Hand-drawn animation, as you may have heard, was the foundation of Walt Disney’s early success. You probably also know that the studio’s renaissance in the late 1980’s/90’s was due in very large part to a return to hand-drawn animation that was lovingly crafted, with projects being given the time and resources to make some of the most successful animated movies in history.
Of course, these days, all of the big studio movies are created nearly completely with computer animation. It seems like the days of thousands of hand-drawn frames are behind us, but not quite…
Animator Aaron Blaise, who was part of many of those 90’s Disney films including Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King, recently released his own hand-drawn animated short, Snow Bear.
Just like those animated classics, Snow Bear was created over several years, using over 11,000 drawings by Blaise. But also just like those classics, Blaise recognizes the importance of story, heart, and empathy in animation. Without dialog, the movie also features a beautiful soundtrack that is a perfect sonic match for the heartfelt visuals.
Snow Bear tells the tale of a lonely polar bear, looking for a friend. Recently, Blaise released the film on YouTube, and so now we can all watch it, and enjoy! Blaise is also running a kickstarter (ending soon!) for a card game based on the drawings in Snow Bear.
Here’s hoping we get more hand-drawn animated classics in the future.
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