Loved reading this. As a self-taught 2D animator interviews like this helps me peek through the actual process of animation. With this I had a request to you guys - since i am a self-taught artist, I always wonder what I am missing not going to an art school. Can you guys write something on this??
Really glad you enjoyed it! Blaise has an amazing way of explaining this stuff. Also, thanks very much for the request -- we'll keep it in mind.
To give you a short answer right now: it varies a lot by country, school and time period. In some cases, you'll get more information for free on YouTube (from folks like Blaise) than you will in an institutional setting, as long as you study and practice hard enough. Attending workshops or getting lessons from an independent art/animation instructor can really help, too, if they know their craft and teach it well.
One big advantage of art/animation school can be networking. Many, many people have gotten careers because they went. That said, it's no guarantee, especially these days. In the case of animation, some of the major industries aren't hiring enough to give jobs to most graduates, which is leaving too many artists with debt and degrees they can't really use. That doesn't apply to every country, but it's worth keeping in mind.
Either way, whether you attend a school or go the self-taught route, the big things are hard work, long hours of study and dedication to learning. It's definitely possible (at least in the States) to coast through school without gaining much knowledge or ability along the way. A self-taught artist who really does the work will get better results than a university student who doesn't, and vice versa. There's no replacement for taking direct classes from a master artist, but it's very possible to learn on your own. These days, with YouTube and the wider internet, the information is out there for anyone who's willing to dig it up!
Your post became nessity and landmark in animation and leading the processes of making which hardly to find, please let us know if you have other posts on web to follow, you are a treasure, wating for more, thank so much for sharing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I had the pleasure of seeing Aaron at work during a live animation session at Playgrounds Festival in The Netherlands last year. Absolutely amazing to see characters come to life. The effortlessness with which he seems to draw is a true testament to his mastery of the craft 🐻❄️
He really knows his stuff. It's wild to think about what he's done across his career -- and about how the similarity of his polar bear character to, say, Rajah from Aladdin is no coincidence. He helped to define that whole way of moving animal characters in the first place!
hi…WOW! this is a Feast of info for me. Your SS never fails to capture the magic of animation. Thank you for inspiring and educating me. i 💚 all you do.
So cool to hear this -- glad the piece was a help! It was awesome getting the chance to talk to Blaise: he's so generous with what he's learned over the years.
Love how he talks about how Life interfered with his work for a while. This is real. As well, the reason he likes animation so much - it has the abilities of film(cinema) in being able to incorporate so many disciplines (music, writing, staging, etc), but at its heart is tied to drawing and painting - at least the 2D kind, anyway.
And right you are to bring up the cost of art school, and the impact of the current economy, in the US anyway, on artistic endeavors/projects/productions/livelihoods in your response above re: training for animation. I would add that animation as a field is not just Disney, as you have shown in your wide-ranging posts here on the subject. I am personally exploring 2D animation from an experimental eye, and I really enjoyed your recent posts about Polish animators. So, in terms of training, there is the process, and there is the style you are going for. CalArts (suuuuper expensive) has degrees in experimental animation, and the late Suzan Pitt, who was self-taught in cel animation, used to teach there. In sum, like all art, you can and must learn technique, and you have to practice that all the time to get better at it expressively and technically, but the heart of your work comes from within you and your experience - and you won’t get that from school, but from Life.
Blaise was super open when we talked -- it's something we always love to encounter in an interview. And thank you for the thoughtful points about education and art! There's definitely more to animation than the Disney style and more to art than school, as valuable as they are.
We've heard nothing but good things about his courses -- it's amazing how much care he's put into them. There are few things more important in animation than the veterans passing down their knowledge, and Blaise's dedication to it is a wonderful thing to see.
It reminded me of last year when I had a marathon of Studio Ghibli films leading up to Christmas.
After a certain point, my eyes were suddenly opened to the emotive life that were inherent in each and every shot/drawing (among other things), and it clicked with me. It deepened my love for 2D animation all the more.
One day, I’d love to be a part of the animation industry (though right now, I’m more focused on being a writer than anything else. I even have my own publication here right on Substack). While it may not be as an animator, it’d be a dream come true if I had some kind of involvement in it! But then again, Blaise didn’t see himself becoming an animator, and look at all the wonderful work that he produced!
Thanks very much! And great points about Ghibli: there's so much life and energy in those films, even though they use such a different animation style than Disney's. They're wonderful.
Very true about coming to animation from the outside, too. A lot of the greatest figures in animation had other plans first, only to end up here and fall in love with the medium! It's a story we've heard time and time and time again, and it's something that's helped to make animation as varied and layered as it is.
So happy you guys got to sit down with Blaise - he's the gold standard for animal animation and has done a great job nurturing the next generation of wildlife artists and animators. I'm surprised he didn't mention Brother Bear at all, I've got the sense that it wasn't the best experience for him, but his supervision of the animal design and animation really brought that film to life. It's great to see him again flexing his skills with Snow Bear; can't wait for it to be available to watch online since I've heard such good things about it!
He's definitely a legend! Happy we got to do this one. And we were a little surprised that Brother Bear didn't get mentioned, too. Although we chalked it up to our emphasis on animating over directing in our questions, it's believable that the film could've been a tough project, given the era of Disney in which it was made. A lot of folks got burned in the 2000s. Still, super inspiring to hear his comeback story -- would be exciting if Snow Bear got an Oscar nomination this year!
Loved reading this. As a self-taught 2D animator interviews like this helps me peek through the actual process of animation. With this I had a request to you guys - since i am a self-taught artist, I always wonder what I am missing not going to an art school. Can you guys write something on this??
Really glad you enjoyed it! Blaise has an amazing way of explaining this stuff. Also, thanks very much for the request -- we'll keep it in mind.
