Patrick McHale (artist)

Patrick "Pat" McHale (born November 17, 1983 in New Jersey) is an American writer, storyboard artist, animator, songwriter and independent filmmaker. He is best known for being a writer and creative director on the animated series Adventure Time for Cartoon Network, which he contributed to during its first five seasons, and creating his own Emmy Award-winning mini-series, Over the Garden Wall.

Life and career
Patrick McHale graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 2006 with a BFA in Character Animation. He began his professional career at Cartoon Network Studios in 2007, writing and storyboarding on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, helping to create 10 episodes in total. The one-shot character Punsie McKale was inspired by and modeled after McHale.

After leaving Flapjack, he joined fellow CalArts alum and Flapjack storyboard artist Pendleton Ward to help develop Ward's Adventure Time short into an animated series. Once the show got picked up, McHale stayed on board as the show's creative director through the show's second season. He then moved to New York City with his wife and fellow filmmaker Jiwook Kim. However, he continued to freelance for the show, writing occasional songs and providing input in story outlines that concluded during the middle of season five.

In October 2011, he started work on an animated short entitled Tome of the Unknown, which was produced as part of Cartoon Network's Shorts Development Program. Unlike the other pilots that ended up being released online on Cartoon Network Video, the eight-minute film was selected to be showcased during the festival circuit throughout 2013 and early 2014, eventually picking up The Bruce Corwin Award for Best Animated Short Film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The short became the basis for a 10-part miniseries entitled Over the Garden Wall, which premiered over five consecutive nights in November 2014. Tome of the Unknown was eventually streamed online in May 2015.

In early 2015, McHale self-published his first short novel, Bags, through Etsy.

In 2015, Frederator Studios announced that McHale would direct an 11-minute adaption of Costume Quest.

In 2015, McHale won a National Cartoonists Society Reuben award as the creator of Over the Garden Wall, in the category for TV Animation.

In 2015, McHale, as executive producer and creator of Over the Garden Wall, won an Emmy for Best Animated Program. That same year, McHale's Over the Garden Wall won Best Animated Feature at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

In 2016, McHale won an Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids—as the creator and a writer of Over the Garden Wall comic books.

In 2017, director Guillermo del Toro announced that McHale is co-writing the script to del Toro's stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio.

Short films

 * Simon and Pig on Holiday (student film, 2003)
 * Body (student film, 2004)
 * Candle (student film, 2005)
 * Apple Bears in the Desert (2011)
 * Efforts (2011)
 * Fall Guy (2011)
 * Tome of the Unknown (Cartoon Network Studios, 2013)
 * The Zombie (music video for C.W. Stoneking, 2016)