While their eagerly-anticipated new album Humanz has left a few people divided, there’s no stopping their momentum and, with the record out today, the band’s Jamie Hewlett has revealed details of the new television show the imaginary band will be putting together next.
Speaking to Exclaim!, Hewlett has detailed the ten-episode series that’s been booked in for next year, taking the place of the long-rumoured feature film that has since been taken off the table.
“I’ll direct the first and the last one, but we’ll have to get someone in to direct the other episodes,” he said. “I think even attempting to do it all by myself will kill me.”
According to the interview, the show will stick closer to traditional animation than some of their recent hi-tech app/music video escapades, rather than being an AR or VR experience.
“They’ll be that way from now on,” Hewlett insists. “I think it’s a beautiful style of animation. Everybody does CGI now, and it is great when you’re making backgrounds, like environments and landscapes, but not the actual characters.
“I’m still very much inspired by the work of Chuck Jones, and I love that animation. It’s art. I’d like to keep the characters in that style for the rest of this campaign. So the characters on the show will be 2D, but everything else is up for grabs.”
That doesn’t mean there isn’t any scope for experimentation, however, with Hewlett adding that the show “could be real footage with real people talking to the characters.”
“We’ll have guest appearances in the series by various artists that appear on the album or whoever we happen to write into the series. Or it could be a mix of collage and photography and a bit of CGI as well.”
He also mentioned a clothing range that he’s currently putting into production, with all of the Gorillaz-styled thread being designed by Hewlett himself, and he sounds a little exhausted.
“We’re doing everything we can with Gorillaz, but it’s a lot of work and responsibility. Unfortunately, I’m still the only artist on this project. I don’t have anybody who draws like me, so I’ve struggled to keep up the demand for artwork.”
