Hey guys. Welcome to Proko. I visited Aaron Blaise to film him drawing
a giant lion portrait. You can get that demo at proko.com/blaise. While I was there we filmed a studio tour. And his studio is filled with sketchbooks. Lots of sketchbooks. So many that we took that footage and separated
it from the studio tour and made this video. So here it is. Aaron Blaise showing you some of his favorite
sketchbooks. This is a sketchbook I'm keeping
now. And this one, I've gotten into using those
brush pens. The bimoji brush pens. Proko: Yeah. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah those. These. And. Proko: They look a lot like Kim Jung Gi's
Aaron: Yeah, I think they- Proko: They are the same brand? Aaron: I'm not sure if it is or not. I can't remember how I found these. But I just fell in love with them so I ordered
like bags and bags of them at a time. I've got piles. Yeah. Yeah. There's 30 of them there. I go through them a lot. But um, but they put down. It's a brush pen but they just put down really,
I can get super delicate with it. This is a great horned owl I sketched out. This one I did as a demonstration on the live
stream. Proko: Is that watercolor in there? Aaron: Yeah, and then just painted water
color right over the top. That's the other cool thing about those brushes. Proko: Over the top? Aaron: Yeah, the brushes are wonderful. Proko: Oh, I see where it gets a little
lighter. Aaron: Yap exactly. Proko: Okay. Aaron: Yep. And I was just in Hawaii two weeks ago and
I was just doing some sketching sitting on the shore in Hawaii. We were whale watching. Did some drawings of the whales as they went
by. So, lots of little things like this. Then recently I went to- last week I went
to a birds-of-prey center. Proko: That's a really cool one. Aaron: And it’s all with brush pen
and they pulled the birds out and then I sketched them from life. These are peregrine falcons. I love their shapes. So, from when I'm doing this kind of stuff,
it's just really quick. And that's one of the things I love about
the brush pen is I can be really kind of just gestural with it. But this isn't with the brush pen. This is with a stead liner. So these are barn owls. These are type of owl that we have nearby. Right in our area here. I have one that lives in my backyard. Proko: Oh, really? I haven't heard it at all. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah, he wasn't there last night. But uh, for those that don't know we had a
little barbecue last night. Had a little fun. Moscow mules. Proko: With vodka cranberries every ten
minutes. His vodka cranberries come up pink, they are
not red. Aaron: This is a book, I picked this
up in China, in Beijing and I just loved the leather and way it smell and all that. And it's just got cardboard in it. Smells like leather. Proko: It is leather. Aaron: Really, I like the tone of the
paper. Proko: Oh, wow it's really cool. Aaron: So, these are little ballpoint
pen sketches that I do and then I have these jelly roll white pens and I can do these really
delicate little sketches. This is Vedanta my girlfriend. And I just do little drawings. some of them are quick. some of them are just ridiculous. Proko: That kind of looks like beasts
kind of turning into a human. Aaron: Looks like me in five years. Proko: Hey. Aaron: Hey, look at that. Proko: That looks more like beast. But it's a little different it's not actually
beast. I see, it like a beast rather. Aaron: Yeah, exactly. I was on a little game farm up in Virginia
and did these little sketches while I was there. Alpacas. Chickens. Proko: This is a really cool sketck book. Where do you say get this? Aaron: I got it in Beijing. I walk in there, there's a little, it was
like a stationery shop. But it was all leather. And so, it was, it was really cool. This is with my brush pens sketching the dog. So, yep. So, fun stuff. It's really cool. I've got lots of unfinished sketchbooks. Lots and lots of those. Proko: You collect sketchbooks? Anytime you see a cool one you just. Aaron: I do I can't help it. Do you do the same? Proko: Yeah, I don't have a lot of unfinished
ones. Aaron: This one, this was my mother. Proko: I saw the video. Aaron: Yeah, this one was, yeah, this
was really personal. In this I'd made a video about this as my
mother was dying. My mother died two years ago. And I sat with her. I was the only one that showed up. You know, we've had some falling out in the
family and that sort of thing and so I didn't want her to die alone. So I went and sat with her. And plus she's my mom. And I didn't know what to do. I did, I just sat there for hours and hours
and hours and we basically just had to wait. And I just started thinking about the gift
that she had given me of, she and I didn't always get along but she did give me the ability
to draw. And so I kind of got a little bit poetic in
my mind and just I'd figured as she's going out she gave me this gift, as I came into
the world and so as she left I wanted to kind of send her off. And so I did sketches of her. I did drawings of her as she laid there. Her last drawings. So, that's what that is. And I've got another sketchbook over here. I only did the one drawing in that sketchbook
and then in this one I did - I did more. And so this is her laying in her bed. And I just - I really - in order to pass the
