Aaron Blaise
Aaron Blaise is an animator, wildlife artist and teacher who co-directed Disney’s Brother Bear and now shares drawing lessons and independent films through Creature Art Teacher.
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Aaron’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Independent film
Disney
DisneyOverview
- Work
- Animator, director, wildlife artist and art teacher
- Training
- Illustration, Ringling College of Art, 1989
- Early milestone
- Designed Rajah and led the character’s animation for Aladdin
- Independent chapter
- Co-founded Creature Art Teacher with Nick Burch in 2013
Mini bio
Wildlife came first.
As a child, Aaron drew ducks from field guides while his father carved decoys. Growing up near Florida’s Corkscrew Swamp gave him a world of animals to observe, sketch and photograph. He graduated from Ringling’s illustration program in 1989 and joined Disney.
Drawings became performances.
Across 21 years at Disney, Aaron contributed animation to films including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Mulan. Rajah was his first chance to design a character and lead its animation. He later co-directed Brother Bear with Robert Walker, earning a 2004 Oscar nomination for Animated Feature Film.
Teaching and a new chapter.
After Disney, Aaron helped develop The Legend of Tembo at Tradition Studios. When the studio ran out of money, he returned to painting and built an online teaching career. In 2013, he and Nick Burch founded Creature Art Teacher.
A bear of his own.
For Snow Bear, Aaron handled the animation, backgrounds, effects, storyboards and editing himself over three years. The film turns a lonely polar bear’s search for companionship into a story of loss and hope. He has also partnered with Polar Bears International to connect the film with conservation education.
Creditschronological, newest first
- 2025Snow BearCreator, director and animator
- 2003Brother BearCo-director with Robert Walker
- 1992AladdinRajah character designer and animation lead
Awards
Quotes
Finish your projects. A completed short, even with imperfections, is far more valuable than a brilliant idea that never gets finished.Aaron Blaise, ACM SIGGRAPH interview
Advice to emerging creators in a February 2026 interview about Snow Bear.
Trivia
- At seven, Aaron knew most North American duck species, thanks to drawing from his father’s field guides.
- He originally wanted to illustrate for National Geographic before discovering animation through a Disney internship.
- He scratched a lion’s head into his animation desk when he began work on The Lion King in December 1992.
- Snow Bear’s Arctic landscapes were inspired by Baffin Island.
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