In one of my many graphic design classes in college, part of one assignment was to make an album cover. I was kind of stumped on where to go with this particular project, until one of my classmates dared me to do something with the Care Bears. I honestly have no idea what was going through HER head, but I thought the idea was funny enough.
I had just picked up both of the albums by The Gorillaz at the time, and I thought doing a parody of the Demon Days art would be relatively easy, but also distinct enough. I also figured that my teacher who grew up in the 1960s would appreciate it, as the Demon Days cover itself is an homage to the Beatles’ Let it Be cover, and he and I had had a lot of discussions about the music he grew up with.
Fortunately, the Gorillaz are already color-themed, so 2D got to be Tender Heart bear due to the dark red/brown hue, Murdoc became Funshine bear since they’re both yellow, the green Noodle became Good Luck Bear (complete with clover on her hat instead of the skull & crossbones), and Russel became Grumpy Bear. The entire project was done in Adobe Illustrator, mostly using the pen tool.
Sadly, I lost the original files for this long ago; what you see here is a scan of the print out I did for that project. I actually really like the addition of the paper’s texture. It makes it feel more “real,” if that makes sense. Ironically, I think this makes it better than the version that I turned in.
