Dreams Keynote:

 

We offer 3 Great Ways to Learn! First, you can purchase any ART LESSONS a la carte. Or you can become a Monthly Streaming Member and get immediate access to over 650 hours of art lessons that you can stream on your computer, phone, tablet or SmartTV. Finally, you can become an ANNUAL MEMBER and get hundreds of hours of video lessons to keep and download.

Lesson Previews:

The videos below are selected lessons from various courses.
These represent just a small portion of the 700+ hours of animation lessons, art tutorials and more available with our membership plans.

Get Immediate Access to All this Great Content + More!

“I was trained by Aaron Blaise. Aaron is Awesome!”

– Byron Howard (Director: “Zootopia”, “Tangled”, “Bolt”)

25th Anniversary of Mulan

Celebrating The 25th Anniversary of Mulan!

Use Promo Code: “MULAN25” for 25% OFF Any Course or Brush Order!
Hurry… Offer Ends June 22nd

It is hard for me to believe it but June 19th marks the 25th Anniversary of Disney’s MULAN!

This film has always been special to me for a number of reasons:

First, off it was the first time that I was cast as the supervising animator of the lead villain in the movie… Bao Gung!

What’s that you say? There is no Bao Gung. Well, you are right. Over the course of developing the film the character of Bao Gung was written out and the character of Shan Yu became the primary villain. At the time, the role of Shan Yu had already been assigned to the very talented Pres Romanillios.

This left me without a character in the film… That is until the directors sat me down and asked if I could do several characters? So I ended up designing and animating the character of Yao as well as all of the ancestor ghosts.

This film is also special to me because it was the first film that was really the baby of the Florida Studio. This film was produced and directed out of the Florida animation studio and I think it is one of the best looking films of the 90’s animation era.

It’s clear that we were firing on all cylinders.

Over the years, I have shared a number of videos about Mulan on my YouTube channel and my TikTok – So, I thought to celebrate this milestone I would gather a few of the highlights here. I’ve also included a gallery with some of my drawings from Mualn below.

This film was also very important for my fellow Creature Art Teacher, Tim Hodge. It was his first feature film project as a story artist!

To celebrate the occasion, he has created a new video in his “Tips with Tim” series. Give it a watch below:

Click Here to View More Art & Animation Lessons ON SALE!

 

If you like this type of content, please leave a Comment Below and I will make more.

Thanks,

– Aaron

Art & Animation Lessons ON SALE!

 

We offer 3 Great Ways to Learn! First, you can purchase any ART LESSONS a la carte. Or you can become a Monthly Streaming Member and get immediate access to over 450 hours of art lessons that you can stream on your computer, phone, tablet or SmartTV. Finally, you can become an ANNUAL MEMBER and get hundreds of hours of video lessons to keep and download.

Lesson Previews:

The videos below are selected lessons from various courses.
These represent just a small portion of the 600+ hours of animation lessons, art tutorials and more available with our membership plans.

Get Immediate Access to All this Great Content + More!

“I was trained by Aaron Blaise. Aaron is Awesome!”

– Byron Howard (Director: “Zootopia”, “Tangled”, “Bolt”)

AI Animation – Aaron Blaise REACTS!

A.I. Animation Video

Click Here to View More Animation & Storyboarding Lessons for 40% OFF

Watch as director & animator, Aaron Blaise watches the new AI Animation video from the  @CorridorCrew  and shares his thoughts on this exciting new process!

Watch the Corridor Crew’s original Making Of Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9LX9HSQkWo

Check out their finished short animation, “Anime Rock Paper Scissors” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVT3WUa-48Y

Also watch this video where my good friends The Bancroft Brothers Shared Their Thoughts!

Art & Animation 30% OFF Sale!

 

We offer 3 Great Ways to Learn! First, you can purchase any ART LESSONS a la carte. Or you can become a Monthly Streaming Member and get immediate access to over 450 hours of art lessons that you can stream on your computer, phone, tablet or SmartTV. Finally, you can become an ANNUAL MEMBER and get hundreds of hours of video lessons to keep and download.

Lesson Previews:

The videos below are selected lessons from various courses.
These represent just a small portion of the 600+ hours of animation lessons, art tutorials and more available with our membership plans.

Get Immediate Access to All this Great Content + More!

“I was trained by Aaron Blaise. Aaron is Awesome!”

– Byron Howard (Director: “Zootopia”, “Tangled”, “Bolt”)

Wolfwalkers Early Design Work

Hopefully by now you have had a chance to check out the amazing, award winning film Wolfwalkers directed by Tom Moore and Ross Stewart.
If not I encourage you to stop reading this and go watch it! (I’ve embedded the trailer below)It’s available on AppleTV+ which you can get on pretty much any streaming device with a free trial.

It was developed by the amazing team at Cartoon Saloon over in Kilkenny, Ireland whom I was fortunate enough to get to visit in 2019 on one of my last international trips before the pandemic. While I was there I was working with the team doing some animation demos & lectures and I was treated to a behind the scenes look at the progress of the film. It wasn’t finished yet but it was clear already that it was going to be something very special.

Myself & Nick Burch with Tomm Moore and some of the Cartoon Saloon Crew in Kilkenny, Ireland. 

My history with Wolfwalkers goes back a little further than that though.  In 2017 the team at Cartoon Saloon reached out to me to get some tips on wolf animation and design. At the time I provided a few small demos for them and some wolf illustration ideas.  From there it evolved into them wanting to see some takes on how I would approach designing the two main characters of Mebh & Robyn in their wolf forms.  I was sent an early draft of the script and had a go at some designs.These were just meant for exploration. The model sheets were my attempt to find a middle ground between the flat graphic design of the film and a more 3 dimensional look. I was trying to strike a balance between a more “realistic” wolf and the beautiful 2D style that Cartoon Saloon is known for.  I’m glad they stuck with the more graphic look.  Ultimately, I think the final look of the characters in the film are much stronger than these early concepts but I wanted to share them with you. In the end, I was only on the project for a few days but it was great fun and I was happy to help.

 

Flash forward to December 2020 and my jaw hit the floor after watching the film. Both because of how beautiful of a movie it was but also I was shocked to see my name listed in the credits. There I am under the Visual Development/Concept Design section. This is a huge honor and a was a truly unexpected surprise. Most people don’t realize that simply doing work on a film does not guarantee you will get a credit. Film credits are not handed out like candy. Typically it is a negotiated part of a contract and requires some substantial contribution. In my case I did not request a credit and certainly didn’t expect one.

So a HUGE THANK YOU goes out to the directors  and to everyone at Cartoon Saloon for producing such a beautiful film and for allowing me to have be connected with it in anyway. Now go watch the movie already!