Permanent Collection

The Line Help Gorillaz Find The Mountain, The Moon Cave, and The Sad God

Posted on Friday, February 27, 2026

The Line, who’s many animation talents we recently featured on the cover of Stash 174 and in the Stash Annual, re-teams with Jamie Hewlett and the Gorillaz gang for eight-minutes of good vibes inspired by vintage 2D animation.

From The Line: “We worked hard to make this film as period-accurate as possible and, like all our projects, it was hand-drawn. We even used a variety of practical effects in the film, which was a lot of fun to do.

“We worked hard to make this film as period-accurate as possible and, like all our projects, it was hand-drawn.”

“We tried to compose shots in the same way they would have in the animated feature films of the 60s, they often painted master backgrounds for scenes and cut into crops of these, which resulted in beautiful impressionistic close ups of brush work and simplification reminiscent of depth of field in-camera.

“All the backgrounds are hand painted, but for many of the shots we adopted a hybrid approach, mixing real watercolors with a digital polish and final paint.

“The natural behavior of watercolors on paper, the way pigments bleed, settle and absorb into the surface, revealing its texture, is difficult to replicate digitally. With traditional materials, you get those organic qualities for free.”

Images

Gorillaz The Mountain The Moon Cave and The Sad God by The Line | STASH MAGAZINE

Credits

Client: Gorillaz, Eleven Management

Production: The Line
Director: Jamie Hewlett, Max Taylor, Tim McCourt
Sequence Director: Jonathan Djob Nkondo
Producer: Eva Dahlqvist
Producer Cover: Macarena Gaset, Adriana Piasek-Wanski
EP: Tan Baptista
Production Manager: Michaela Dede
Production Coordinator: Ekaterina Saiapina, Daisy Link
Production Assistant: Ed Farish, Isabella Fitzsimons
Head of Production: Nick Miller
Managing Director, Commercials & Branded Content: Laura Breaden
ECD: Tim McCourt
Head of Operations: Anna Degenaar
Head of Operations (Maternity Cover): Kallista Omotosho
Studio Coordinator: Sophia Owen-Moulding
Marketing Manager: Ella Johnston
Talent & Scheduling Coordinator: Jesus Ovejero
Art Director: Eido Hayashi, Rosie Tonkin
Head of Art: Juancho Crespo
Animation Lead: Xavier Ramonède
Assistant Animation Lead: Setareh Erfan
Head of Animation: Kwok Fung Lam
Animation: Pierre Rutz, Robin Eide, Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Yağızhan Misirli, Felipe Almeida, Jamie Merry, Sarah Dhorne, Sergio Mateo, Peter Dodd, Gaëlle Thierry, Gustavo Carvalho, Kwok Fung Lam, Venla Linna, Juanpe Arroyo, Tim McCourt
FX Animation: Erwin Rieffel, Louve Sarfati Karnas, Olivier Malric
Animation Assist: Setareh Erfan, Christian Maymó, Krisi Zhupali, Ron Chevarie, Jay Wren, Daniel Morales, Clara Schildhauer, Judith Boor
Animation Reference Actor: Laurel Taylor, Moss Taylor, Max Taylor, Nick Miller, Ekaterina Saiapina, Eva Dahlqvist, Michaela Dede, Tim McCourt, Skye Van Der Walt
Character Design: Jamie Hewlett, Jonathan Djob Nkondo
Character Layout: Julien Perron, Jamie Hewlett, Xavier Ramonède
Background Layout: Simon Masse, Nicola Bernardi, Darina Lapkovskaya
Background Paint: Eido Hayashi, Arnaud Tribout, Luc Courtois, Paul-Emmanuel Separi, Daniel Clarke
Concepts: Igor Piwowarczyk, Arnaud Tribout, Daniel Clarke, Eido Hayashi, Paul Sabado, Simon Masse, Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Freddie Lewis-Wall
Storyboard Artist: Jamie Hewlett, Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Gaïa Lamiot, Ayşe Aktaş, Jon Lam
Colour Script: Eido Hayashi
Colour Script Support: Antoine Perez
Graphics Design: Max Taylor, Eido Hayashi
Compositing: Freddie Lewis-Wall, Abel Kohen, Clarisse Valeix, Doru Ondun, Vincent E Sousa, Skye Van Der Walt, Natasha Z Francis, Patricia Andrades
Compositing Lead: Freddie Lewis-Wall
Head of Compositing: Freddie Lewis-Wall
Colour Grade: Freddie Lewis-Wall
Editor: Peter Scott
Edit Assistant: Ekaterina Saiapina

Live Action Studio: Clapham Road Studios
DOP: Ed Tucker
Gaffer: Pearce Crowley
Book Binders: Wyvern Bindery
Cleanup and Colour Outsource: Amix, Pudoctopus
IT Support: Rob Riley (Gal Consultancy)
Pipeline Developer: Ynput

Music: Damon Albarn, Gorillaz
Featuring Performances By: Asha Puthli, Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Jalen Ngonda, Ajay Asanna, Anoushka Shankar

Sound Design/Mix: Box of Toys

Eleven Management: Niamh Byrne, Régine Moylett, Tanyel Vahdettin, Suzi Grossman, Ina Dubois, Saoirse Kavanagh, Ellie Nolan, Saskia Blow, Bolia Bamolende, Melody Perry, Bibiana Puglisi, Atay Hassan, Selena Dion, Astrid Ferguson, Stars Redmond, Molly Harris, Felicity Lotter, Ellie Thomson, Nadine Parker