Aaron Blaise (born February 17, 1968) is an American painter, animator, film director, and art instructor. He is known for his work on Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), and Brother Bear (2003). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film for Brother Bear with Robert Walker, a Canadian animator from Ontario.
Background Aaron Blaise was born on February 17 1968, in Burlington, Vermont. He grew up living in a small trailer in Florida near Corkscrew Swamp. When he was 17, his home was lost in a fire. He had plans to work in forestry, however his stepfather advised him to have an art career.
He graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, as an illustrator in 1989. In the same year, he began working as an animator and supervising animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios for eight years on The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Mulan. When he was 20, Blaise had begun working for Disney as an intern. His mentor, Glen Keane, was an encouragement to him. In the beginning, Blaise found it difficult to portray movement. Techniques like slowins were not coming easily to him until suddenly it clicked and he found his ability. Starting in 1997, he worked as a director for 12 years. During that time he co-directed Brother Bear, which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 76th Academy Awards.
The Disney studios in Florida, where 365 people worked, were shuttered. Blaise and nine other people were the only ones who stayed employed. They moved to the company's Burbank animation studios, where Blaise developed several projects. After his wife, Karen, died on March 11, 2007, he left Disney. In 2013, he worked at Paramount Pictures for less than a year as a visual development artist. From 2010 to 2014 he worked at Tradition Studios (Digital Domain) as a director on The Legend of Tembo but the company went bankrupt. In 2012, with his business partner, Nick Burch, he started CreatureArtTeacher, offering lessons and tutorials based on Blaise's long career.
Filmography Animation department Year Title Credits Characters 1990 Roller Coaster Rabbit (Short) Assistant Animator 1990 The Rescuers Down Under Wilbur 1991 Beauty and the Beast Animator Beast 1992 Aladdin Supervising Animator Rajah 1993 Trail Mix-Up (Short) Character Animator 1994 The Lion King Supervising Animator Young Nala The Lion King (Video game) 1995 Pocahontas Animator Pocahontas 1998 Mulan Supervising Animator Yao and The Ancestors 2013 John Lewis: The Bear & the Hare (Video short) Supervising Animator, Character Designer 2016 The Dream Catcher (Short) Creature Design 2020 Spread the Love (Short) Animator Bear Hugs
Director Year Title 1999 How to Haunt a House (Short) 2003 Brother Bear 2025 Snow Bear (Short)
Art department Year Title Credits 2017 Mum (Short) Illustration / Painter 2020 Wolfwalkers Concept Artist / Visual Development
References
External links Official website