Dave Pruiksma Interview! :)

(Dave today at his home studio, it's awesome!)

On March 3rd, I was very honored to be able to chat and get to know animator Dave Pruiksma! Dave is highly regarded in the field of animation and is well known for his character animation performances of Flounder in The Little Mermaid, Mrs. Potts and Chip from Beauty and the Beast, The Sultan in Aladdin, Flit in Pocahontas, Victor and Hugo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the list goes on! He is a remarkably talented and knowledgeable animator and a very compassionate and personable mentor, willing to share whatever he can to foster the development of future animators!

Dave and I got so involved in chatting about his personal journey in animation and his approaches to each of his individual character performances, that we seemingly lost track of time, because I think the both of us were having a blast sharing stories. Also, since Dave is currently teaching animation at Laguna College of Art and Design, I think he was more then willing to sit down with a student passionate about the field of animation (such as myself) to share his story and lessons learned along the way. We discussed Dave's journey into and through animation from a young boy yearning to make cartoons and films to a prominent animator at the top of the industry creating some of the most memorable performances in animation to date. After a discussion/interview, we popped in some clips of Dave's work I had brought along and he was kind enough to sit and share his stories about each scene and the struggles and successes he had in bringing each performance to life. A truly wonderful experience! Dave is an amazing talent and I am sure his students will agree that his lessons, stories, and friendly demeanor make him a great person to have teaching future generations of animators!

I have again assembled a PDF of our interview, which I am looking to format into a nice document before posting.

Dave was a wonderful interview and he is booming of animation passion and talent! I am super grateful to his close friend Tom Sito (my professor) for arranging this meet and greet. I am also grateful to Dave for being a willing contributor to this research and helping me to arrange future interviews and provide future guidance as I continue to foster my talents and knowledge in the animation world! My sincerest thanks! Both of these animators are top notch and invaluable to the animation community! I am lucky to have shared experiences with both of them! :)