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Silly 2D sketch dump from Twitter.

I'll be posting here more often by the way!

PERSONALITY

he is the stooge

he’s trusting, a dimwit, clumsy, irresponsible, egoistical, talkative

but a good listener, a sweetheart, a bit of a prude, polite & well-mannered

would make a good boyfriend (if he wasn’t distracted)

people who are less charitable call him thick though

MISCELLANEOUS

he couldn’t believe he saw Kelly Clarkson in a party (for whatever reasons)

he compares himself to Brian Eno

he would like to relocate Britain to the Carribean if he were prime minister

he had a slot on Dragons’ Den to present his idea of a softer world, but his foam suit caught fire because of cigarettes & he had severe burns

he thought Britt Ekland was attractive, but her ass wasn’t as big & she was annoying him in real life since Murdoc gave him a copy of Wicker Man

he wanted to be an actor but it was too much work for him

he can burp the entire national anthem

POLITICAL VIEWS & OTHER FUN TIDBITS

He practises Buddhism

He was in an order of monks in the Himalayas but was kicked out by the chief monk when he tried silent retreat for 6 months but just kept on talking

He thinks mediocre people die early & nobody knows because they’re mediocre….

“I think it’s important for each and every person to have the liberty and the freedom to live their lives how they choose to without the interjection and repression from heavy handed authorities. It’s about basic human rights, really”

“There is a lot of pain in the world. I think part of the problem is that there are too many hard, sharp edges. If the world was softer, like if everything was covered in foam, there would be fewer accidents because when people fell over or walked into things they would bounce”

“We look for signs of life outside ourselves, for a connection to…alleviate the sense of solitude. That’s why we all do what we do, whether we know it of ourselves or not.”

“You remember when you were a little kid and you would look at the clouds in the sky as the sunlight bounced off them. And something that simple would make you feel a part of everything and all alone at the same time. And that feeling’s not something you can ever put into words so you spend your whole life chasing it; making music, taking pictures, painting… whatever, in the hope that other people will understand that sense or… feeling. As creative entities we look for signs of life outside ourselves, for a connection to… alleviate the sense of solitude. That’s why we all do what we do, whether we know it of ourselves or not.”

“Why do people always want to go back in time? I’d go to the future, though I heard from a song once where they were singing about having been to the year 3000 & that not much had changed but they lived underwater, which I think is a big change actually because how did they breathe?”

“Rule number one: Don’t muck about with fireworks in the bunks.”

“Some people dream of being in a band, but my dream is to go back to Eastbourne funfair and run the dodgems again”

“That’s the future, you can’t worry about that too much. What’s happening right now is all that counts”

“It’ll be alright in the end. And if it isn’t alright, it’s not the end.”

“Being a pop star is cool sometimes but not other times, like when people take photos of you going to the toilet. So I’d say, “Don’t get into it for fame; do it ’cos you enjoy it.” My favorite job was running the dodgem cars [bumper cars] at Eastbourne Funfair. I’d go back in a second, but Murdoc threatened to take me down, Gladiator-style, if I ever left Gorillaz. He has a whip and a trident and a leather loincloth, so I know he’s serious.”

on survival skills,

“Learning that you need very little to get by in life: just a fire and some food. It was an enlightening experience. I’m actually hoping to go back to the island some day—partly to learn more survival skills and also ’cos I left one of my flipflops. The flip, I think. Or maybe the flop. Never know which is which. The point is, they belong together—the distance must be really painful.”

on cannibalizing himself if there’s no other choice,

“I’m a humanitarian, which means I don’t eat human meat. But you’d be surprised how much nourishment you can get from eating your clothes. I made quite a nice shredded T-shirt salad to accompany the whale blubber.”

DATE POSTED: 20170301

LAST UPDATED BY A.G.: 20170729

DATE WHEN ORIGINAL CREATOR DELETED: 20170801

original credit: a.g.

DO NOT STEAL CREDIT

DO NOT STEAL POST

MENTION ORIGINAL CONTENT CREATOR

Nobody asked for it, but I wanna discuss some observations I’ve had over Jamie’s art style changing as I’ve researched it thoroughly in order to apply the different styles to my own work. Most people are aware of how much the art changes between phases, but naturally it evolves a lot during the phases too. One thing I think would be really interesting is to find an order in which the images were released in order to create a more solid timeline.

