English comics artist Jamie Hewlett made a name for himself as the co-creator of the early 90’s irreverent, over-the-top, punk-camp comic series Tank Girl, (which was made into an unbearably campy movie in 1995).
In 1998, Hewlett teamed up with former flat-mate Damon Albarn of the british band Blur to create Gorillaz, a virtual “zombie hip-hop” band in which the band members exist only as cartoon characters drawn by Hewlett. Gorillaz has gone on to be by far the most successful virtual band ever, selling millions of records.
In the years since Tank Girl, Hewlett’s loose, slapdash drawing style has matured a bit, but still retains much of the energy and looseness of his earlier approach. The result is a pleasingly energetic but more refined drawing and coloring style that makes the Gorillaz art a lot of fun.
There’s no official Jamie Hewlett site that I know of, so here’s an assortment of links:
Unofficial Tank Girl site.
Gorillaz official fan site, that has a “Press Photos” gallery of cartoon images of the band.
Post of Hewlett’s “Common People” strip.
Overview of the Gorillaz phenomenon from the Guardian and Wikipedia.
Wikipedia entry on Jamie Hewlett.
The Tank Girl 1 and Tank Girl 2 graphic novels are still available.
The link I’ll point you to below is the official Gorillaz site, which takes a little effort to get around, but can be fun in itself as an entertaining Flash interface and series of games. (Hint: there’s a “Map Monkey” and “Quick Links” in the navigation at bottom.)
Ooh, that brings back memories: tank-girl was a bit of a trip for my 14-year old mind … Never did dare lending it from the library, although it did appeal in a wierd way …
I do find his style interesting, and the Gorillaz is no exception, I suppose it is a leading part in the pulling element of the gorillaz. They got style. :)
It will be interesting to see how the Gorillaz style goes from here, and what tricks Mr Hewlett will pull. :) Wouldn’t mind a bit of Tank Girl crazy shaking up the Gorillaz outlines …
The Gorillaz are cool. I hang out with them sometimes, when I come to see 2D.
Don’t even think about asking me what the album they are working on is like or called, cause I’ve sworn not to tell a sole, and it would be cheating on 2!
2D if you are reading this, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I’m sure if you was his girlfriend you would know how to spell SOUL.
Plus, you do realize he does not exist?
hi mi name is melisa, i ike to have more information. about tank girl an the comic.
tanks!
melisa
Just wondering if anyone knew if Jamie was going to do a comic based on the Monkey – Journey to The West work he did?