Thursday, December 11, 2014

Over the Garden Wall

First, a little mood music (theme song for the series this piece is a tribute to): 


Have you pressed play? Good. Let's move on to the art!

I recently watched the mini-series called "Over the Garden Wall." And I loved it. If Dante's Divine Comedy was combined with a Brothers Grimm fairy tale with a touch of today's cartoon sensibilities, you'd get this show. It's innocent, weird, dark and thoughtful in some places and very silly and touching in others. Overall, the effect is incredible story-telling that sweeps you up into the adventure of two lost brothers and a forest full of secrets. It's the best animated story I've experienced for a long, long time - watching it reminded me of being a child again, suspending the need for plot logic (since when I was  young I didn't really get that anyways) in exchange for atmosphere and commitment made to the process of storytelling. You see, the viewer of "Over the Garden Wall" isn't given the full context of the story until towards the end of the series - but when it is delivered it packs a punch and make the series even more excellent.

This piece was inspired by one of my favorite moments in the show. Even if you haven't seen the show, I hope the piece suggests how interesting and quirky the story is:

Like many of my pieces, this piece started out very different from how it ended up. But I'm really happy with the end result I achieved, even if the road to get here was a little winding ;-)



~m.d.

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