The Definitive Ward Kimball Biography- Releasing 2026

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

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.

Ward Kimball watercolor painting, ca. late 1930s.

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.

Drawing by Ward Kimball, ca. 1950s

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

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

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.

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).

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.”

“The Committee,” painting by Ward Kimball, 1949

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

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?

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

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.”

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

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