My 7 steps to great Character Design 

Make sure to read the article that goes with this video here: www.cartoonbrew.com/sponsored-by-aaron-blaise/aaron-blaise-reveals-seven-steps-great-character-design-149504.html - It includes a lot more info.

*says he worked at disney* OOHHH *names my fave disney movies* OOOHHHHHHHHHH *says he directed brother bear* OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Thank you so much, Mr. Aaron Blaise! I'm learning a lot from you.

Tnx a lot for sharing your thoughts and skills :)

merci pour tes conseille i'm 19 and i love drawing and i whil becam a french artiste, so thank.

Aaron Blaise: My 7 Steps to Great Character Design 1. Research 2. Learn how to draw the REAL character 3. Know your story and character 4. Know your universe, the rules, the physics, the design conceit 5. Caricature 6. Experiment with the drawing; don't settle too soon 7. Once you have your character, draw different moods, different story beats, a character reference sheet.

Hands down, the best art teacher in RU-vid.

It's really disappointing that hand drawn animation has died off in the movie industry. This is very inspiring and I'm so happy I found your channel! (As a Disney lover and aspiring artist!) Keep doing what you're doing dude! Can't wait to binge watch your videos!

Anyone else wanting to get into the animation industry but nervous about actually getting good enough to get a decent job?

You talented bastard. amazing work.

love ya tutorials

I'm already captivated by this story. I LOVE THAT BEAR!! He's such an adorable character and full of personality even in these early stages. When and where will we be able to see this short? Will it be here on your youtube channel? I can't wait to watch it!

I really appreciate everything you do and all of your videos are a real inspiration to me!

Drinking game: Take a shot every time Aaron says research - enjoy.

This is completely random, but here's a fun fact about wolves; They have very large paws, and the paws need to be big so that they can walk on the top of the snow. Mom, I know a fact about wolves, mom! Are you proud of me now, mom?

Everyday I feel like not drawing I think of Aaron and how I want to be as good as him at his age. Honestly, he's the only person that ALWAYS inspires me.

"I can sit here...And I can draw...Polar bears..." I can sit here and watch your videos :D

Your videos have draged me out of the trend of drawing pretty girls with awfully big lips, though I never drew lips, thank you for showing me that characters are every single living creature. Would you do a video on Art influences and how they shape your style

Mr Blaise you're kind of my hero. Thanks to your lessons I've been accepted in the animation school that I wanted this year. Thank u so much

Thank you very much for this Aaron. I'm in the process of creating my first comic and these seven steps have been very helpful. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into your videos. They're not going to waste. :)

I have always found the art in Brother Bear absolutely stunning. I can't believe I hadn't found this channel before. Your tips are so good and your art is wonderful! :)

"Bear we go"

I am so sorry but every time I see the name Aaron my brain immediately goes to ‘A-A Ron’

Haven't watched yet, I liked this based on the runtime alone. :)

So what if you were making a fantasy world with real world aspects like plants rivers animal's and man made structure's but you needed that fantasy feel? How wold one do that other than add dragons and other mythical creature's?

Do you have any Tips for Developing an Art Style?

That animal research really pays off! When I was a kid I got really into barn owls for a hot minute because of the Legend of the Guardians movie. Barn owls are still to this day the easiest animal for me to draw

I loveeeeed brother bear!

35:54 So freaking good. A lot of final animations don't have as much acting and expression as your test animations. I can't get enough of the Legend of Tembo animations online either. I'd love to see more of your animation.

OMG BROTHER BEAR LITERLY MY CHILDHOOD mY eVeRy ThInG

Second time I'm hearing a big animation was inspired by Al Hirschfeld. First one was UP I may need to study him

Me: How do you character design a polar bear? O>O Aaron: ✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️

