Jamie Hewlett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jamie Hewlett |
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Jamie Hewlett in 2014 signing copies of The Cream of Tank Girl
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| Born | Jamie Christopher Hewlett 3 April 1968 Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales |
| Area(s) | Comic book artist, illustrator, songwriter |
| Pseudonym(s) | Hewll, J.C. Hewlett, J. Weasel |
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Notable works
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Gorillaz Tank Girl Monkey: Journey to the West Get the Freebies / Phoo Action |
| Awards | Design Museum's Designer of the Year (2006) Ivor Novello's Songwriter of the Year (2006) |
| Spouse(s) |
Emma de Caunes
(m. 2011) |
| Children | 2 |
Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is a British artist who creates comic books and illustrations. He is famous for co-creating the comic book Tank Girl with Alan Martin. He also co-created the virtual band Gorillaz with Blur frontman Damon Albarn.
Contents
Biography
Early life and first steps in art
Jamie Hewlett grew up in Horsham, West Sussex. When he was young, he helped create artwork for a road safety campaign. This project even became a runner-up in a national TV competition! He was also inspired by the punk band The Undertones.
As a teenager, Hewlett sold his very first comic strip, which he called "One Boring Day." In 1983, he became the youngest person to work at the Wardour Street studios of Bob Godfrey, an Oscar-winning animator. Hewlett created original drawings for a cartoon pilot for Thames Television. This show, called "Amber, Bovver, and Bounce," never aired because they couldn't get enough money to make all the episodes.
While studying at Northbrook College Worthing, Hewlett, Alan Martin, and Philip Bond made a fan magazine called Atomtan. This magazine helped him get noticed by another artist, Brett Ewins. After college, Ewins invited Hewlett and Martin to create comics for a new magazine he was starting in 1988.
Creating Tank Girl and other early works
The new magazine was called Deadline. It featured a mix of comic strips by British artists and articles about music and culture. Martin and Hewlett created Tank Girl for the magazine. This was an energetic comic about a teenage punk girl who drove a tank and had a mutant kangaroo as a boyfriend.
Tank Girl quickly became very popular and was the most talked-about part of Deadline. Hewlett's unique art style was a hit. He also started working with bands like Senseless Things and Cud, designing covers for their music. He even drew art for Commodore User magazine sometimes.
In 1992, Hewlett became a major artist in the comics world. He worked with writer Peter Milligan on Hewligan's Haircut for 2000 AD comics. He also drew covers and art for Shade, the Changing Man for DC Comics.
Tank Girl was later made into a film by MGM in 1995. The movie starred Lori Petty as Tank Girl. However, many fans felt it didn't capture the true spirit of the original comic. Hewlett wasn't very involved in making the film.
After Deadline magazine closed in 1996, Hewlett focused on advertising and TV designs. He notably worked on the children's TV series SMTV Live. He also created a comic strip called Get the Freebies for the British fashion magazine The Face. This strip followed Terry Phoo, a Buddhist kung-fu law enforcement officer, and his sidekick Whitey Action, a young anarchist.
The virtual band Gorillaz and other projects
Around this time, Jamie Hewlett moved into a flat with Blur's Damon Albarn. While living together, they came up with the idea for Gorillaz, a virtual band. Albarn would create the music, and Hewlett would design the cartoon characters for the band members. They both came up with ideas for the band's look and story.
The first Gorillaz music was released in 2000, followed by their first album, Gorillaz, in 2001. Their second album, Demon Days, came out in 2005.
In 2006, Hewlett's artwork for Gorillaz was nominated for the Design Museum's Designer of the Year award. He won the award in May 2006. That same year, Hewlett and Albarn also won the Songwriters of the Year award at the Ivor Novello Awards.
In 2007, Hewlett and Albarn presented their next big project after Gorillaz. It was called Monkey: Journey to the West. This was a new version of an old Chinese legend, Journey to the West. Albarn wrote the music, while Hewlett designed the sets, animations, and costumes. The show featured 45 Chinese circus acrobats, Shaolin monks, and Chinese singers.
