Americans

LOOK AT THEM I LOVE THESE TWO

Green

My sweet boy night crawler :)

citizen

Night in The Woods human versions

Last night they were acting Moliere in Fourteenth Street; Dickens was being played through the auspices of Nigel Playfair. Further uptown, George M. Cohan was unveiling the latest George M. Cohan musical comedy. But Broadway, being eternally curious, turned out in greatest numbers at the Biltmore Theater in Forty-Seventh Street, where the result of Mae West's latest encounter with the drama was being performed. This was the exhibit—play is not precisely the word—with a vaudeville background, whose preliminary trip through the Bronx and Queens had been followed by rumors that here was something that might arouse the police to action.

So began the review by an unnamed theater critic for the Times on October 2, 1928. It appeared, not in the arts section, but following a front-page story about the police ... taking action.

The play was Pleasure Man, a reworking by Mae West of her earlier play The Drag. It dealt not with vaudeville, as the critic said, but burlesque, and finished with a lavish drag ball.

Cops were stationed at all theater exits and just as the play was ending, reserves surrounded the front. When the cast tried to leave, they were arrested—56 in all, including West, who also acted in the show.

Of course this attracted audience members (some in evening dress, the Times noted) from other theaters nearby. The presence of cabs and other cars waiting to pick up theater-goers and actors added to the chaos.

Flashlights exploded as news photographers tried to capture the actors being led into paddy wagons. The police had to make five trips to get everyone to the station house on 47th St., where they were charged with indecency.

By 2:30 in the morning, Actors Equity posted bail. West's was $500, which may have been more than the others because she was doubly guilty, having written the play as well as acted in it. The producer, director, and theater staff were not arrested.

For some reason, the cops let the next day's matinee start, but raided it halfway through and arrested everyone once more. They had their own theatrical flair.

The trial wasn't held until April of 1930, and resulted in a hung jury. By that time West was a star, having triumphed in another play of her own called Diamond Lil. The next year she went to Hollywood.

Top photo: J.D. Doyle via Digital Transgender Archive Second photo: NY Daily News

A Guide to Gorillaz Art Styles: Phase 1

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

There’s a lot of solid black shadows, Jamie clearly going for a more comic-style look

fred bonaparte from psychonauts 1 has what i would easily consider the most hilarious character design in anything across the board like he sweeps the funny character factor in just about everything. you can just TELL whoever designed him was holding back tears whenever they looked at the modeling program and saw his unearthly fucked up proportions

The polka dot menace is back :)

I gave Abner a cane to help him out a bit since he’s chronically ill, he also uses crutches when he likes

Anyone who voted for trump, anyone who voted in that monsters favor, I hope you realize what you did. Who you’ve fucked over, if your smart enough to realize or maybe you’re just too selfish and stupid to care. I wish you all the worst.

American ideals at their finest. I wish everyone else only the best, please know you’re not alone. It’ll be difficult but please don’t give up