Skip to main content

Course Review: The Art of Aaron Blaise - Anatomy, and Character Design

I recently purchased two online drawing courses created by former Disney Animator, Aaron Blaise, including How to Draw Human Anatomy, and Character Design. Both courses were included in Aaron's Figure Drawing and Character Design Bundle, pack deal.

My own drawing style is heavily influenced by early Disney animated classics (think pre digital animation), which you can see in the more rounded lines of my characters - as opposed to the more angular character design lines you find in Marvel and DC comics etc.

I wasn't sure how much I'd learn from either of these courses, baring in mind I've already studied both topics in detail in Art School, and have been designing my own characters since I was in primary school, but Aaron's a veteran and easily out classes my animation skills.



Both courses are entirely presented as video tutorials with Aaron, at his desk, speaking to camera, cut with video captures of his drawing (all in real time). Aaron speaks very clearly and gives a running monologue of his thinking and choices as he draws. All work is drawn digitally in Photoshop but you could easily follow along using pencil and paper. Overall it's very much as close to a one-on-one class you can have without Aaron being in the room with you. Aaron even provides the source files of his drawings for both courses in the bonus resource materials.

How to Draw Human Anatomy


Asron will show you how to
draw hands from any angle.
Of the two courses I thought this would provide the least new information but Aaron covers every aspect of the human body in such detail over this 9.5 hour course that I always found some tip or new information useful to keep in mind for future drawings.

If you're one of those artists whose always struggled with hands or feet then Aaron's tutorials on these gives some great tips for making drawing each from any angle a less daunting process. You may even refer back to those specific lessons several times.

There's also a great section on the body in motion and drawing the body for animation (which features the best demonstration of animated walk cycles you'll ever see).

If you've never done any anatomy study or feel your efforts are far from where you'd like them this course is well worth your time. Everything is drawn in real time, which makes the individual lessons quite lengthy (ranging from around 20 minutes to and hour on average) but the information is extremely detailed and well demonstrated.

Character Design


Aaron's Wolf Character Design for
a Peter and the Wolf Animated Film.
This 16+ hour video course was actually the reason I purchased the bundle. Whilst I have somewhere around 40 years experience designing my own characters, I've never really developed characters on the same scale as Aaron i.e. for feature animated films. If nothing else I expected seeing Aaron's process would be interesting and I was sure there would be plenty of useful tips along the way.

Through out the course Aaron steps you through the entire process of character design from research, tips on drawing characters in general through to pushing your designs further and getting more clear and dynamic posing into your finished designs.

The course finishes with a series of videos following Aaron through the entire character design process for an animated production of Peter and the Wolf. Several of these videos alone are 90 minutes or more in length so you'll really need to set aside some time to get through them.

Overall the course ended up being something of a refresher course for me. However if you're new to character design or feel you have plenty of room for improvement, Aaron's lessons are solid foundations to build upon.

I did pick up a few new tips, specifically the Less Than and Greater Than technique of character posing that I'd never come across before, and I have found myself more consciously thinking about better and clearer character poses (and looking at the silhouette of poses) more so than I have in the past (now that Aaron reminded me I should be doing that!).

My only criticism of this course is I feel the Peter and the Wolf series of videos are just too long. It is great to see Aaron draw everything in real time and hear his thinking as he goes but, if you've done the anatomy course first and waded your way through all the character design lessons to this point, you've seen Aaron draw in real time quite a lot.  You're very familiar with his drawing process and should be able to learn just as much from seeing a progression of character development sketches with Aaron explaining briefly his thoughts about each drawing.

I'm not saying watching Aaron draw isn't compelling by that point, it's just that the video length really makes it difficult to set aside time to watch, if you're trying to progress through the course on a daily basis. I'm the kind of person who can't do two things at once that require my full attention. I can't have a tutorial running in the background whilst I work on drawings or whatever else I'm doing because my mind will tune out whatever I'm not focused upon.

For example I listen to a lot of podcasts but not whilst I'm drawing. I'll get so into the zone on drawing that I won't hear a single word of any podcast I'm listening to - even if I'm listening through head phones or ear buds.

I know some artists watch DVDs and movies whilst they work and I've no idea how they can? If you've ever read Richard Williams, The Animator's Survival Kit, you'll know one of the first things he tells you is to turn off all distractions - specifically music - because it'll affect your work. I'm not sure if I agree but for me, it's pointless having music (or anything going) if I'm just going to zone out from it.

However, I digress...

These two courses combined as a bundle are excellent value. You don't often see art created in real time with the rise of 'Speed Drawing/Painting' videos on Youtube, and Aaron's conversational explanations, as he goes, keeps you doubly engaged.

I would recommend both courses to beginner/intermediate artists looking to further develop their skills through someone who has serious industry credentials. It's particularly relevant if you find yourself drawn to the Disney style of figure drawing and character design for animation.

