It’s About Time Ub Iwerks Got His Credit
Just about every human being on planet earth knows the name Disney. From the day we’re born, our life interacts with the Disney Corporation in the form of toys, movies, and trips to hotels and theme parks. It is possible that Disney is one of the most recognizable names and brands in human history.
Many think Walt Disney was the mastermind behind Mickey Mouse and led the brigade that eventually snowballed into the massive Disney empire we know today. In reality Mickey Mouse was created, designed, and animated by Ub Iwerks. Disney and Iwerks were partners who originally met while working as illustrators at a commercial arts studio in Kansas City.
After unsuccessfully trying to create their own art based agency, the duo then worked at the Kansas City Slide Company where they learned the ins and outs of film production and early animation. At the time, animation was seen as filler to show before feature films and people in the industry didn’t think there was any room for narrative content in cartoons.
As all great innovators do, the pair went against the grain and began creating short cartoons and developing characters. Iwerks didn’t just create characters, he animated them frame by frame and developed the character’s physical traits and movements down to the millimeter. You can credit Iwerks for the bouncy and playful physicality of these cartoons. He was known for his sense of humor and screwball demeanor which you can see clearly in this constant energetic movement.
After learning about Iwerks’ illustrious career accomplishments, its frustrating to consider how little credit he gets when it comes to the success of Disney and Mickey Mouse. Many hardcore animation fans revere Iwerks, but the general populous links Mickey and Disney together eternally. Sadly, a shadow is cast on Iwerks for that reason.
The origin of Mickey begins with Iwerks’ huge array of character designs for all kinds of animals including frogs, cats, dogs, horses, and cows. None of them quite appealed to Disney. Deciding to take matter into his own hands, Disney did some rough sketches of a mouse character which he then gave to Iwerks. It was here that the idea for a main mouse character came from.
Ub was an extremely independent worker and did most drawing and animating on his own. After these long sessions, he would typically check in with Disney and see his thoughts and opinions. This back and forth allowed the duo to consider the likability of this specific mouse character. Iwerks’ final creation was the first version of Mickey Mouse that is extremely similar to the rendition seen in Steamboat Willie.
Creating Mickey Mouse was a team effort, but it was Iwerk’s drawing style that showed through on the final refined version. If you look at Iwerk’s portfolio of sketches before the creation of Mickey Mouse, its clear that most of the final design was his style.
You can see Iwerks’ visual style and moxie show through in the curvature of Mickey’s body. He used smooth and fluid shapes to give Mickey a plush and friendly feel that would appeal to the eyes of children and adults alike. Mickey’s big eyes do not reflect that of a typical mouse and they allow people to really know what he’s feeling and experiencing.
One of Mickey’s most endearing physical traits are his big round ears which were an aspect of many Iwerks animal illustrations. Most of the characters he drew were very circular and curvy, so giving Mickey these big round ears was sure to give him a mouse-like appearance while giving him something original and recognizable as well. This was the design that was used in the first Mickey Mouse shorts.
After the success of the Mickey Mouse shorts, the duo was able to hire several additional staff members and had a full blown production company going. Iwerks oversaw the animation and artwork while Disney handled more of the business side and writing. Eventually Disney tried to overtake the art direction from Iwerks causing a major divide between the two that lead to the duo finally splitting.
Ub continued to succeed everywhere he went thereafter because of his work ethic and unfaltering playfulness, which came out on screen with every character. He may not have always found commercial success, but the waves he made were important one. After his time with Disney, Iwerks created his own studio which never found the commercial success that Disney had, but connected Iwerks to the soon to be legendary animator Chuck Jones.
Soon enough Iwerks Studios closed their doors, but Iwerks continued to find success doing contracted work. He produced shorts for the Looney Tunes, MGM, and Screen Gems. Decades of animation experience made him an industry expert and opened his eyes up to innovative ideas that would change the industry forever.
Almost two decades after leaving Disney, Iwerks returned and worked mainly on special visual effects. Here he developed the xerographic process adapted for cel animation. He also worked to develop Disney theme part attractions during the 1960’s for WED Enterprises, which is now known as Walt Disney Imagineering. Iwerks also was responsible for special effects in his Oscar winning work for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
Iwerks’ influence can’t be discounted and without him animation would not be what it is today. His loose and rounded style can be seen in shows like The Simpsons or Rick and Morty. His world bending physics and humor clearly influence the advanced physical concepts used in Pixar and Dreamworks films today. Without him Mickey Mouse wouldn’t be the same cultural symbol we all know and love. His work on cel animation led to cartoon booms which changed television from just a few blocks of cartoons to multiple kids based channels like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.
Aside from American productions, Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka lists Ub Iwerks as a major inspiration. Using the stepping stones that Iwerks set forth, Tezuka was able to take his manga Astroboy and turn it into an animated program. This was one of the first massively popular animated shows in Japan, creating anime and the concept of a shonen. In a way we can thank Iwerks for inspiring future anime masters like Hiyao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo, and Akira Toriyama. Each of them saw Astroboy’s success as cartoons became mainstream hits abroad and were able to develop cult hits of their own.
So like I said before, it is about time Ub Iwerks got his credit. This man was a seminal figure in animation and made contributions that forever changed the course of the industry. Without him your favorite cartoon might have never been made, so next time someone mentions Walt Disney, be sure to let them know about Ub. He deserves it.
-Dan