time I wanted a focus. I was so focused on her passing and the sadness
of that, that I was trying to take my mind off of that. And so, I would focus on like the sheets. And I drew the sheets. It was just, it was giving me an opportunity
to kind of get my head level and get it together. Some of them were just quick little sketches. But she just, she basically just slept and
eventually you know, passed away. And - but these are the last little sketches
that I did. And then ironically enough this is just something
I was drawing afterwards. But ironically enough, later on, like the next
year, as I jumped around from sketchbook to sketchbook, the very next year my granddaughter
was born. And so, I have all these drawings of my mother
as she's leaving the world and then I did these sketches of my granddaughter as she
came into the world. There she is with my - nursing with
my daughter. And so to me this is the power of sketchbooks. It can be, they can be as benign as just sitting
there doodling in them or drawing people in the park or whatever or they can be as heartfelt
and emotional as what I've just shown you. And to me that's what it's like to be an artist. That's what it's about being an artist. And these - the rest of these drawings are
just little sketches I was doing at the big cat habitat. Drawing them - The cats there. But then you've got other things in there
that are just super emotional and super personal. And you can - that's one of the things I love
about sketchbooks too is that you can really get to know somebody through their sketchbooks. You can get to know an artist through their
sketchbooks. And because they are - especially if it's a
prolific artist, there so - they get to be so personal sometimes and that's pretty cool. Proko: Yeah. What's that video called if people want to
see you talk about that? Aaron: Oh, I think, I think it I can't
remember. Proko: It's a sketchbook tour. Aaron: It's yeah, it's just basically
a sketchbook tour. I just took everybody through a little tour
of all my sketchbooks and I think it's called the importance of sketchbooks or something. This is one that I kept back in 2002. And my wife - my late wife Karen, she passed
away 12 years ago. But in 2002, we went on a trip to Maine. So, she went ahead and took the car and the
kids and they were on the road for like a month. And they worked their way in. We live in Florida, and they just kind of
worked their way up the coast. And I was working on Brother Bear at the time
and I was in a crunch period. So, I could only get a week off. And so I took that week and then flew up to
Maine and met them. And so while we were there for the week, in
between playing with the kids and having all that kind of fun and I would go off and do
little sketches. These are all like fine, like - I can't remember
what kind of pen they are, but they're really fine pens. And I would do the drawing first and then
lay on the watercolor over the top. So, I just got piles of these. Just, it's - everywhere you look in Maine especially,
this is around Bar Harbor. This is Acadia. Everywhere you look it's a painting. It's just absolutely gorgeous and I just couldn't -
I couldn't not find it with something to paint. And I really was focusing on the water. How to do it quickly and do it convincingly
and there was a lot of fun. And the rocks - The richness and the color of the rocks and
everything was just amazing to me. And this is interesting because - we had this
fog rolling on but it was about 95 degrees. It was really weird. It was super hot out and yet this fog came
rolling in. And I did a little drawing there. Proko: Those all look like backgrounds
from like an animation or something. [laughter]
Aaron: I was definitely influenced by that. Working at Disney for so long I sat with the
background artists all the time and just tried to figure out what it was that they did. Because - they a lot of - here we are in Catalina. So jumped from Maine to Catalina a couple
years later. Sitting on the beach there and then from Catalina
now we go to Jackson Wyoming. And so sitting on a little you know, Jenny
Lake and Grand Teton National Park. And this is the - this is actually the very
uh, this is where it gets emotional too. This one I always get a little emotional with. This is, these paintings were the last trip
I ever took with my wife. She passed away just a few months later. So these are all super important. That's the beauty of- One of the other things
too is that when you sit down a you sketch, you're hyper aware of everything. You're sitting there, you're observing, you're
looking, you're soaking it in, you smell it, you hear it, you draw it, whatever, and it
records in your brain and so what's nice about this is I can go back and look at them and
I remember everything about that day. I remember everything surrounding that painting. I remember standing there with my sister-in-law
and my wife. Who my sister-in-law, my wife's sister, she
passed away the next year from the same disease. And so it was just a horrible tragic thing
that hit the family but when I see these, I can remember like we were pulled over to the
side of the road. We were all there together. They were standing behind me watch me do this
