Pres Romanillos

Priscillano "Pres" Antonio Romanillos (January 11, 1963 – July 17, 2010) was an American animator with DreamWorks and Walt Disney. His work included animated characters such as the Native American Little Creek in DreamWorks' Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Pocahontas, and the villainous Hun Shan-Yu in Disney's Mulan.

Early life Romanillos was born on January 11, 1963, in Zamboanga City in the Philippines. When he was six years old, His family moved to Queens, New York City, where he grew up. As a boy, his older brother Bob had begun an art correspondence course but he eventually lost interest in it, leaving the younger Romanillos to try out the assignments himself. Later he enrolled at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, successfully graduating with a master's degree in Fine Art. Early on he impressed many of his colleagues. Supervising animator Ruben A. Aquino met him while working on The Little Mermaid, and said of him: "from the very beginning, I was impressed by his beautiful draftsmanship, but even more by his incredible passion for animation."

Illness and death In July 2007, Romanillos traveled to Salamanca, Spain, where he assisted in setting up the Enne Animation Studio along with fellow animation artist Scott Johnston. At Enne he completed an animated short film titled The Old Chair, featuring characters from his blog.

In Salamanca, he was diagnosed with leukemia, even though he continued to do animation projects. Returning to the United States, he underwent chemotherapy and returned to work in July 2009, this time back at the Disney studio on The Princess and the Frog.

He suffered a relapse in March 2010, and the escalating cost of treatment led members of the Los Angeles animation community, including fellow animator and Animation Guild President Kevin Koch, to organize an art auction known as Pres Aid, in order to raise funds to defray medical expenses. Around 150 items were donated, many of significant value, and approximately $65,000 was raised at the event.

Romanillos died on July 17, 2010, at the age of 47. Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, described him as "one of the most respected and beloved artists at our studio". Steve Hulett, business representative of the Animation Guild, said of him that "If there was anyone in this wacky business who deserved another twenty or thirty years of artistic success, Pres was at or near the top of the list."

Filmography Year Title Credits Characters1989 Rain Storyboard Artist The Little Mermaid Animation Trainee 1990 The Rescuers Down Under Assistant Animator 1991 Beauty and the Beast Beast 1992 Aladdin Rough Inbetweener 1995 Pocahontas Animator Pocahontas 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Additional Animator 1998 Mulan Supervising Animator Shan-Yu, Hayabusa the Falcon and Elite Huns Soldiers 2000 The Road to El Dorado Animator Jaguar 2002 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Character Designer / Supervising Animator Little Creek 2003 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Supervising Animator Dunbar's Crew 2004 Shrek 2 Animator 2005 Madagascar 2009 The Princess and the Frog Prince Naveen