Chasing Steamboat Willie: Why AI Art Generators Don’t Mimic the Right Mickey Mouse

My quest to get AI to generate vintage, public domain Mickey Mouse

By now you’ll have seen multitudes of Mickey Mouses making the rounds in AI art circles in this brand new year of 2024. I have to apologise for missing the (steam)boat on this one. But as an aficionado of both AI and Disney, and being a bit of a stickler, I haven’t been satisfied with any of my AI images of Mickey. Why? Because there’s a very particular design that entered public domain on New Years, and it’s not the Mickey Mouse you might remember.

Mickey’s revenge on an unsuspecting public. Animation effects added using PhotoVibrance. Try it here!

How to Identify Public Domain Mickey Mouse in 7 Steps

Public domain Mickey debuted in Disney’s 1928 short “Steamboat Willie,” and has seven distinctive features that set him apart from later versions:

1. Black and White: Steamboat Mickey is rendered in black and white.
2. Clothing: He is usually seen wearing shorts with buttons, but without the red shorts and large yellow shoes that are standard in later designs.
3. Gloveless: Unlike the Mickey Mouse that later audiences are familiar with, Steamboat Mickey does not wear gloves.
4. Eyes: His eyes are like dark saucers: simple…