David Pruiksma

"The King of Cute" is what David Pruiksma was dubbed by his peers at CalArts. And, though other students before him held this title, the reign was Pruiksma's during his stint in the Character Animation Program from 1979 to 1981. Today, the title seems particularly appropriate in that for 20 years (1981-2001) Pruiksma was cast on some of the cuter and more appealing characters to come out of the Disney animated menagerie. Pruiksma had the usual interest in animation from an early age. Growing up in the Virginia suburb of Falls Church, just minutes from the heart of Washington D. C., he was first influenced by early television cartoons, but remembers being really "blown away" by the 1964 television broadcast of Disney's "Alice in Wonderland". It was then that Pruiksma decided what his life's vocation would be, he wanted to be an animator. Pruiksma drew constantly through school eventually making his own series of Super-8 films.