Hewlett's Get the Freebies comic strip was made into a TV pilot called Phoo Action for BBC Three in 2008. Hewlett and Albarn also created an animated sequence for the BBC. This animation was used to introduce their coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. It featured the Monkey character from Monkey: Journey to the West.
In 2011, Jamie Hewlett married French presenter and actress Emma de Caunes.
In 2014, a Kickstarter campaign successfully raised money for a new Tank Girl book. It was called 21st Century Tank Girl and featured work by Hewlett, Martin, and other artists.
In November 2015, Hewlett had his first art exhibition called The Suggestionists at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The exhibition later traveled to the Woodward Gallery in Manhattan in May 2016.
In 2017, a large book about Hewlett's artwork over 25 years was published by Taschen. In 2022, The Gorillaz Art Book was released. It showed Hewlett’s original art alongside works by over 40 artists who were inspired by the world of Gorillaz. In 2023, Hewlett launched his official website, which features a collection of his limited edition artworks.
Artistic influences and inspirations
Jamie Hewlett has shared some of the artists and works that have inspired him. He has mentioned cartoonists like Mort Drucker, Carl Giles, Jack Davis, and Ronald Lowe as big influences.
He also said that Harvey Kurtzman's American satirical magazine MAD Magazine was a major influence on his art. Hewlett is largely inspired by the works of American animator Chuck Jones, who created many Looney Tunes cartoons. He also looks up to British comic book artists Ronald Searle and Mike McMahon. In fact, Hewlett has stated that Chuck Jones's entire collection of films and Mad Magazine are the biggest overall influences on his work.
Hewlett has also been influenced by cartoons from UPA. He has mentioned American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and American author Hunter S. Thompson as inspirations for his artwork. Other artists who have inspired him include Robert Crumb, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Martin Kippenberger, and Richard Caton Woodville.
In an interview, Hewlett said that the first Star Wars film was another main influence on his art. He is also a big fan of Brendan McCarthy's comic book Strange Days.
Hewlett has called French comic book artist Moebius "unbelievably inspiring" and one of the greatest. He has also been heavily influenced by artists Tony Hart and Tanino Liberatore. He enjoys the work of American animator Brad Bird on Family Dog and Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strips.
Hewlett once said that the 1973 French stop motion animated film Fantastic Planet was the first animated movie that showed him animation could also be for adults.
Major works
Comic books
Here are some of the comic books Jamie Hewlett has worked on:
- Tank Girl (art, with Alan Martin, in Deadline, 1988–1995)
- Judge Dredd: "Spock's Mock Chocs" (art, with writer Alan Grant and Brendan McCarthy, in 2000 AD #614, 1989)
- Sooner or Later: "Swifty's Return" (art, with writer Peter Milligan, in 2000 AD #614–617, 1989)
- King Pant (writer, with art by Philip Bond, in A1 #2, Atomeka Press, 1989)
- Hellcity (art, with writer Alan Martin, in A1 #4, Atomeka Press, 1990)
- Hell City II (art, with writer Alan Martin, in A1 True Life Bikini Confidential, Atomeka Press, 1990)
- Hewligan's Haircut (with writer Peter Milligan, in 2000 AD #700–707, 1990)
- Doom Patrol #50 (with Grant Morrison, Vertigo, December 1991)
- King Leon (art, with writer Peter Milligan, in A1 #2–4, Epic Comics, 1992)
- Tank Girl: The Odyssey (art, with writer Peter Milligan, 4-issue mini-series, Vertigo, 1995)
- Get the Freebies (writer & art, in The Face Vol. 2 #94 - Vol. 3 #5, 1996-1997)
Comic book covers
Jamie Hewlett has also designed covers for comics, including:
- Shade, the Changing Man #14–22 (DC Comics, August 1991 – April 1992)
- Doom Patrol #52, 60 (with Grant Morrison, Vertigo, 1992)
Music projects
His musical projects include:
- Gorillaz
- Monkey: Journey to the West
- The back cover of The Good, the Bad & the Queen by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
- Guitar Man logo for the annual Royal Albert Hall concerts for Teenage Cancer Trust
Art exhibitions
His artistic projects and exhibitions include:
- Under Water Colours – Old Truman Brewery – East London, 17–31 October 2009
See also
In Spanish: Jamie Hewlett para niños
