New This Week:
- 2-D’s Birthday
- 2-D’s New Pet
- Just In Time For Breakfast
- Jamie Out and About
- Hollywood Art
- Nostalgic for Kong Studios?
- Shots ‘Gorillaz Interactive Cover Art’ Experience
- Solar EP Cover
2-D’s Birthday
May 23 was 2-D’s birthday. Gorillaz didn’t officially acknowledge it, but the fans sure did. Here are a few of my favorite pieces of fanart (artists credited!)
I wonder if Gorillaz doesn’t acknowledge birthdays to give the impression that the characters are no longer aging? They are cartoons after all… and Murdoc IS immortal.
Also, amazing 2-D and Murdoc impersonator, Austin Trench, posted a new birthday message from 2-D 🙂
2-D’s New Pet
Not particularly NEW news, but Jamie Hewlett posted a brand new picture on instagram of 2-D… cradling a deer. This is the colored version of an image from April 3 that originally leaked on Facebook page, Hewlett’s Art.
None of the other characters have been teased in color yet. What could the image be? It seems like new Gorillaz stuff is coming our way… what it is, nobody knows. In the color image of 2-D, there’s a smidge of pink coming through at the bottom.
Fans have compared the shape to the Gorillaz logo, and it doesn’t fit. Is this an announcement of some sort? Magazine article? Another promotion? We will see – hopefully we see the full, color image soon.
Just In Time For Breakfast
A fan on the reddit discord server believes that there may be another round of G-Shock watches coming. G-Shock staff in London say that they can’t disclose any information… what’s with the secrets? As we know, the G-Shock videos ended on a “To Be Continued…” cliffhanger. The watches seem to be officially sold-out online.
Jamie Out & About
Julius Widemann, editor of Jamie’s Taschen artbook, posted a lovely picture with Jamie at the Taschen store in London. Jamie’s hair is growing out! Credit to Russia-based gorillaz_club for reposting the picture.
Hollywood Art
A HQ version of the Hollywood visual used briefly in the Latin America Humanz tour has been found on the portfolio of the artist – Dan Wise. Not only that, but the audio seems to be a slightly alternative mix of Hollywood.
Nostalgic for Kong Studios?
I know I am. I wasn’t even aware that somebody had somehow archived the websites from Phase 1 and 2 until yesterday, when user ana on the Gorillaz Unofficial Discord shared the links. Credit goes to Sintendo for preserving this Gorillaz legacy on the net! Links are below for your perusing pleasure. In order to play phase 1 Kong, you need shockwave installed, and you need to use an older web browser (original internet explorer works too).
https://p1kongstudio.000webhostapp.com/
https://p2kongstudios.000webhostapp.com/
Shots ‘Gorillaz Interactive Cover Art’ Experience
Passion Pictures, who have worked with Gorillaz for years, created a one-off AR app for Shots magazine’s 2017 issue. The app brought the Noodle on the cover of the magazine to life. Thanks to some super-sleuthing by a member of the subreddit Discord, the ‘making of’ video has finally surfaced here. We also FINALLY have a HQ image of Noodle which appeared on the band passes during the Humanz Tour.
The article on how Passion Pictures created this app is here.
Solar EP Cover
During Demon Dayz Fest in 2017, a solar-powered recording studio created in collaboration with E.ON was unveiled. The partnership led to a music video and an EP being produced entirely through solar energy. The high quality cover art has recently surfaced on The Filthy Panda’s art portfolio: https://thefilthypanda.com/design-6. Thanks to an awesome user for sleuthing on the Gorillaz subreddit Discord!
Gorillazland 