imps and monsters justin hillgrove Free Spirited

imps and monsters justin hillgrove Free Spirited18" x 36" acrylics on canvas. 2025. This piece is part of my Where The Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak) x Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki) tribute series, painted about 10 years after the most recent works in the same series. It features one of my favorite compositions from Where The Wild Things Are, and the characters are from some of my favorite Studio Ghibli films, including: Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro), San (Princess Mononoke), No Face and Haku

18" x 36" acrylics on canvas. 2025.

This piece is part of my Where The Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak) x  Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki) tribute series, painted about 10 years after the most recent works in the same series. It features one of my favorite compositions from Where The Wild Things Are, and the characters are from some of my favorite Studio Ghibli films, including: Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro), San (Princess Mononoke), No Face and Haku (Spirited Away), and Turnip Head and Calcifer (Howl’s Moving Castle). There are also Kodama, some soot sprites and parakeets scattered around the scene.

Where the Wild Things Are has always been my favorite children's book. As a kid, I would pore over the amazingly detailed illustrations in awe—the wild character designs, intricate crosshatching, and warm, muted earth tones.

Later in life, my wife and I raised our kids on Studio Ghibli films while also wearing out multiple copies of Where the Wild Things Are. Sendak and Miyazaki are my two biggest artistic influences, and I highly recommend their work to anyone who isn’t already familiar—or completely enamored—with them.