Ward had a hell of a nerve

click to enlarge

Over at the union blog Steve Hulett posted a link to a Life magazine photo archive that deals with Walt Disney. Lots of interesting shots there, not all just of Walt. But I really love the one above. I've seen others from this same session but I can't recall ever before noticing that killer caricature of The Boss smack dab in the middle of it, pinned prominently next to Ward's desk. What an expression.

It looks like there's one of Walt Kelly's "Ward's life" gag drawings hanging from the shelf under the lamp, too. You know, one of these days someone's going to do a book...

That Hamster in Story

Mark Walton at work © 2008 Marc Smith

This is story artist Mark Walton's year, no question. He was tapped for some scratch a while back and it's worked out okay for him.

In Sunday's (11/15) New York Times: "The Voice Behind the Disney Drawing Board". It's fun to see the Times apply their Grey Lady treatment to a description of Mark and his infamous cubicle(shown above in a photograph by fellow artist Marc Smith). I don't believe for a second that he was really "nervous", though--more like his regular-grade joie de vivre.

And here's a brand-new, fun companion website for "Bolt", You Are Fully Awesome!, where the fanboy hamster becomes your biggest fan.

Check him out!