Traditional Animation

Born: David Dodd Hand Birthday: January 23, 1900 Location: Plainfield, NJ, U.S. Alma mater: Chicago Art Institute Occupation: Animator Years active: 1919-1986 Died: October 11, 1986 David Hand’s animation career began in 1920s as he worked on the Out of the Inkwell cartoons for Max Fleischer. David was recruited by

Born: Eric Alfred Cleworth Birthday: January 3, 1920 Location: Minneapolis, MN, U.S. Occupation: Inbetweener, Animator, Director Years active: 1938-1989 Died: December 10, 1999

Born: Howard E. Swift Birthday: August 29, 1912 Location: AR, U.S. Occupation: Animator, Director, Writer Years active: 1938-1983 Died: January 13, 1983 Howard Swift was a straight-ahead animator who got his start at Disney in 1938. With no formal art training, he learned the craft of animation when he was

Born: Richard James Lundy Birthday: August 14, 1907 Location: Sault Ste. Marie, MI, U.S. Occupation: Animator, Director Years active: 1929-1973 Died: April 07, 1990 Dick Lundy began in the ink & paint department at the Disney Studio on Hyperion in the summer of 1929. In just a few months, he

Born: Randy Haycock Birthday: April 29, 1968 Location: Rangely, CO, U.S. Alma mater: California Institute for the Arts Occupation: Animator, Storyboard, Director Years active: 1990-present Randy Haycock always loved to draw, but it wasn’t until he saw the Disney animated film “Fantasia” when he was 15, that he decided to

Born: William Lokey Birthday: April 5, 1904 Location: Birmingham, AL, U.S. Alma mater: Vanderbilt University Occupation: Animator, Director, Writer Years active: 1920s-1986 Died: November 4, 1990 Hicks Lokey spent his early animation years in the 1920s at Van Beuren Studios, working on Aesop’s Film Fables. In 1934, he became as

Born: Russell H. Edmonds Birthday: October 11, 1961 Location: New York City, NY, U.S. Alma mater: California Institute for the Arts Occupation: Animator, Storyboard, Director, Producer Years active: 1986–present Russ Edmonds began as a self-taught artist working as an engineer at the Three-Mile Island nuclear power plant. Ready for a

Born: Bruce Wayne Smith Birthday: September 6, 1961 Location: Los Angeles, CA, U.S. Alma mater: California Institute of the Arts Occupation: Animator, Storyboard, Director, Producer Years active: 1984-present

Born: Michael Surrey Birthday: August 17, 1964 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Alma mater: Sheridan College Occupation: Animator, Storyboard, Director Years active: 1990-present Michael Surrey is an animator of some of Disney’s iconic films, beginning with “Beauty and the Beast.” Michael went on to animate the titular character in “Aladdin,” Timon

< Back To Animation Artist Directory Born: William Barnard Justice Birthday: February 9, 1914 Location: Dayton, OH, U.S. Alma mater: Herron School of Art and Design Occupation: Animator Years active: 1937–1979 Died: February 10, 2011 Bill Justice began at Disney as an in-betweener in 1937 on “Snow White” and by

Born: David Pruiksma Birthday: January 15, 1957 Location: Falls Church, VA, U.S. Alma mater: California Institute of the Arts Occupation: Animator, Director, Storyboard Years active: 1981-2018 David Pruiksma was hired as an assistant animator at Disney in 1981, working on such films as The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective,

Born: Nik Ranieri Birthday: August 23, 1961 Location: Toronto, ON, Canada Alma mater: Sheridan College Occupation: Animator, Director Years active: 1987-2017 After graduation from Sheridan College, Nik Ranieri was hired by Atkinson Film-Arts animation production studio in Ottawa. Nik’s first work animating for Disney was on the London-based animation crew

< Back To Animation Artist Directory Born: Arthur Harold Babitsky Birthday: October 8, 1907 Location: Omaha, NE, U.S. Alma mater: Don Bluth University Occupation: Director, Animator Years active: 1928–1992 Died: March 4, 1992 Art Babitsky was born in the “Little Bohemia” area of Omaha, Nebraska, grew up in Souix City

Born: Hamilton Somers Luske Birthday: October 16, 1903 Location: Chicago, IL, U.S. Alma mater: University of California – Berkeley Occupation: Animator, Director Years active: 1931-1967 Died: February 18, 1968 Ham Luske began his working life as a newspaper cartoonist in Oakland. With no formal art schooling, Luske was hired by

Born: Mark Alan Henn Birthday: April 6, 1958 Location: Dayton, OH, U.S. Alma mater: California Institute of the Arts Occupation: Animator, Director Years active: 1978–2023