When Peter Ellenshaw first went to work for Walt Disney Studios, Walt said, “One man who you’re going to work with is Ub Iwerks… you’ll learn a lot from him, if you’re willing to.” We, too, can learn a lot from Ub thanks to his… Read More »Like Father, Like Son: Interview with Disney Legend Don Iwerks
Walt Disney’s Ultimate Inventor: The Genius of Ub Iwerks – a new Disney Editions classic looks back at the career of Ub Iwerks, the genius behind many animation inventions, and co-creator of Mickey Mouse. The book is written by his son Don and contains some… Read More »Don Iwerks new book ‘Walt Disney’s Ultimate Inventor: The Genius of Ub Iwerks’
The first Mickey Mouse Comic Strip was published on January 13, 1930. It was written by Walt Disney and drawn by Ub Iwerks (who also drew the first Mickey Mouse cartoon). Yesterday on the anniversary, Disney artist Floyd Normal recreated on YouTube live-stream the first… Read More »Original Mickey Mouse comic strip redrawn in real time by Disney artist Floyd Norman
Walt Disney started the Silly Symphonies animated short series as a way to complement his new, but already very popular Mickey Mouse cartoons. The first in the series — The Skeleton Dance — was released in 1929 just one year after Steamboat Willie. The series… Read More »Silly Symphonies – The Skeleton Dance
I visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios for years before I ever stepped foot in the learn to draw Animation Academy. It was a blast and I’ve been back frequently since then. What many guests don’t realize is that there is a second learn to draw opportunity… Read More »Learn to Draw: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Leslie Iwerks, who comes from a family with rare Disney lineage (her Grandfather Ub co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt) has set her documentarian eye on Pixar Animation Studios and Lucasfilm to great acclaim. Her next target is Walt Disney Imagineering, a division that Ub joined… Read More »Early look at Walt Disney Imagineering Documentary from Leslie Iwerks
In 1926 Walt Disney was just trying to make his way in Hollywood. He would take whatever jobs he could get, including one from a Dentist back in Kansas City who wanted a short film he could show to encourage tooth-brushing and good dental hiegene.… Read More »Early Walt Disney film restored
I was just about to log off for the night when this story came across my radar. A Fox News station in Tampa Bay is back on the old story that the Walt Disney Company is refusing to authenticate what a gentleman claims is the… Read More »World’s Laziest Reporting Strikes Fox News – It’s NOT an original Mickey Mouse