I'm putting a summary here only because someone else posted an inaccurate one. It's better to just watch the video and take your own notes, I'm really only trying to prevent people from having a slightly distorted idea as the possibility of that irks me, haha. Suppose our goal is to design a main character for an animation short - a polar bear. 1. Research. Learn everything you can about your subject: polar bears habitat, hibernation cycle, nutrition, behavior, mating, etc. The more real world knowledge you have, the more it will inform the story. 2. Learn how to draw the real thing. In this case, study polar bears anatomy - skull and skeletal structure, musculature, proportions, sexual dimorphism - until you understand polar bears to such a degree you can draw one from any angle executing any action. 3. Know your story and character. You need to understand the story and the character before you can start designing the character. Even if you're not the writer of the story, you need to know the story and the character inside and out. 4. Know your universe. The rules of the setting's world, the physics, the design conceit, the art direction. Is it extremely cartoonish like Sponge Bob or is it grounded? Are we talking dark fantasy, sci-fi or realistic? Modern or historic? Gritty or cute? 5. Design. Play with proportions, different looks. Experiment with the design, draw and re-draw over your drawings, keep trying different things - don't settle too soon. After you come up with a refined design draw it from different angles. 6. Explore different expressions. Play with different attitudes, different expressions, different moods. Have fun with it, now that the design is established you don't need to worry about design, but about how you can make the design emote. Go and find moments within the story to illustrate, as story moments like "excited to see a shooting star" are easier to understand and imagine than abstract descriptions like "happy character". 7. Experiment with animation. Animate your main character - how does it walk, jump, move around? Also create model sheets with example frames from an animation, to help you remember how to draw this character. Over time the way we draw a particular character will change, so it's important to have something to anchor us to the original intention of the design.

We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Let it be known that every man is deservant of hell. But 2000 years ago God came in flesh as Jesus from Nazareth and lived a sinless life yet having all the temptations humans do. He was killed by his own people, the ones who claimed to believe in God but this had to be done because his death would become a sacrifice for all our sins. Now, whoever believes in Jesus will be saved. You must repent of your sins and be baptized and whoever comes through Jesus who is the messiah (or the Christ) of who's sacrifice was predicted milleniums ago, he who comes through him will come to God. But there is no other way to come to God but through him, because it is God who sacrificed himself for us as Jesus.

AWSOME video Mr. Blaise! I LOVE POLAR BEARS!!!!

34:10 STEPS 39:23 Put your character in a situation, it becomes easier to come up with the proper design 42:08 STEPS: 1.Research 4:15 Dive in, know about subject you're going to desing 2.Understand the anatomy to be able to draw the character, be capable of drawing the character 4:30 3. Know your story and character 4. Know your universe, the rules, the physics, the design conceit 5. Caricature 6. Experiment with the drawing; don't settle too soon 7. Once you have your character, draw different moods, different story beats, a character reference sheet.

This is so so helpful! I just need to practice a lot and have fun! Thank you

Aaron, I'm brazilian, and I absolutely love your vids, I'm currently studying animation here in São Paulo. Your videos are just the best inspiration for me. Thanks for the portuguease subtitles on your courses, you are amazing. Hope someday I can met you man, Bye : )

Today i found out that not only do i make the expressions while i draw, i also make faces while watching someone else draw expressions 😂

Ah I love your videos! Its just a month of watching them but my improving is so visible! Thank you!

Watching and listening to you talk about art and your process is the ultimate form of stress relief. As talented as you are, it's your breakdown of steps, your patient deconstruction of good design, and general optimism without pretense that makes you one of my absolute favorite artists on the internet.

I want an ASMR video of you just silently drawing on the tablet; those pen sounds are satisfying and relaxing. ;)

Maybe in some other video could you elaborate more on the research portion of the character? Maybe just explaining how you do all your research.

Thank you living LEGEND! Inspiring as always!

Hello sir iam prince form india and I want to be a character designer in disney , will I get job in Disney sir .

I have found a one way ticket to Disney and great art >:3 IMMA BINGE WATCH DIS GOLD NOW

First time fully listening to your videos, and boy did I enjoy it. Truly fantastic. Thank you! :)

I CANT GET ENOUGH OF YOUR TUTORIALS, I really love listening to you talk and create, thanks soooo much...........your catch phrase is awesome!

Bears are endlessly appealing, I think, because they combine features of humans with those of dogs, to whom they are closely related. You can picture a fat, pot bellied guy shuffling around, but with the playfulness of a big happy dog. They can also be horribly strong and ferocious, though I doubt Aaron's bear will. Absolutely - research, research. Don't think you can get out of it by making up your own animals. That can be a cop-out The people who did the dragons in "Game of Thrones" apparently spent a lot of time watching chickens! It does help to have your own polar bear skull... easy to come by :-)

Sir, am kiran from india(banglore), am intrested in learning Photoshop software teach me day 1st.... because am beganer...

HOW are you going to animate that fur (on his neck) with consistency ???

Just started trying to draw on a tablet with photoshop. Are your pencil brushes (the erodibles) something you can download?? Are they something that normally comes in the standard photoshop? I just downloaded PS but can't find pencils like that anywhere in the tools--I even downloaded a lot of the Kyle T. Webster brush packs. I have the free trial for now, but plan to keep it next week. Are the brushes something that changes after the trial ends???

