Aaron Blaise’s hand-animated short film Snow Bear is now available for everyone to watch!

For three years, legendary animator Aaron Blaise worked on an ambitious project – a new, original short animated film about a lonely polar bear in the Arctic called “Snow Bear” – created in the old-school, hand-drawn style he perfected during his years working on Disney classics such as “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” and “Mulan.” The film is a hand-drawn story about empathy, nature, family, and the rapidly changing Arctic.

How can I watch Snow Bear?

The film was finally released for public viewing on YouTube! You can watch below:

About the film:

Here’s what he has to say about the film: “Snow Bear is a hand-drawn animated short film by Oscar-nominated director Aaron Blaise. Featuring over 11,000 traditional drawings, the film blends classic 2D animation with a modern cinematic story. Many viewers have described the film as nostalgic – capturing the warmth, craftsmanship, and emotional storytelling of classic hand-drawn animation. That feeling is intentional! Snow Bear was created one drawing at a time in the spirit of the Disney Renaissance era.”

Blaise and his team showcased the film at a variety of festivals throughout 2025, and it won a number of awards, including Best Animated Short at the Santa Fe International, Boston, and Three Rivers film festivals, Audience Choice Awards at Florida, Cleveland, Nantucket and more festivals, Grand Prize at the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International, and many more.

One remarkable aspect of the film: Blaise created it entirely on his own! Well, that’s not entirely true. While all of the animation – including 11,000 individual drawings – was done by Blaise himself on his Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 using TV Paint software, he did have a team behind him. We worked with Aaron during the tail end of the development process to show the world how the film was created; you can watch that in the video below.

Want more? Snow Bear: The Card Game is live on Kickstarter!

Snow Bear isn’t just a film, it’s also going to be a family-friendly card game! Until December 28, 2025, you can be a backer of the game’s Kickstarter campaign. Don’t worry, though – it’s already been completely funded! Backers do get special perks, however, and the more supporters back the Kickstarter campaign, the more stretch goals can get unlocked. You can also choose one of the Deluxe editions of the game or even a signed version.

Snow Bear: The Card Game is a fun, fast paced game based on the short film that’s a blast for the whole family.

Players take turns drawing cards and laying them down to literally make friends. But it’s a little more complex than that – special cards can allow stealing, “melting,” and other effects to create tension, collaboration, and competition!

Even more behind the scenes

If you just can’t get enough, Blaise also recorded this live webinar getting into even more details and background for how the short film was created. You can watch a recording of the webinar here:

About the artist

Aaron Blaise spent 21 years at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he worked on “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” “Mulan,” and “Brother Bear,” among others. He created the award-winning animated short film “Snow Bear” almost entirely on his own, by hand, in 2025.

He publishes tons of video content and livestreams on his YouTube channel, and you can follow him on social media on X (Twitter), Instagram, or Facebook. He also has countless art tutorials and lessons on his website, Creature Art Teacher.