Nelson on Leishman's Deviant

Young Hobos and Tales and Grey Tacks through the Woods.

I was lost. Not can't find the link, or which way is the story growing lost, but transformed into a tiny character, an opening tree and wandering though a dark and cartoony city/park/room kind of lost. I can smell cut grass and water where there is no water. Every erratic mouse brush curls little creatures from stems and white coated figures, arms down, seem to be watching something. Donna's sharp lined, interactive narrative expands the notion of graphic novel and visual poetics/fictions to build a slightly amusing and ever bleak interactive anti-linear land/screenscape.

Jealously Enjoying the Drawings from the Back of a Burning Cereal Box

I can see the pop culture world of online Macromedia [now Adobe] Flash cartoons being remixed into a multi-pathed, ever/anti-linear atmosphere. A literary animation of sorts, like the clothing and sticker gothic girl Emily, but less direct and with a far away look, a wobbly disposition. And this Deviant's homage to the new cartoon/animation is gorgeously built. The subtle interactive animations of black flower growth and alien/monster escapes, of flying girl kites and slow movements are compelling enough to encourage play and exploration, and beautiful enough to inspire jealousy in those of us without the ability to draw.

Glossy Pages, Clever Toys, Broken Doll Heads for Fashionable Detours

The artwork with Deviant would do well in the pages of Juxtapoz, inspiring toys and t-shirt of the characters and creatures lurking about the screen. With that in mind, perhaps the next leap might make sense, or seem less unfair. But this work is almost lost in its own polish, its own cleverly craft and marketing friendly drawings. And after reading the author's dissertation, Deviant being its creative companion, it seems one intention of this work is to play with the concept of confusion and awkward darkness to develop a compelling mood. However, the drawings are so screen dominant, so distinct, so commercially viable that they seem to overcome much of the narrative, and disjointed and variably changing linking structure. I wasn't as concerned with searching for links or being tossed around a mysterious story. Instead the graphics kept me lurking through sometimes just to see more graphics, to catch extra bits of animation or new pretty, pretty monsters.

There are Days When a Concussion Is Like Taking a Nap

In addition, I didn't feel disjointed or apprehensive when experiencing the work despite the sometimes odd juxtaposition of story and graphic or the linking structure that forced backwards and forwards movement without offering consistent clues. There is an acceptance among net artists, and a growing tradition within animation, that an artwork doesn't require explanation, nor does it need to make sense. Many net artworks concentrate on luring the reader/user down lost roads, dead ends, and filling holes with unexpected responses. And with Deviant I wanted more surprise. The tone and mood of the work, while beautiful and compelling at times, was again so dominant and consistent that I was often lulled into a sense of neutrality about the experience. Deviations from the graphical experience, certainly with such strong designs as these, would have added more intensity to the users' explorations.

I Like This Work, so What the Hell Am I Talking About?

But then that isn't fair now is it. I've read Donna's dissertation, and know, somewhat, the intent of Deviant. And certainly artists should not be demanded to reveal intent (although obviously this being part of a dissertation there was no choice). But this work didn't feel to me to be about intent, it was more about experience and graphic, about bringing a graphic novel to the screen, and then scrambling the sections, removing the text and adding depth via coloring and movement. About playing with perceptions of what the user might or might not expect. I find knowing why an author created an artwork, reading anything they've written about the artwork to be something that should be done only after viewing/playing with an artwork in various settings and on different days of the week, within divergent area codes and consumed with weather patterns at odds.

On the Rusted Big Toy They Continued Playing without Their Warmest Gloves

Such small changes, little buttons, peeking characters and leaves from branch tips. I loved the way Deviant inspired exploration, mapless adventuring on the treeless plains. And as I mentioned above, I wasn't concerned with the story or the development of any narrative line, and instead I searched for the hand, and for changes. At first I wondered if clicking all the flowers alive, or revealing the hiding places in certain orders, were part of some complex game structure that would then reveal more areas. And while it appeared that there was some of that "complete task before moving on" RPG play, much of the interaction was landscape and decoration (again damn nice surroundings).

One of the glorious aspects of Flash animating is the easy reuse of characters, animations, and movie clips (buttons). Of course the drawback to that ease of reuse is the often overuse of certain bits. And although I eventually stopped exploring trees or growing flowers, this work is so deep and with so many adventures that the repetitive nature of Flash reuse wasn't nearly the problem it is within most online animated works.

Dinner Bell Rings, Ring the Dinner Bell

I love sound. And I might have somehow missed the vital sounds of this work. But that withstanding I wanted more sound. Knowing the author's intent it seemed strange that the use of sound was largely omitted. There are small moments of drop or thud, or blip, but I wanted the same juxtaposition experienced within the organic alive/dead organisms and the clean graphic novel style, to be echoed or expanded or at least played with through the computer speakers. Many digital narratives often ignore sound, or use it sparingly. Using sound can be dangerous as it can dominate, twist, and destroy what is on the screen. A low drum or high pitch can make the word dog become menacing or whimsical. And with Deviant, a work so focused on mood through graphic, and drawn character, more play with sound certainly could have added to the layering of meaning and psychological spinning.

Sometimes There Are Not Enough Invitations for All Those Asking to Come

I can offer no greater compliment than to say that I want to see these characters, these drawn (and drawn in) creatures again. Net Artists are often too much like wealthy tourists. They pop into an idea, a tech method and new interface, a series of characters, and then they are compelled to move to new technologies, new graphics, new themes. This ever moving quality can lead to curious and alluring experimentations, but also leaves these spaces from the leaps, these holes in the landscape, stones without texture in a pond with only puddles. I'm not sure what that means except to implore the author/artist, to plead with Donna, to continue this storyless story, to take that semi creepy and super polished girl to the mountains or the ocean. Crawlers from the mouths of sharks will greet her there.