This was a good talk. Though there's still one thing that I'm unclear on; is research important? jk

Another truly excellent video by Aaron. And it felt like a true privilege to see those clips of the animation. This is probably going to be a bit controversial, but if it were an American or Brit (like me) who was going to say "go and put some beauty into the world", it would be an American almost every time. I do love the Americans. There's something so uplifting about their spirit, and Aaron has it aplenty. I wish us British were a bit more like that. We certainly appreciate beauty and would like more in the world, but it's so unlikely you would hear a Brit suggest it so openly.

As someone who likes animals and drawing I am so glad I chanced upon this. Thank you so very much for the time and effort that you put into these tutorials! Aslo big thanks for making my childhood!

I love that innocent bear already, sensei.

THanks for sharing process. Sounds like you wanted the bear more realistic to match a concept in the story, and a little less humorous to match what you want the bear to express. But i may be speculating--or missed that mention in the video. I guess i am curious on the "why" behind some of the choices, it sounds like the character choices are relating concepts of his personality.

its incredible to be able to get so much education for free. His enthusiasm and patience for sharing the thought process behind the work is a rare opportunity. Ill be heading over to purchase a membership.

I like to draw and I do pretty good pointilism work, but goddamn. Thanks for making me feel inadequate. 😂

Your videos are so incredibly helpful and inspire me to do my own designs. Thank you for this.

You área a good teacher congratulations fro m Perú...atentamente Jorge...thanks

The story reminds me of the penguin Grape-Kun. (RIP)

this is really good information but I also can't stop thinking how many furries this guy inadvertently created.

Does anyone know what brush he is using on his bear drawing? I'm having trouble finding a similar one in photoshop

Ooooh I just can't wait to see it! First I thought to myself: "Oh, this is pretty nice, after I watch this video I'm gonna go and see that short" And then I realised that it's a fresh video, and the short is still in process...

i talk a littel of english .. but i pleased your works arts and i consider you as the best tech .. in the world . zakaria from Algeria.

You sir are a gift to the world and I am incredibly grateful that the internet finally brought me to your videos!

very great video! lots of things in here i needed to know about advanced character designing. but i think the video needed to be a bit shorter. i think all of these tips could be better digested in a 20 minute video instead of 40 minutes

my dog got that break =P absolutely lovely

I'm not quite sure I get it, why he's so good at drawing bears. Is it because R e S e Ar C h ?!

What characters did you work for in Disney, I’m very curious

hi my name is Isaiah brown I'm 16 I'm working on becoming an animator this help i hope ill be like u wish me luck you were a good help

OH this guy is gooooood

This man is a ginie, he should have had animated the Genie in Aladdin as well, just a perfect match!..

Great stuff! Especially liked your bear sketches and learning from your process each step of the way. Keep it up. :)

thanks I love my dear teacher for all this helpful information

How long does it typically take you to get through all 7 steps, to take a character from start to finish?

basically my boy said just practice your craft practice what you want to draw and indulge on it before you deal out justice

Oh I watched Brother Bear a few times in Cree class when I was little. It was something everyone loved

Jesus Christ is coming back soon be prepared, i mean it be saved for your own sake

l can actually se Nala in that bear! and how you tilt the head upwards and downwards is very much throughout all your animals

Wow, thank you very much Aaron, such great and clear tips to apply. Thanks for sharing.

thank you SO much Mr. Blaise for yet another amazing instructional video!! you are my biggest idol!

This dude helped to create some of the best Disney movies ever made! He is a veteran animator, why haven't more people watched this!?

This is great. I dream to become a Disney animator and these lesson help them come to life!

you are gold!!

Growing up, "Brother Bear" had been one of my favorites. I used to have those two posters that you have behind you in your studio. Seeing you design "Snow Bear" made me wonder; who you enjoyed writing and designing when you directed "Brother Bear?"

oh.. are these the puppet strings you're talking about??lol

Did anyone freak out and fangirled when he said he worked on lion king that was literally my childhood I always wish I could make good characters like that!

Just gotta buy a replica of a skull, and get a masters degree in bear anatomy

Very generous sharing. Love what have done for animation.

When do you think your tutorials online would be on sale (the year contributor that has access to all content

Is it right to build characters story around a random design Thats what I do

He is so cute I really love your work and this video was very helpful

*R E S E A R C H*

One of the biggest challenges for me is foreshortening...perspectives in angles of characters

That moment when he pulls out a skull xD

When does the animation short come out?

Your a huge inspiration and help my chances of making it into an art career

26:05 this man even busts out the skull and puts it on camera. Hell yeah