David Pruiksma (born January 15, 1957) is an American animator best known for his work at The Walt Disney Company and occasionally other studios.
Early life and education Pruiksma was born and raised in Falls Church, Virginia where he attended J.E.B. Stuart High School. He graduated in 1975. He then studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York for two years. He left to attend California Institute of the Arts where he received a degree in character animation in 1981.
Career Following graduation, Pruiksma was hired as an assistant animator at Disney and worked on the films The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid and The Rescuers Down Under. He rose to supervising animator and created the characters of Mrs. Potts and her son Chip in Beauty and the Beast. Other characters including The Sultan in Aladdin, Pumbaa's luau scene in The Lion King, Flit in Pocahontas, Hugo and Victor in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mrs. Wilhelmina Bertha Packard and Mister Fenton Q. Harcourt in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
After completing working on 2001's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Pruiksma left Disney because of his disenchantment with "Disney's greed-driven corporate structure." He then worked freelance as an animation director and storyboard artist for the Cartoon Network series Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. He also accepted a position teaching at the Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) from the animation department's former chair Dave Kuhn, who Pruiksma had trained at Disney.
Pruiksma was a full-time faculty member at LCAD in Laguna Beach, California until his retirement in 2018.
Filmography Year Title Credits Characters Notes 1985 The Black Cauldron Assistant Animator 1986 The Great Mouse Detective Character Animator 1987 The Chipmunk Adventure Animator Credited as Dave Pruiksma 1988 Oliver & Company Character Animator 1989 The Little Mermaid 1990 The Rescuers Down Under Credited as Dave Pruiksma 1991 Beauty and the Beast Supervising Animator Mrs. Potts and Chip Potts 1992 Aladdin Sultan 1994 The Lion King Animator Pumbaa Credited as Dave Pruiksma 1995 Pocahontas Supervising Animator / Additional Story Development Artist Flit and Forest Animals 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Supervising Animator Hugo and Victor 2001 Atlantis: The Lost Empire Mrs. Wilhelmina Bertha Packard and Mr. Fenton Q. Harcourt Credited as Dave Pruiksma 2003 Captain Sturdy: The Originals (TV Short) Additional Animator 2004-2005 One by One (Video short) Animator Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (TV Series) Story / Teleplay / Animation Director - 2 Episodes Credited as Dave Pruiksma 2009 Waking Sleeping Beauty (Documentary) Voice Himself 2013 A Little Hitch (Short) Mother
References
External links Official website