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THE AARON BLAISE SCHOLARSHIP AWARD PROGRAM 2026
Description and Overview
In honor of his extraordinary contributions to the fields of illustration and animation filmmaking, the CTN Foundation is proud to announce The Aaron Blaise Scholarship Award. This award celebrates Aaron’s inspiring legacy, his passion for storytelling, and his commitment to nurturing young talent for generations to come.
Aaron Blaise’s career is a testament to artistic excellence and a deep love for storytelling. From his formative years as a key animator and director during Disney’s celebrated animation renaissance, contributing to films such as The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Brother Bear, to his leap into independent filmmaking with Snow Bear, Aaron’s work reflects a unique blend of technical mastery, emotional depth, and a heartfelt connection to wildlife conservation. His mission to "put beauty back into the world" is evident in every project he undertakes.
This scholarship embodies Aaron’s belief in the power of individuality and creative expression. Guided by Aaron Blaise, one artist will create their own 2 minute short story animatic, from start to finish. Aaron will go over the process of writing, boarding the scenes, the importance of acting and of course technical drawing skills.
Aaron is looking for story artists passionate about visual storytelling, creating compelling character arcs and animation filmmaking. Each application will be reviewed by Aaron himself. Please review the application assignment below.
PATRONS
Full Scholarship Awards
Partial Scholarship Awards
Partial Scholarship Awards
- A Minimum of 5 Personal one-on-one Zoom Critiques.
- The number of one-on-one sessions is subject to change based on Pro's schedule.
- Study program over the course of 5 months
- 1 Year Complimentary Membership to CreatureArtTeacher.com
- Two Complimentary 4-day Premiere tickets to CTNX26
- Exclusive Group In-Person Meetup at CTNX26
- Award Ceremony at
- A Minimum of 5 Personal one-on-one Zoom Critiques.
- The number of one-on-one sessions is subject to change based on Pro's schedule.
- Study program over the course of 5 months
- 1 Year Complimentary Membership to CreatureArtTeacher.com
- Two Complimentary 4-day Premiere tickets to CTNX26
- Exclusive Group In-Person Meetup at CTNX26
- Award Ceremony at CTNX26
- Certificate of Achievement upon completion
- Award is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Partial Scholarship Awards
Partial Scholarship Awards
Partial Scholarship Awards
- One virtual group meeting
- 1 Year Complimentary Membership to CreatureArtTeacher.com
- Two Complimentary 4-day Basic ticket to CTNX26
- Exclusive Group In-Person Meetup at CTNX26
- Award Ceremony at CTNX26
- Certificate of Achievement upon completion
- Award is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Honorable Mentions
Partial Scholarship Awards
Honorable Mentions
- Two Complimentary 1-day Walk Around ticket to CTNX26
- More Awards Announced TBA
- Exclusive Group In-Person Meetup at CTNX26
- Award Ceremony at CTNX26
MEET YOUR MENTOR AARON BLAISE
Aaron Blaise has been a professional artist for over 35 years. For 21 of those years, he was with Walt Disney Feature Animation where he helped to create some of the greatest animated films ever made. During that time he worked as an animator, supervising animator & character designer on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and more. In 2003 he was a co-director of Brother Bear for which he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.
After Brother Bear, he helped to develop several more projects but ultimately left Disney to pursue other opportunities, including founding one of the world's top online schools for art & animation - CreatureArtTeacher.com. Aaron recently returned to storytelling roots and completed his first entirely independent animated short film, Snow Bear. He spent 3 years working every day on the hand-drawn film and handled all of the animation, backgrounds, effects, storyboards, and editing personally.
He was recently named as the 2025 recipient of the 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓 𝑴𝒄𝑪𝒂𝒚 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑨𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑨𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 in animation by ASIFA-Holywood and will be presented the award at the 2025 Annie Awards.