painting and we're talking and think we're talking about dinner that we're gonna have
that night and it's just, And yet this is - this is 12 years ago. So, it's really... This is why to me these are so important. They're such important things to do. And in the moment, you really don't know a
lot of times the importance that they're gonna have for you later on down the road. The last time I went to Africa, this is - when
I do my trips, this is kind of way I usually keep my journals. And so I'll sit and I'll write about what
we're doing that day and- Proko: You sit and you write about sitting? Aaron: Yeah, sitting in London waiting
for connection. Sitting in the lounge waiting to board a flight. Having a Tusker beer. And yes, it's more like what I did that day
because I want to write it down so I remember everything that I did that day and so we write
it down. And I'll go off and do tiny little sketches. Quick little things like this. Proko: Those are really cool. Aaron: And so we went to an elephant
orphanage. And I did some little sketches of the elephants
in the orphanage and- Proko: Is this the same time that you
have those photos of the orphanage that you showed during-
Aaron: Yeah, exactly. Proko: Oh, that's cool. Aaron: Yap, this is the same time. And they're really, they're, that was awesome. This was a giraffe like refuge place that
we went to. And then we went back to the, back to the
elephants again later on. Proko: Is that two colours? Grey and orange? Aaron: Yeah, it's like an ochre. It's a little bit of an ochre and a little
bit of red. Proko: It's red? Aaron: No. It's ochre mixed with the colour red to get
the orange because the soil there is really orange. And so the elephants, they end up orange. And then I usually just go the opposite and
I put together ultramarine and paint an ultramarine and for the shadows over the top. Just something fast two colors. And they're just quick washes over the sketch. But those quick washes that really, I don't
know, it just gives the sketch a little bit of life. A marabou stork. One of the things we would do is, we'd go
out and we'd photograph... And sometimes I would sketch on location but
more often than not because I wanted to get as many photographs and as much reference
as I can, and if I'm just sitting there drawing a single image, I'm missing the opportunity
of getting a lot of reference. And so, what I would do is, I would shoot
piles of reference while we were out on safari and like I said, a little bit of sketching
here and there. But then I'd go back to my tent at night, and I had a little writing table and everything. The tents were not like - I had a king-size
bed and everything in it. It was like glamour camping. But I would sit at the at the desk at night
and pull up my images and then go through the images and I would do the sketches from
the day. So each day, I would do the sketch at the end
of the day. And then I would write. Proko: It's cool. Aaron: And so it's just a fun way to
put together a journal. So when I do those big trips, this is what
I like to do. And it becomes something that I can retain
and long after I'm gone and dead, my kids will have these to look back on and see the life
that I had. Even things like you know, picking the grass
from the Serengeti and or the Masai Mara and putting it in there. Proko: Is this watercolor paper? Aaron: Yeah, it's all watercolor paper. And I just sit and do these - these little sketches
at night. I think this one I did at the airport waiting
for my next flight. We went from, we flew from Kenya up to India
and went up into northeast India. And I did this little painting up in, near
a place near Gangtok near Bhutan. And it was just this little village up in
the hills at the base of the - just east of the Himalayas and all these terraced fields
and farms. And so I sat there on the side of this hill
and did this little sketch. And even drank a lot of Everest beer. So, I'll just keep random things like beer
labels or whatever. This was, I was in Kathmandu and I just love
the intricacy of the the tile work and the brick and wood carving and all this kind of
stuff on this building. And so I did a quick sketch of it before we
headed off to our next spot. This is one of the elephants. When we were in Nepal, I would go out on elephant
back every day and we would track rhinos and tigers and all kinds of cool stuff. And so I did a quick sketch of the lady that
I rode every day. So, more - I guess more ridding and we'd see
these rhinos. So, this is one of the rhinos that we had
seen. And so, more beer labels there you go, Kingfisher
beer. But that's it for that one. So, it's just, they're really cool. So, I keep these on my desk every once in
a while I'll pull them out and just kind of take a little walk down memory lane. Just go through the pages. Proko: Yeah, it's cool. Aaron: So, here's a couple more. I just love these Strathmore toned grey pads. That's like the only thing I buy now because
I like being able to go in and this is a trick that I saw at the airport. I had to draw her And I love going in there with the - with the
light pen or white pen and pen, pencil, ballpoint pen. Proko: Wow, man it's cool. Aaron: And I've just got piles and piles
of all of these. I got hired early on. The Netflix, Mowgli, the jungle book movie