It's worth noting that Aaron also provides a lot of free 'sneak peak' instructional content from his courses on his website so it's worth browsing around for those (you can see the full 30 minute video of how to draw cute from this character design course by clicking the link). They'll give you a good sense of each course if you do want to try before you buy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D  which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D

Moho 14 Released - Still the Best 2D Animation Software for Indy Animators on a Budget

Moho 14 Released. Regular readers know I am a Reallusion, Cartoon Animator advocate through and through. Hands down I would recommend Cartoon Animator 5 first over Lost Marble's Moho 14 to anyone who is just starting in 2D animation, is a team of one, or just needs to animate as quickly as possible. However, feature for feature, Moho is, arguably, the best 2D animation software for the rest of us who can't justify a Toon Boom Harmony , or Adobe Creative Cloud subscription (and even with their applications Moho is very competitive on features). You can get started with Moho Debut for just USD$59.99 which is a cut down version of Moho Pro but it still has the most essential features needed for 2D animation. While Moho Pro is a whopping USD$399.99 (Cartoon Animator, which only has one version, is just USD$149.00) upgrades to new version numbers come down to a quarter of the price at USD$99.00. Even though Reallusion just released features like Motion Pilot Puppet Animation and

2D Animation Side Hustle - How to Package, Upload, Optimize, Price, and Promote Your Content in the Reallusion 2D Marketplace

T his is the final post in my four part, 2D Animation Side Hustle series on Selling in the Reallusion 2D Marketplace. I'll look at how to package up your content and upload it to the Marketplace, how to optimize your listings, price, and how to sell through your store backend as well as off site through social media and other channels. If you haven't read previous articles in the series click these links for Part 1 - Can You Make Real Money , Part 2 - Finding Niches , and Part 3 - What to Sell . Before getting started you'll need to register as a Content Developer in order to see the backend of your store on the Reallusion Marketplace . Packaging Content and Uploading to the Marketplace Since the release of Cartoon Animator 5 the software has a built in Package Manager that makes it easy to assemble and upload your Content to the Marketplace. Reallusion has a comprehensive, official video (embeded below) that quickly explains the entire process in less than seven minutes. 

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder.  As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder  is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu

The Ultimate Independent Animator's App and Resource List 2019-2023 - Animation and Video Life

Image created with Cartoon Animator 4. Being an independent animator is not like a studio animation job. There's so much more to do that is indirectly related to the actual task of animating. Over the years I've sought out many apps, tools, and services that can help me achieve that one single task, expressing myself through animation. Below is my Ultimate Independent Animator's Resource List for 2019-2022. It started out as a list of free or low cost apps that could help you in every stage of producing either 2D or 3D animation, and then just kind of grew from there. You may not have been looking for a Time Management App as much as you needed something to get you started in 3D animation but when those commissioned projects start coming in you'll have a head start on maximizing your time. All the apps and services on this list had to meet two main criteria: They had to be useful and relevant to an Indy Animator/artist. The base app/service had to be US$

Start Your 2D Animation Side Hustle - Sell Your Cartoon Animator Characters, Props, Scenes, and Motion Files in the Reallusion 2D/3D Marketplace

Have you thought about starting a side hustle selling your original Cartoon Animator assets in the Reallusion 2D/3D Marketplace ? In this article, the first in a series on selling in the marketplace, I'll give you an overview of what's involved, why you should give it some thought, and whether you can earn enough to quit your day job (or at least have a worthwhile side hustle). If you're an artist with any kind of drawing skills, and you're creating your own original characters, props, scenes, and even motion files for your Cartoon Animator projects, then setting up your own store in the Reallusion Marketplace should be a no brainer. You're making content already, it doesn't cost you anything to set up, and Reallusion only takes a 30% commission from each item sold. (If you think that's a lot, I'll address that further down). Don't be put off if you think your art skills aren't up to professional standards. There are plenty of artists with naïve

Prome AI Sketch Render Tool - Your Tradigital Clean Up and Colorist Artist for Character and Background Design

Random character head, Biro sketches drawn by TET (left). Render by PromeAI (right) using Prome's Sketch Render tool set to 'Comon:Cartoon, Render Mode: Outline'. W hile I don't do New Year Resolutions, one of my plans for the year ahead is to do more of my own art. Specifically character design drawn in an actual, physical sketchbook.  To that end, I have been spending the last half hour of most days drawing a page or two of random biro sketches in my sketchbook and posting the pages to my Instagram account  (this link will take you to one of my posts). These sketches are mostly practicing my skills because I don't really draw regularly anymore. Here is a tip, if you do this kind of sketching, and push yourself to keep doing it, you will see many drawings that could be taken further, even if you don't have anything they're suited for just at the moment. Which is where my second favorite AI Image Tool (after Leonardo.ai )  PromeAI comes into play. PromeAI