Early Phase 1 (1999 - 2000)

Not counting concept art, this is some of the first pieces created for Gorillaz; a lot of it is visible in Bananaz, circa 1999, some even with the older name “Gorilla” instead of “Gorillaz”. A lot of the characters are a little off-model around here, their personalities and designs not fully-formed yet. Most notable tells:

Visible in Bananaz

2D’s hair is very purple here and his skin is a little darker than later on in the phase

Russ’ skin is a bit darker and redder compared to the later more washed-out skin tone

Russ and 2D’s eyes are noticeably smaller.

Murdoc and Noodle’s hair are, for the most part, solid black or with very minimal shine

Little to no colour highlights

Mid-Phase 1 (2001)

(Group art, circa late 2000/early 2001)

(19-2000 promo art, some time after June 2001)

This is pretty much the main Phase 1 style, released alongside the self-titled album. Although naturally there’s still some experimentation, things are more consistent here as the characters are closer to their familiar looks. The images I’ve shown are actually fairly different; as the art evolution is far more fluid than just these sub-phases and you can pick out some of the notable points to place the upper image as earlier than the lower one. You’ll see this style on most magazines released in late 2000 - 2001. Most notable tells:

Far more detailed clothing; more pockets and zips and logos, etc rather than just the simple shirts and jumpers of early on in the phase

Highlights! Most notably on the faces and coats, this adds an extra dimension to the art and gives it a much prettier look

Murdoc is slightly greener. This is something of a trend

2D’s hair is still a simple gradient, but it’s looking a little bluer than purple

Late Phase 1 (2002 - 2003)

(Tomorrow Comes Today single rerelease, 2002)

(Celebrity Harvest concept art, 2003)

Since most of the hype of Gorillaz’ debut album had passed, art from this era kind of slowed down to a near-halt. This makes a lot of the changes far more noticeable as there’s less of a steady evolution here. The Celebrity Harvest-era art is probably the very peak of this, a lot of the colourless pencil art pretty much resembling Phase 2. Most notable tells:

Even more detail! You’ll see more hair lines, wrinkes, stitches and stubble here, along with more detailed fingers

Noodle’s not wearing her helmet! This is a fairly significant design change as you can see her become slightly older

Cortez (or a similar bird) starts appearing around this point, albeit only in a couple of images

Murdoc is basically fully green here

A lot of hair shine, looking a lot more reflective

2D’s hair is clearly blue in a lot of the art from this era, although there’s still a slight gradient look to it

Continued! A lot less changes here as the characters are pretty much fully-formed by this phase, but over the space of about two years you’re bound to change a little.

Early Phase 2 (2004)

(The earliest known Phase 2 image, released in November 2004)

(Art released circa December 2004)

(Unknown release date, at least late 2004 since icons from this image were used for forum posts around then)

The exact beginning of Phase 2 is a little unclear, with the top two images (plus Rockit) confirmed to have been seen in late 2004 according to the old gorillaz-news livejournal and the official forums from the time. Regardless, here’s the most notable tells:

Everything is super shiny. Jamie clearly had fun with the airbrush tool, especially on Murdoc’s hair.

Noodle’s design. She’s still wearing a lot of those big coats she wore throughout Phase 1, and most prominently, her eye-covering bangs hadn’t been introduced yet.

Mid-to-Late Phase 2 (2005 - 2006)

(Image probably from early 2005)

(Image from the back of the Demon Days album, dating this as May 2005)

(Art from a Q Magazine interview, March 2006)

This is probably what some people would consider the “definitive” Gorillaz style, being released at their highest popularity. Most people have probably seen these pictures. The tells include:

Hard, sharp hair highlights on Murdoc and Noodle. Towards the end of the Phase, the highlights became much more detailed and intricate.

2D started having more realistic reddish eyes with slightly visible pupils rather than fully black. Towards the end of the phase in 2006, he had white eyes a couple of times.

Tfw you are a knight and also a repressed gay