An aspiring artist since elementary school, Ron Pucharelli found his calling as a teenager when he saw Jurassic Park and decided he wanted to “make a dinosaur movie.” Two years later, Pixar released Toy Story, the first computer-generated animated film, and Ron felt he had to become an animator.
His high school guidance counselor recommended starting with an education in graphic arts. He submitted a portfolio to The College of Saint Rose and once he met members of the art faculty, he called the fit a “no-brainer.”
He spent four years soaking up whatever his professors offered. “I didn’t realize how important having that foundation would be,” he recalled. “Every one of the professors is an involved, serious artist with an understanding of how to draw, how to paint and color theory. They made you believe that you could do anything.”
After graduating, he became an on-air designer for ESPN. First, he got to know the network’s motion graphic artists and taught himself the software they used. Later, after being wowed by a Spiderman ride at Universal Studios, he tracked down one of the ride’s artists who recommended the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota. Pucherelli was one of 45 students accepted at Ringling and spent the next four years majoring in computer animation.
After searching for a job in film animation for a whole year, he went to work for game designer Electronic Arts – and planned his next course of action – still more school. He enrolled at AnimationMentor, an online school where he hoped to keep his skills fresh in a fast-changing field. That is where the 60-second audition came in. His instructor, the head of character animation at PDI DreamWorks, as impressed with Pucherelli’s work and let him know the studio was hiring. He asked for a demo reel and the rest is history.
In March of 2008, Ron landed a full-time job as a character animator at PDI DreamWorks and has been loving it there ever since. His feature film and TV projects include: Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa (2008), Merry Madagascar (TV) (2009), How to Train Your Dragon (2009-10), MegaMind (2010), Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury (DVD) (2011), Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012), Rise of the Guardians (2012) and How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014).
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