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An artist translated Peter Pan into 44,000 emojis

Peter Pan_4x3
Joe Hale's emoji translation for "Neverland." Skye Gould/Joe Hale

"Peter Pan" is a timeless classic, but artist Joe Hale thought the 1911 novel could use a 21st century update. So he spent four months to translate the entire story by J.M. Barrie into 44,000 iOS emojis.

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Behold, his mind-boggling poster, "Neverland" (Head to Hale's site to zoom in and see the emojos up close): The idea came about when he was looking at his iPhone and saw much of Peter Pan's vocabulary — the stars, the children, the hourglass — in the emoji keyboard. It wasn't a huge leap to turn the dreamlike story into an emoji storyline, he says.

neverland
Joe Hale

Some of Hale's individual word translations are more literal, like using the star emoji for "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning." But generally, they're riddles that take a bit of mental energy to decode.

second to the right and straight on till morning
"Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning." Joe Hale

Other translations of individual words require a certain level of familiarity with popular double-meanings of emojis.

For example, Hale uses a peach for the word, "but," in "All the children but one grow up."

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All children but one grow up
"All the children but one grow up." Joe Hale

 

Hale decided to use only iOS emojis rather than Android, because the colors really pop and Apple often releases new additions.

to die will be an awfully big adventure
"To die would be an awfully great adventure." Joe Hale

Besides Peter Pan, Hale has translated other Disney works, including "Alice and Wonderland" and "Pinocchio," and doesn't plan on stopping any time soon. He hopes to propel more celebrated novels into 2016.

"I’m looking forward to new iOS releases, so I can potentially bring more of these worlds to life," Hale says.

Head over here to check out the 46 x 33-inch poster, which you can order for $30.

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