Between 2021 and 2022, there were a couple of periods when I was alone at home for some weeks. As many do, I started a marathon of series, in which there were The Office, Community, and The Good Place (and if you haven’t watched them, I strongly recommend them). At the end of this list, there was the acclaimed Bojack Horseman, which I reluctantly started watching.
Something in the animation style, the uninteresting plot, or in the particular humour of the scripts, left me with an unsavoury taste after each episode; but in the loneliness and boredom, y let them pass without caring too much. It wasn’t until Fish Out of Water that something clicked in my brain (and in my heart), and suddenly, it was my favourite series.
Free Churro, among others, became a milestone in this marathon. A meaningful, emotional monologue, centred (quite literally) on Bojack, and his relationship with his late mother. Lacking a soundtrack, except for a couple of moments, the episode led me to a thoughtful state where I found myself diving into my reminiscences. 26 minutes, and an absurd ending which, like tripping over, sent me back to reality.
It wasn’t until after the series finale (and the corresponding mourning stage), that I decided to make a tribute to what I consider to be one of the best animation series I’ve ever watched; obviously, it had to be in pixel art.
As usual, I decided to work with a monochromatic, 4 colours palette, choosing a recreation of the palette used by Nintendo to represent Game Boy screenshots.
I imagined that, if Bojack Horseman had been a game for the handheld console, Free Churro would have probably been a cutscene; a long, but important one. Hence the idea of putting one of the most emotional sentences in a dialogue frame, with the typical button sign to move to the next line.
In the future, I plan to make more fan art of this series, as there are more than enough inspiring scenes as to dive deep into them wink.
Metadata
Palette: Nintendo Internal
Size: 160x144 (resolución Game Boy)
Software: Aseprite