Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks was an American animator, cartoonist, and special effects technician best known for co-creating Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney and serving as the primary animator on the early Mickey Mouse shorts, including Steamboat Willie (1928). Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1901, he first partnered with Disney at the Iwerks-Disney Studio Commercial Artists in 1920 before both joined the Kansas City Slide Company. After leaving Disney in 1930 to run his own studio, he returned in 1940 and shifted focus to technical innovation, winning two Academy Awards for optical printer and color traveling matte photography advances. He remained at Disney until his death in 1971.
“Ub is the one who first draws Mickey, not Walt on the train. But either way, Ub definitely was the primary animator of the first Mickeys for the whole first series of Mickeys, including Steamboat Willie.”
Source→“The Slide Co. has so much work at this point in time... they say, hey, you guys seem talented. We don't want to just contract with you. Why don't you come work here full time?”
Source→“In the first Iwerks and Disney partnership and Walt Disney's first business, he was not the main name on the door. At least he was not the first one.”
Source→AI-extracted from podcast / newsletter / paper summaries. May contain errors.