Donald Duck Through the Years

The evolution of Donald Duck's design.
Image	As seen in/Year 	Notes
 	The Adventures of Mickey Mouse (1931) 	While The Wise Little Hen was celebrated as Donald's debut, he was mentioned in The Adventures of Mickey Mouse and shown on the back cover. In the back cover, Donald resembles the duck in Steamboat Willie, Mickey's debut, with a few differences. This Donald has some blue on his head, has a green hat with a black feather, and wears green overalls. He also has more realistic wings instead of arms and hands.
 	The Wise Little Hen (1934) 	In Donald's debut cartoon, he has a longer beak, a longer neck and white eyes. In this cartoon onwards, Donald wears a blue sailor shirt with four white buttons and accents as well as a light blue shirt collar, a bow-tie and a fauntleroy sailor hat. His bow-tie is tinted black and his hat is tinted white with a blue brim, though official publicity material, such as the poster, would depict him with a red bow-tie and blue hat with a black brim, which he would use in later appearances. The short's comic strip adaptation also oddly gave him yellow feathers.
 	Orphan's Benefit (1934) 	In the few black-and-white cartoons Donald appeared in, his shirt is shaded black, while his bow-tie is shaded white and his hat is shaded gray, and his feet are oddly black. The colorized version of Mickey's Service Station made his bow-tie red and his hat blue. The black shirt, red bow-tie and blue hat combinations would stay as the character's default outfit in the comics.
 	The Band Concert (1935) 	In Donald's next full-color appearance, his eyes are colored blue for the first time.
 	Moving Day (1936) 	Moving Day marked the first cartoon to feature Donald's more familiar design, with a shorter beak.
 	The Autograph Hound (1939) 	From this short onward, Donald's hat is now tinted blue, the brim is now tinted black and his shirt collar is a darker shade of blue, as opposed to the lighter shade it was previously.
 	Donald's Double Trouble (1946) 	From this year onward, Donald's animated appearances would mostly abandon the buttons on his shirt, though they were retained in the comics and in some occasional later films. Additionally, his shirt collar is now the same shade of blue as his shirt.
 	Hudson Hornet Commercials (1955) 	Donald appears in a simpler and more angular design, which was only used for these commercials.
 	DuckTales (1987-1990) 	Donald's classic sailor suit had been altered to resemble a navy uniform, as he now has red accents on his sleeves, his shirt collar has more black, his bow-tie is missing and he wears a white navy sailor cap (though a photo of him in his regular outfit can be seen in "Nothing to Fear").
 	Quack Pack (1996) 	In this series, Donald's main attire consists of a blue Hawaiian shirt with red flowers; he is only seen wearing his sailor suit in a flashback in "Leader of the Quack", as well as when he is de-aged to his 1934 design in "Can't Take a Yolk". His DuckTales suit also made a comeback in "All Hands on Duck", but with different accents.
 	Mickey Mouse Works (1999-2000) 	Donald returns to wearing his sailor suit in animation full-time in Mickey Mouse Works, where his bow-tie is now colored red like in the comics and the shade of blue on his suit is much brighter.
 	House of Mouse (2001-2003) 	Donald's appearance here again abandons his sailor outfit, instead wearing a grey suit and blue collared shirt, though he does wear the sailor suit in "The Three Caballeros".
 	Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) 	Donald appears in CGI for the first time, in different costumes. He only wears his usual sailor suit in a montage of flashbacks.
 	Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006-2016) 	In Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Donald's Mickey Mouse Works design is shown in 3D and from this series onward, he now gained yellow accents instead of white.
 	Mickey Mouse (2013-2019)/The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020-2023)	Paul Rudish's design for Donald returned him to his early 1940s design, while keeping the color scheme from Mickey Mouse Works.
 	Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures (2017-2021) 	Donald returns to his 3D Mickey Mouse Clubhouse design, with different outfits.
 	DuckTales (2017-2021) 	Donald's main outfit in the new DuckTales series is tinted black with yellow buttons like in the comics, while his hat and accents have returned to its original white color from the 1930s shorts, albeit the brim is still tinted black, and his bow-tie is unusually absent. The series premiere explains this by showing him wearing his modern sailor suit right before Louie threw it in the washing machine and he changes into a business suit at the very beginning, though it does reappear in some old family photos and episodes. Additionally, through a blue hue, Donald briefly returned to his 1936 design, with the lack of the bow-tie, in "The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!". Also taking a cue from the comics, his eyes are colored chalk-white instead of light blue as in previous cartoons.
 	Legend of the Three Caballeros (2018) 	Donald appears in his 1940s design, again with the black bow-tie, though the blue on his suit is a brighter shade. This design would be used again in Once Upon a Studio.
 	Chip 'n' Dale: Park Life (2021-present) 	Donald's appearance is the same as his modern design, however he has a line going down the middle of his shirt.
 	Mickey Mouse Funhouse (2021-present) 	Donald once again returns to 3D with different outfits.
 	Mickey Saves Christmas (2022) 	Donald appears in stop-motion for the first time, in a design that is much similar to his 3D design. This design would also be used in Mickey and Friends: Trick or Treats.
 	Once Upon a Studio (2023) 	Donald appears in his 1940s style design, with the black bow-tie and white buttons.
 	D.I.Y. Duck (2024) 	Donald appears in his late 1940s design, similar to Once Upon a Studio, but without his buttons.
 	"Donald Duck Tries to Keep His Cool While Eating Spicy Wings" (2024) 	Donald wears more modern clothing, with a blue sweatshirt, gray pants, and wears shoes. (While not an official Disney video, it used Disney voice actors and was animated by Disney animator Eric Goldberg.)
==See also==
*Donald and Daisy Costumes Through the Years
Category:Character evolutions
Category:Donald Duck