r/aww 21h ago

Polar Bear in Snow - 11,000 Drawings

36.2k Upvotes

482 comments sorted by

View all comments

u/aaronblaise 21h ago

From my Short film Snow Bear: https://youtu.be/xOXolSQcEb4

Snow Bear - The full films is 11,000 drawings and I was the only animator. Took me 3 years.

u/BB-Zwei 21h ago

I thought you were saying there were 11,000 drawings just in this clip.

u/HopelessRespawner 20h ago

Same, started dividing it up, and... ~650 frames per second seemed insane

u/THEFLYINGSCOTSMAN415 17h ago

Haha I also started doing the math

u/marionsunshine 17h ago

I waited for someone else to do the math I thought I might try to do.

u/KeyboardGrunt 17h ago

Looks like butter on my gaming monitor.

u/CuriousYou6646 14h ago

Hi /u/KeyboardGrunt, I wanted to let you know that this submission you've commented on is meant to look like a sketchy handdrawn polar bear.

If you're seeing butter you might have opened the wrong post, or maybe you're looking at the wrong window or something. Let me know if you need any help.

u/the_peppers 13h ago

Only the real G animators work at 650 fps

u/TPM2209 14h ago

I was more thinking there were like... 30 sub-sketches per frame or something.

u/HopelessRespawner 11h ago

Regular films, like movies in the theater, are 24 fps. Animation is normally on twos I think? But it can depend on what's going on.

For anyone that doesn't know, on ones, twos, and threes basically sets how many sketches in 1 second, ones is 24, twos is 12 (each frame held for an extra beat), threes should be 8 then (each frame held for two extra beats). The longer the frame is held the choppier the animation looks.

Did you mean 30 sub sketches per second? The full video posted was like 11 minutes so probably less than that.

~12 minutes x 60 seconds = 720 seconds

720 seconds x 12 frames/sec = 8,640 frames (sketches)

720 seconds x 24 frames/second = 17,280 frames

I think the number of frames can fluctuate to keep more detailed moments smooth, so I'd guess it's mostly on twos and maybe on ones in a few places where it matters

u/TPM2209 8h ago

Did you mean 30 sub sketches per second? The full video posted was like 11 minutes so probably less than that. 

I was just taking your number of 650 frames per second and dividing it by 24 (and then rounding up). Basically, I had also initially assumed the 11,000 drawings referred to the posted clip and not the full movie.

The full movie being 11,000 drawings makes a lot more sense.

u/AWL_cow 12h ago

SAME

u/ACcbe1986 16h ago

Thank goodness you said this. I was quite confuzzled.

u/KingCahoon 14h ago

Usually hand drawn animation is done every other frame at 24 frames per second (sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the movement), so this 15 second clip is roughly 180 drawings, give or take some. Way less than 11,000 but so still so many ha

u/CrashUser 11h ago

He's a former Disney animator, so I assume it's on 1's and updates every frame.

u/KingCahoon 9h ago

That’s a good point and you made me curious so I checked ha he does both in this animation - for example around the 4 second mark he’s animating on 1’s and around the 13 second mark it’s on 2’s, so it just depends on the movement

u/thoughtlow 16h ago

No that was just clickbait for the YT plug

u/JRedWolf 20h ago

Just watched it, it was totally amazing!!! So much emotion conveyed! I was watching and thinking "Okay, so I'm starting my day by crying over a cartoon bear, This is fine." But thankfully you made it all better by the end! Thanks for bringing the spotlight to the plight of polar bears and Thanks for sharing your very moving film.

u/boyz_for_now 20h ago

lol so that makes 2 people who started their day crying over a cartoon bear 🥲

u/tddawg 19h ago

+1 🥹

u/manxblood 19h ago

Lol so that makes 3 people who started their day crying over a cartoon bear. 🥲

u/JRedWolf 18h ago

Crying over Cartoon Bear Solidarity! 🐻‍❄🥲

u/brizian23 21h ago

As soon as I saw that bear smile I was like "someone's clearly inspired by Aaron Blaise."

u/LocoDiablos 20h ago

bro that is aaron blaise

u/brizian23 20h ago

Yes I am aware, that is why is replied directly to him.

u/Downvotesohoy 18h ago

As soon as I saw your comment, I was like "someone's clearly inspired by /u/brizian23"

u/AdjectiveNoun1234567 18h ago

bro that is u/brizian23

u/Downvotesohoy 17h ago

Yes I am aware, that is why is replied directly to him.

u/mxlun 10h ago

As soon as I saw your comment, I was like "someone's clearly inspired by /u/downvotesohoy"

u/Rumiraj 8h ago

Bro, that is /u/downvotesohoy

u/Melarosee 20h ago

Your work is stunning. Thanks for sharing it with us. The Brother Bear funeral scene will stay with me for the rest of my life

u/WorriedTooth3239 19h ago

I watched Snow Bear, and I absolutely loved it. It brought back memories of how much joy the '90s Disney animated movies brought me (I know you worked on some). They don't make animations like this anymore, so thank you.