that came out on Netflix. Not the Disney version but the one that just
came out on Netflix. They hired me to do the character design initially. And so, the very first thing I did was sit
down and I looked up. First of all the bears that are in India are
called sloth bears. They've got these big furry, moppy ears and
interesting, really interesting nose. And I thought, these bears are really cool-looking. But it turns out they wanted a more traditional
looking bear so he didn't survive. But I did all these. Proko: That sucks because that's a really
cool-looking bear. Aaron: I thought he would have been great. Actually the the designs in the movie, they
ended up going really, really kind of looking like humans. And so we didn't really agree with the creative
and so I ended up leaving the project. But they, I mean it was, it was cool. It was like fun experience. I was working with Andy Serkis and... but these
are all little sketches done for that. Proko: Thats cool. It's muscular looking. Aaron: Yeah, Bagheera. These are early, early, early, drawings for
myself. Proko: That is amazing. Aaron: I was watching Planet of the Apes
and then I got really inspired and went back to my desk and just sat down and started sketching
and it was cool. Proko: Yeah, I just whoop it out, I just
sit down and- Aaron: These are all - these are done
from life. This is in Wyoming standing on the side of
the road and sketching bison. And then this one I went back to my room later
in the evening. I'd photograph this raven and I did some sketching
of the raven in my room. A young moose. Proko: Looks like you have a few styles. And so each sketchbook is like a different
style. Aaron: I know, it's like I jump all over
the place. Proko: But you keep it consistent through
each sketchbook though. Aaron: Right, yeah. Proko: It's pretty cool I like that. This one's like very - a lot of directional
repeating lines everywhere like very skinny. Aaron: Yeah and then you'll see - that
was a leopard that was drawing from life. Then you'll see something like, in this next
sketch book that you'll see, this one, these are all sketched from life. These are little sketches of a cougar. A Florida panther that they had at a center
down near where I lived. So, I went down there and just did a bunch
of sketching of him. And they also had a lot of birds there so
I sketched them. And then here I am at the zoo in Nashville. So, that's the other thing too. The sketches, they're just all over the place. This was up in Vermont. Sketching a bald eagle when I was up in Vermont
last time. Peregrine falcon. This one I just sat in my hotel room and had
this image of a guy that I had photographed in Nepal. And so I did a drawing of him sitting on my
bed killing time. Is that the Joker? Yeah, I think that I can't remember what that
was going to be for but I just started to sketch it. There you go. Proko: Wait, who is that? Looks like an actor. Is it just from your head? Aaron: It's just my head, yeah. But it could almost be Tim Burton. Proko: Yeah. Aaron: So, yeah sometimes I just like
to just make stuff up. This one now - this one is when I started using-
this is from a friend of mine. Proko: This is another style? The sketchbook? Aaron: Yeah, it's like, well kind of. Proko: Looks like the white areas are
more solid. Aaron: Yeah, well I had some different
tools like this is a sketch I did up on top of this mountain in Colombia. I was in Bogota and having lunch at this place
and so I did a sketch of the scenery looking out. This is a lady along the side selling stuff
and I did the sketch of her. So, now we go back to- but now we're using,
this is when I'm using the brush pen. This is just in Colorado, I was sitting on the side of the road in Colorado
and I just looked up this hillside and I just thought it was pretty. So, I did like a 10 minute sketch. This one was a lot more involved. I just sat there and drew and drew and drew
at the side of this little stream. Proko: Nice. This is cool. Aaron: And then these are zoo drawings. And once again all with the brush pen. So, I've really gotten into using that brush
pen quite a bit. meerkat Proko: What's your favorite zoo? Aaron: My favorite zoo that I've ever
been to, obviously San Diego is probably the best zoo in the world. Yeah, but I went to a zoo called Tama Zoo
just outside Tokyo. And that was one of the best zoos I've ever
been to. Proko: What was good about that one? Aaron: It was - the animals are beautiful
pens. It's huge and there was nobody there. It was amazing. Proko: That's good. You can see them basically. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. But this is at the Smithsonian I went up to
Virginia to visit my girlfriend Vedanta who now lives with me but while I was up there
she was working. So, I went into the Smithsonian and spent
the day and just sketched all the mounts. All the mounted animals. So, these are all animals that were sitting
in cases, mounted. Proko: So, they weren't alive? Aaron: They weren't alive so they actually
sat still for me. Proko: Wow! Aaron: Yes. And then all the skeletons and stuff that
were obviously really cool. So, I do a lot of sketching of those. Proko: And you have a lot of your own. Aaron: Yeah, I do. I've got piles of them. We'll work our way over there. This is going to the dog park. Sitting in the dark. Proko: That's great. Aaron: Sitting in the dog park with my
