David "Dave" Pruiksma is an American animator. He worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1981-2001. After completing working on 2001's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, he quit.
Pruiksma was born and raised in Falls Church, Virginia where he attended J.E.B. Stuart High School. He graduated in 1975. He later attended the Pratt Institute in New York for two years before finishing his education at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArt) where he received a degree in Character Animation in 1981.
Following graduation, Pruiksma was hired as an assistant animator at Disney and worked on the films The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, and Oliver & Company before rising to supervising animator and created the characters for films, such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Pruiksma left Disney because of his disenchantment with "Disney's greed-driven corporate structure" and worked freelance as an animation director and storyboard artist for the Cartoon Network series Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. He also taught at the Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) until his retirement in 2018.
Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | The Fox and the Hound | Breakdown artist (uncredited) |
| 1983 | Mickey's Christmas Carol | Assistant animator (uncredited) |
| 1985 | The Black Cauldron | Assistant Animator |
| 1986 | The Great Mouse Detective | Character Animator: Basil of Baker Street and David Q. Dawson |
| 1988 | Oliver & Company | Character Animator: Oliver, Jenny Foxworth, Winston and Tito |
| 1989 | The Little Mermaid | Character Animator: Flounder/Lead Animator: The Seahorse Herald |
| 1989 | Cranium Command | Supervising Animator: Buzzy |
| 1990 | The Rescuers Down Under | Character Animator: Bernard and Miss Bianca |
| 1991 | Beauty and the Beast | Supervising Animator: Mrs. Potts and Chip |
| 1992 | Aladdin | Supervising Animator: Sultan |
| 1994 | The Lion King | Animator: Pumbaa |
| 1995 | Pocahontas | Supervising Animator: Flit and Forest Animals Additional Story Development Artist |
| 1996 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Supervising Animator: Hugo and Victor |
| 1999 | How to Haunt a House | Animator |
| 2001 | Atlantis: The Lost Empire | Supervising Animator: Mrs. Packard and Mr. Harcourt |
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Miscellaneous[]
