AARON BLAISE

Aaron has always had an affinity for drawing. Ever since his mother would cut up paper grocery bags for him to draw on in his high chair at 8 months he’s barely put down the pencil. Aaron spent his early youth running barefoot through the woods in south west Florida drawing the animals that inhabited the area. He later attended Ringling College of Art where he graduated with a certificate in Illustration in 1989. It was during this schooling that Aaron was able to land an internship with Walt Disney Feature Animation in the summer of 1988. He traveled to Los Angeles where he trained under the great Glen Keane and his passion for animation was born. After graduation he started work at the brand new Disney animation studios in Orlando, Florida. During this time Aaron had the privilege to work on some of the greatest animated films of our time. He was an animator or supervising animator on The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan and he was co-director of Brother Bear which earned an Academy award Nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. Aaron then relocated to California and continued with Disney developing several movie ideas. Ultimately though Aaron decided to leave Disney and return to his native Florida to pursue new animation possibilities. This is where Art Story was born and continues now…stay tuned!

CHUCK WILLIAMS
A graduate of Florida State University, Chuck’s first industry work was in southern Florida as a assistant sound editor forMiami Vice and editing videos for 2 Live Crew.  With his demo reel in tow, he was lucky enough to land a job at Walt Disney Feature Animation’s new studio in Florida.  He was brought aboard as an editor and his first project was a Roger Rabbit short entitled “Roller Coaster Rabbit” which was released in front of Dick Tracy.  From there he went on to work on Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and several more with all the fine animators, technicians and managers in the Florida studio.  From editing he went on to produce (and direct) several special projects within the division – park films (“Voyage of the Little Mermaid” at Disney/MGM Studios), commercials, and video games.  Finally, Chuck came on producer for a project he and Aaron started about bears.   Four years later, Brother Bear was released and became part of the Disney cannon.  After Disney’s shuttering of the Florida studio, Chuck and his family moved to California to continue at the Disney studios, but now is excited to be back in Florida and working on with Aaron on Art Story.

Chuck & Aaron in the “Story Room”