To give you a short answer right now: it varies a lot by country, school and time period. In some cases, you'll get more information for free on YouTube (from folks like Blaise) than you will in an institutional setting, as long as you study and practice hard enough. Attending workshops or getting lessons from an independent art/animation instructor can really help, too, if they know their craft and teach it well.
One big advantage of art/animation school can be networking. Many, many people have gotten careers because they went. That said, it's no guarantee, especially these days. In the case of animation, some of the major industries aren't hiring enough to give jobs to most graduates, which is leaving too many artists with debt and degrees they can't really use. That doesn't apply to every country, but it's worth keeping in mind.
Either way, whether you attend a school or go the self-taught route, the big things are hard work, long hours of study and dedication to learning. It's definitely possible (at least in the States) to coast through school without gaining much knowledge or ability along the way. A self-taught artist who really does the work will get better results than a university student who doesn't, and vice versa. There's no replacement for taking direct classes from a master artist, but it's very possible to learn on your own. These days, with YouTube and the wider internet, the information is out there for anyone who's willing to dig it up!
Your post became nessity and landmark in animation and leading the processes of making which hardly to find, please let us know if you have other posts on web to follow, you are a treasure, wating for more, thank so much for sharing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you! So glad it's a help.
Thank you for such an elaborate answer.
I had the pleasure of seeing Aaron at work during a live animation session at Playgrounds Festival in The Netherlands last year. Absolutely amazing to see characters come to life. The effortlessness with which he seems to draw is a true testament to his mastery of the craft 🐻❄️
He really knows his stuff. It's wild to think about what he's done across his career -- and about how the similarity of his polar bear character to, say, Rajah from Aladdin is no coincidence. He helped to define that whole way of moving animal characters in the first place!
Aaron! What a guy. Great interview.
Thanks very much! It was awesome talking with him.
hi…WOW! this is a Feast of info for me. Your SS never fails to capture the magic of animation. Thank you for inspiring and educating me. i 💚 all you do.
Ah, thanks a ton! So happy you enjoyed this one -- Blaise is a really courteous, knowledgeable guy and a treat to interview.
I learned so much reading this interview, really insightful and so many lessons from life to learn from Blaise. Thanks for this
So cool to hear this -- glad the piece was a help! It was awesome getting the chance to talk to Blaise: he's so generous with what he's learned over the years.
Love how he talks about how Life interfered with his work for a while. This is real. As well, the reason he likes animation so much - it has the abilities of film(cinema) in being able to incorporate so many disciplines (music, writing, staging, etc), but at its heart is tied to drawing and painting - at least the 2D kind, anyway.
And right you are to bring up the cost of art school, and the impact of the current economy, in the US anyway, on artistic endeavors/projects/productions/livelihoods in your response above re: training for animation. I would add that animation as a field is not just Disney, as you have shown in your wide-ranging posts here on the subject. I am personally exploring 2D animation from an experimental eye, and I really enjoyed your recent posts about Polish animators. So, in terms of training, there is the process, and there is the style you are going for. CalArts (suuuuper expensive) has degrees in experimental animation, and the late Suzan Pitt, who was self-taught in cel animation, used to teach there. In sum, like all art, you can and must learn technique, and you have to practice that all the time to get better at it expressively and technically, but the heart of your work comes from within you and your experience - and you won’t get that from school, but from Life.
Blaise was super open when we talked -- it's something we always love to encounter in an interview. And thank you for the thoughtful points about education and art! There's definitely more to animation than the Disney style and more to art than school, as valuable as they are.
Aaron is a inspiration for me. And I love his courses. Never tried animation, yet, but some day 😄
We've heard nothing but good things about his courses -- it's amazing how much care he's put into them. There are few things more important in animation than the veterans passing down their knowledge, and Blaise's dedication to it is a wonderful thing to see.
What a magician ! Thanks for this interview, I followed this guy work from a long time and he always makes me dreaming! 😍
Glad you enjoyed the piece! We're grateful to have the chance to share some of Blaise's insights.
Such an engrossing interview!
It reminded me of last year when I had a marathon of Studio Ghibli films leading up to Christmas.
After a certain point, my eyes were suddenly opened to the emotive life that were inherent in each and every shot/drawing (among other things), and it clicked with me. It deepened my love for 2D animation all the more.
One day, I’d love to be a part of the animation industry (though right now, I’m more focused on being a writer than anything else. I even have my own publication here right on Substack). While it may not be as an animator, it’d be a dream come true if I had some kind of involvement in it! But then again, Blaise didn’t see himself becoming an animator, and look at all the wonderful work that he produced!
Thanks very much! And great points about Ghibli: there's so much life and energy in those films, even though they use such a different animation style than Disney's. They're wonderful.
Very true about coming to animation from the outside, too. A lot of the greatest figures in animation had other plans first, only to end up here and fall in love with the medium! It's a story we've heard time and time and time again, and it's something that's helped to make animation as varied and layered as it is.
So happy you guys got to sit down with Blaise - he's the gold standard for animal animation and has done a great job nurturing the next generation of wildlife artists and animators. I'm surprised he didn't mention Brother Bear at all, I've got the sense that it wasn't the best experience for him, but his supervision of the animal design and animation really brought that film to life. It's great to see him again flexing his skills with Snow Bear; can't wait for it to be available to watch online since I've heard such good things about it!
He's definitely a legend! Happy we got to do this one. And we were a little surprised that Brother Bear didn't get mentioned, too. Although we chalked it up to our emphasis on animating over directing in our questions, it's believable that the film could've been a tough project, given the era of Disney in which it was made. A lot of folks got burned in the 2000s. Still, super inspiring to hear his comeback story -- would be exciting if Snow Bear got an Oscar nomination this year!