Gorillaz Visual Designer Jamie Hewlett Has Begun Work On Sketches For New Album

Well, well, well. As is if the anticipation for a new Gorillaz album wasn't already at its boiling point, it appears we have a little more fuel to add to that fire. The animated group's visual designer, Jamie Hewlett (who has been teasing his new sketches on Instagram for some time now) recently spoke with DIY Magazine about his plans to focus solely on the band's forthcoming album and, of course, the onslaught of animated visuals that are to accompany once he puts the wraps on his own inaugural exhibit at London's Saatchi Gallery next month.

Though he wasn't able speak all too much on the new project, he did give us a feel for his process and approach on the new record and how he intends to isolate himself to harness the creative energy this type of project has always demanded. It isn't exactly the big reveal that I'm sure most of you have been looking forward to, but it does offer us confirmation that the new record will be arriving in 2016, reaffirming the timeline Damon Albarn had given us earlier this summer. So the diagnosis seems positive, folks. Read Jamie Hewlett's take on the new Gorillaz project below and hold tight for the next update on this feverishly-awaited piece. For those that happen to be cross-pond in these next few months, you can catch Hewlett's exhibit running from November 18th through December 2nd. Hit his site for the full scoop. Check out the latest sketches to make way from Hewlett's workshop in the gallery above.

“That’s next year. I’m working on it at the moment, and it’s going very well. I’m very excited. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I’m at that phase of experimentation. What I try not to do when I’m working in this creative period, the cooking of the mess, is go to other peoples’ exhibitions and look at other peoples’ work. I close my eyes, and don’t want to know what anyone else is doing. Doing that has kind of ruined the creative process for me in the past, and I don’t want to let that happen again.”