dog. Proko: That's funny. Aaron: And while he's running around
I'm out there sketching. That's my dog right there. He's got the curly tail. Proko: He's getting fast enough? Aaron: Yep. Back to more cats. More bison. What do I got in here? More bison. This is from when I was up there this past
summer doing little sketches. Here we go. This was just a made-up kind of bird of prey. I was sitting on the airplane. I just wanted to do something that would take
up a lot of time, so I decided to draw every feather. Coyote. And this is the charcoal. So, I did it I did a pen drawing of this caugar
and then also did a charcoal version of it. Proko: That you showed earlier. Aaron: Yeah, that I showed earlier exactly. This is a really cool practice. If you ever
want to draw like exotic stuff but you can't go there? Chances are there's a webcam that's watching. And so, up in Alaska on some of the rivers,
they've got webcams when the salmon run is happening. And you can watch the bears live. And so I sit in front of my computer here
in Florida and watch these bears live. And I do sketches of them while they're fishing. It's kind of fun. So, that's what this page is. Proko: Is doing video quality good enough? Aaron: Yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah? Yeah. Nice. Yeah, and this is a picture of my girlfriend
on her phone when we were in the Philippines. She was jet lagging pretty bad. One more quick sketch in the Philippines in
one of the monuments. This is in Manila. Then I did this one when I was in Brazil, in
São Paulo. These sketchbooks go all over the world with
me. I was down there for wacom. Proko: I mean, they have to right? You are always traveling all over the world. Aaron: Yeah. Yep! Proko: I think that's fun. Wah, pah, pah, pah, pah, pao! Aaron: It's what the fox says Proko: Oh, no. I thought it was a ring ning ning ning ning. Aaron: Wah, pah, pah, pah, pah, pao! Oh, this was all for inktober. This is all inktober stuff. I don't think I got it all filled up. These are all really, these are super little
delicate little pen drawings. But lots of fun. I love using that white pen. This is a little demo that I did. I did this one on a live stream. And I did this one on a live stream as well
using the brush pen. Same pen. Proko: Do you document your sketchbooks? Like after you fill a sketchbook, do you photograph
everything? Aaron: No. I hardly ever fill one because I'll get sidetracked
on to another one. Proko: Oh, you have so many sketchbooks
though. Aaron: I do yeah. This is sitting in a park in Tokyo. And I did this sketch just sitting there in
Tokyo. A businessman eating his lunch. Proko: Was it you that said that you lost
a bunch of sketchbooks? Aaron: Yes. So, I was moving and - I was moving back from
California to Florida. And the freaking truck driver was overloaded
when he hit Arizona and so he just dumped my stuff. He dumped out a whole bunch of boxes so that
he could make weight. And so he got his truck down to the right
weight and came and delivered my stuff without like 50 boxes in it. And a lot of my sketchbooks were in there,
so I lost them. Like those are copies, those are color copies
of one of my first sketch books that I started keeping right after I graduated college. And that's one of them that's gone. Proko: How did you have copies of them? Aaron: We did a sketch book show at Disney
a while back and they didn't want to have the originals up so we did a copies and so
that's what we did. Well, yeah just lots of cats and stuff. So piles and piles. I've got about three times as many sketchbooks
in reserve that you haven't seen. Proko: Yeah. Aaron: But piles of them. Proko: Alright, that's it. If you want more Aaron Blaise, there's a studio
tour coming soon and be sure to check out his lion demo at proko.com/blaise. He uses black and white charcoal on toned
paper to render a realistic lion. This guy knows his stuff and he takes you
through his whole process. Learn from Aaron at proko.com/blaise. Aaron: I'm an artist for a living. I mean, how can you not be happy being
an artist you know making your living doing that? And on top of that I draw cartoons and animals. Recently I've started drawing really large
charcoal drawings of animals, my favorite subject. I'd like to take you through my entire process
and show you how I do it. Do not be a slave to your reference. You have the ability to make it anything you
want and that reference is just there to help you with anatomy or help you with lighting
but it's up to you to really kind of take it and make the image your own. I had a very unique background coming into
animation. I was trained as an illustrator. I went in not knowing anything about animation. Never been exposed to it all I knew was I
just knew how to draw. A lot of people ask me how do you get to know
how to draw animals out of your head? But you have to understand how they're structured
first. It just takes a little bit of time. Well, if you don't think you'll ever hit professional
standards and you're already doubted yourself. You can't go at it like that. And if it's something you want, then you just
have to drive and go for it.
