Creative profile

Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks and Mickey Mouse

Three circles, red shorts, white gloves. One of the most powerful graphic marks in history — born of betrayal and desperation.

Walt Disney Studios · USA · since 1928

A mouse born of betrayal

In February 1928 Walt Disney came back from New York with catastrophic news — the distributor had stolen the rights to his character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and taken most of his animators with him. Walt was on the brink of bankruptcy.

On the train to Hollywood — as he recalled — a new hero “popped into his head.” His wife Lillian talked him out of the name “Mortimer” and suggested “Mickey.” On 18 November 1928 Mickey Mouse debuted in Steamboat Willie — one of the first animated films with synchronised sound. Disney changed the history of entertainment forever.

Walt Disney

Born in Chicago in 1901, raised in Missouri. He drew from childhood — as a teenager he sold sketches to the neighbours. After returning from the First World War he founded one animation studio after another, each going bankrupt in turn. Only Disney Brothers Studio, founded in 1923 with his brother Roy, survived. Walt voiced Mickey Mouse himself until 1947. He won twenty-two Oscars — a record unbeaten to this day. He died in 1966, shortly before the opening of Walt Disney World.

Ub Iwerks

Mickey Mouse isn’t Walt’s work alone. The co-creator is Ub Iwerks — an animator and friend of Disney’s who drew the character’s final look. Iwerks was one of the few who stayed with Walt after the distributor’s betrayal. It was he who designed the round ears, the red shorts and the white gloves. Three circles — one of the most recognisable silhouettes in history.

The evolution of Mickey

Mickey changed over the decades. In the first cartoons he was mischievous and rough. Over time — thanks to the animator Fred Moore — his face softened, his cheeks gained volume and his persona matured. The gloves appeared in 1929, and the red shorts settled in as the “official colour” only in 1935, in the film The Band Concert.

Mickey as an artists’ canvas

Mickey’s silhouette — three circles — became one of the most frequently explored forms in contemporary art. KAWS, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Takashi Murakami — all reached for the mouse icon. Collaborations with BE@RBRICK, Gucci, Supreme and hundreds of streetwear brands made Mickey the first true “luxury pop character.” In 2024 Steamboat Willie entered the public domain in the USA.

Mickey and friends