The Definitive Ward Kimball Biography- Releasing 2026

Official site for “If It Ain't Fun, To Hell With It! Ward Kimball's Adventures in Disney, Jazz, Trains, and the Avant-Garde,” the authoritative bio by Amid Amidi about the iconic Disney legend.

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Ward Kimball, possibly a self-portrait but not sure.

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Ward and Betty Kimball’s appearance in John Hix’s comic “Strange as it Seems,” May 28, 1940. The drawing is based on a photo that Kimball provided to Hix.

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Ward Kimball watercolor painting, ca. late 1930s.

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Happy birthday, MAD Magazine legend Sergio Aragones, who turns 81 years old today! Here's a drawing of Ward running Sergio over with his train. Sergio drew it for Ward in 1978.

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Drawing by Ward Kimball, ca. 1950s

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Early Ward Kimball art, 1933. Ad for a Santa Barbara bar called The Midget, which served the Collegiate burger.

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#fridayfiguredrawing by Ward Kimball, ca. mid-1940s

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Happy birthday, #MichaelJackson, who would have turned 60 years old today. In the 1980s, Jackson visited Ward and Betty Kimball twice at their home, and they visited Jackson 3 times at his home. This photo is from the first time they met, on January 19, 1984.

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An essential item for Kimballana collectors: Ward’s Experimental Waldorf Salad Plate. Eagle-eyed viewers may have caught this image appear as a gag in the 2016 Mickey Mouse short “Entombed” (second image).

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Here is the never-before-published preparatory drawing for “The Committee.” Ward almost always used a grid to plan out his paintings. There’ll be more never-before-published paintings and roughs in the upcoming bio: “If It Ain't Fun, To Hell With It! Ward Kimball's Adventures in Disney, Jazz, Trains, and the Avant-Garde.”

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“The Committee,” painting by Ward Kimball, 1949

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Marc Davis gag drawing of Ward Kimball: “Roaring through the twentieth century with W. Kimball”

Ward said it was one of his favorite gags of him by Davis.

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A key to Ward Kimball’s philosophy about cartooning was that a character should look funny BEFORE it is animated. Here's an exploration of 10 funny dogs by Ward. Which one is your favorite?

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#fridayfiguredrawing by Ward Kimball, ca. mid-1940s

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Ward Kimball’s Firehouse Five Plus Two band appeared in some Hollywood films, including this rousing performance of “Tiger Rag” in the 1951 MGM film “Grounds for Marriage.”

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Figure drawings by Ward Kimball, ca. mid-1940’s.

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Caricatures that Ward drew of fellow train hobbyists, ca. late 1970s/early 1980s.