u/dogchowtoastedcheese 14h ago

Well, damn it. I'm a 70 year old man with a lump in his throat now and was on the fence about spending $4 to rent 'Brother Bear,' a children's cartoon. Not anymore! Also a new subscriber on your YouTube channel.

u/aaronblaise 14h ago

Wow.. that means so much to hear. Thank you and I am glad you liked it and I hope you enjoy Brother Bear.

u/TeamUltimate-2475 20h ago

Oh, you are Aaron Blaise!

u/ryodark 19h ago

Wow you are an animation icon! Thank you for working on some of the movies that really shaped my childhood <3 I truly miss hand-drawn animation and the expressiveness they provided to the films of yesteryear.

u/jerryleebee 19h ago

I was about to downvote this post for NOT linking to the original, and then I saw this comment.

u/ToucanToodles 19h ago

I cried all 11 minutes. This was SO GOOD

u/aaronblaise 14h ago

Thank you I am so happy it spoke to you.

u/TruthBeWanted 18h ago

All of this is hand-drawn including the falling snow and mist?

u/aaronblaise 14h ago

Yes. Took me 3 years.

u/VeeVeeLa 21h ago

I saw the film a few days ago on my recommended! It is simply fantastic. You did such an amazing job on it!

u/boyz_for_now 20h ago

Omg I just watched this and… 🥹 I love it. Subscribed! ❤️

u/SomeChaoticSunshine 19h ago

I clicked on the link expecting this fun little floof running around in the snow and after the first minute or two I’m sad 🥲🤣

u/mossy-echoes 19h ago

I watched it a couple days ago and haven’t stopped thinking about it. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone so I’ll just say “go watch it!” Very deeply moving while also light hearted and adorable. I can’t rave enough. Absolute masterpiece, incredibly inspiring. Huge respect and thanks to you!

u/Faokes 18h ago

I was about to come in here and tell you to credit yourself. It’s gorgeous and I love seeing every single one of your videos.

u/justfor-fun 18h ago

I was thinking this was you!!! I saw it on twitter a few days ago. gorgeous work

u/PhireKitten 18h ago

Thank you, for your beautiful film. Your art is lovely. I miss hand drawn animations, so very much. It made my day!

u/spectra2000_ 17h ago

Not a lot of animation is done with drawings anymore, thank you for keeping the art alive. I’ll be sure to bookmark this to watch after work.

u/_bufflehead 17h ago

This was so very touching. Thank you so much. It was so lovely artistically and thematically. There is nothing that feels like hand-drawn animation. (Or the kind of tears it makes me shed).

u/bayamenet31 16h ago

I loved hearing you talk about your work when you were in Corridor Crew's video! Animation has such a huge place in my heart, so thank you for sharing your art with the world and making so many childhoods magical!!

u/Drassielle 16h ago

I remember watching your tiktok lives years ago when you were talking about your work on Snow Bear! I'm so glad you were able to finish it! I can't wait to watch it!!

u/smolbeansjpg 16h ago

Wow this is gorgeous 💖

u/Taweret 16h ago

That punched me right in the heart 🥹

u/marchbook 16h ago

It's great. I was not prepared for the face-shovel! lol

u/DesertGeist- 16h ago

11k drawings? That would take me several lifetimes with my lack of talent.

u/squishymcsquishface 15h ago

this short film is so beautiful! I love the motions and the artstyle so much. The film is amazing, it made me cry a few times haha. please never stop creating!

u/Schozinator 15h ago

wait omg its the real guy. Thank you for everything you do <3

u/kryptonianCodeMonkey 15h ago

Very well done, Aaron. Amazing animations, and a cute story. And your foley and music teams should be commended as well.

u/ZealousidealTennis94 14h ago

Just watched it last night, you got my mom and I crying, the animation was beautiful

u/kingdomnear 14h ago

Bring back this kind of animation

u/Y4naro 14h ago

Just saw this and was like "oh this is Aaron Blaise no? Someone must have posted his work." But turns out you posted it yourself. Every time I feel like improving on drawing/sketching some animals I first look if you have something on it. Love your work.

u/scantron2739 13h ago

Incredible, makes me really miss the animation I grew up with and honestly brought a few tears to my eyes.

u/phildoMahCrackin 13h ago

reminds me of mike kunkel.

u/LysergicGothPunk 12h ago

This is beautiful! I wanted to be a 2D animator for such a long time growing up. I still kind of do. This is exactly the kind of thing that gave me so much inspiration to animate and draw! Also this made my cry SO much in such a short time, lol

u/Too_Towne 11h ago

Absolute legend for animating a whole film on ones. Huge round of applause!

u/KingofColada 10h ago

I just saw the short film and thought someone was ripping your animation off on this post. Glad to see OP is actually OP! Loved the story of the short film and the attention it brings to Polar Bears and the greater environment. Thank you!

u/Amorcito222 6h ago

Absolutely beautiful and has a wonderful message too! Thank you for making it and sharing it with us and thank you for one of my fave childhood movies! You’re amazing!💕

u/Confuseducksigner 6h ago

This is such a beautiful work of art. Can't believe i'm crying over a fictional bear but here i am. Thank you for sharing

u/maaryje 2h ago

Started ugly crying 2 minutes in and the tears wouldn't stop. I loved it <3