{"id":1650,"date":"2018-03-29T17:28:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T16:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/?p=1650"},"modified":"2018-05-25T17:23:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T16:23:14","slug":"10-times-jamie-hewlett-broke-the-mold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/10-times-jamie-hewlett-broke-the-mold\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Times Visual Mastermind Jamie Hewlett Broke the Mold"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It’s no exaggeration to call Hewlett’s work groundbreaking, and as he reaches his 50th birthday it seems there’s still plenty more of it to follow\u2013 with rumours of a Gorillaz TV show in the works. It’s a long way to come for a man that says he was too rude in his university interview to get a place, and admits that, at one stage, he was only earning \u00a350 a month creating illustrations for Commodore User magazine.<\/p>\n

We’re looking back at 10 pieces of work that show Hewlett’s ability to redefine and reinvent popular culture.<\/p>\n

Tank Girl<\/h3>\n
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Tank Girl. Image courtesy of Taschen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Intended as an antidote to what Hewlett calls the \u201cdisappointing\u201d female superheroes of the 1980s British comic scene, Tank Girl \u2013 who was based partly on skinhead girls he saw in his home town of Horsham \u2013 helped propel the artist into the spotlight. \u201cWe went in to push the limits a little bit with that character and just be a little outrageous and say stuff that nobody said and nobody talked about and use words that nobody was allowed to use in comic books and try to get over this sort of pathetic censorship,\u201d Hewlett told Dazed Digital<\/a>. \u201cYou can\u2019t show a nipple, but you can show someone being stabbed to death or this other bullshit that we still have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atom Tan<\/h3>\n\"jamie_hewlett_gorillaz_illustrator_designer_animator_everpress_custom_t_shirt_atom_tan\"\n

Fanzine Atom Tan was Hewlett’s first ever piece of published work, created with artist Philip Bond while still at college together. Published in 1987, the pair used a staff photocopier to create it and sold it to fellow students for just 50p. The fanzine was also the debut appearance of Tank Girl, who appeared on a one-page advert. Three decades later, copies of Atom Tan are rare finds \u2013 although last year a signed 30th anniversary reprint popped up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Common People<\/h3>\n
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Image courtesy of Common People Comic<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1995, Hewlett created a comic book version of Pulp for the band’s Common People single release in France. The artist recreated the lyrics of the song, as well as drawing a severely angular Jarvis Cocker \u2013 clutching a wet sponge \u2013 for the front cover.<\/p>\n

Get the Freebies<\/h3>\n
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Get the Freebies. Image courtesy of Issuu<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the failed MGM Tank Girl movie, Hewlett spent six months working for DC Comics \u2013 which he says he hated \u2013 before finding himself on the hunt for work. He approached The Face magazine about working on a comic strip for them, and spent a year drawing Get The Freebies \u2013 which was later turned into the Phoo Action TV series, which unfortunately never made it further than a 60-minute pilot. The first Get the Freebies strip starred Hewlett himself pitching a new TV show about a gang of supervillains.<\/p>\n

Gorillaz<\/h3>\n
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Gorillaz. Image courtesy of Taschen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hewlett made a mockery of manufactured pop music by, literally, manufacturing his own band members for Gorillaz \u2013 which he says the music press refused to even interview to start with. \u201cWe all enjoy watching cartoons, and we all have our favourite cartoon characters, so why can\u2019t that work in the music industry?\u201d Hewlett told Creative Review. \u201cI mean most pop stars are cartoon characters anyway, they\u2019re not being themselves, they\u2019re pretending to be something they\u2019re not so it just seemed the logical step to us.\u201d The so-called \u201canti-band\u201d won Hewlett the Design Museum’s 2006 Designer of the Year Award.<\/p>\n

Monkey \u2013 Journey to the West<\/h3>\n