Aaron Blaise
Aaron Blaise is an American painter, animator, film director, and art instructor. He is known for his work on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Brother Bear. 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 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.