Jamie Hewlett’s iconic Gorillaz characters are headlining a new mini-episodic ad campaign for watch maker G-Shock.

The first of three one-minute ads, featuring a guest appearance by G-Shock watch creator Kikuo Ibe, launched this week:

It’s directed by Brutus, a French animation collective formed in 2014 by Sébastien Iglesias, Aurélien Duhayon, Thibaud Clergue, and Camille Perrin, and produced by two U.K. animation companies – Feed Me Light and Binkink.

The piece is one of the most effective cg translations of Hewlett’s work that we’ve seen to date, and does a great job of preserving the graphic qualities that make his illustrations interesting to look at. There’s other fascinating creative choices throughout, including real-world textures mixed into the cg, which creates a photocollage effect, and a limited approach to animation, which recalls anime timing more than anything seen in standard Western advertising.

The making-of video below shows more of the production process for the campaign:

Credits

Production Company
Production Company: Blinkink & Feed Me Light
Director: Brutus
Creative Director: Jamie Hewlett, Denis Bodart (Feed Me Light)
Producers: Georgina Fillmore (Blinkink), Jenny Wells, Michael Parks (Feed Me Light)
Executive Producers: Bart Yates (Blinkink), Kiri Haggart (Feed Me Light)

Sound
Sound Company: Felt Music
Mix: Remi Kabaka, Sébastien Iglesias

Animation
Animation Company: Feed Me Light
Design: Sébastien Iglesias, Aurélien Duhayon, Thibaud Clergue, Camille Perrin
Texture Artist: Sébastien Iglesias, Camille Perrin, Jérémi Boutelet, Florent Rousseau, Sophie Blayrat, Olivier Pirard, Thomas Batlle
Rigging: Ludovic Habas
CG Supervisor: Olivier Pirard, David Calvet (Secondary)
Animation: William Lorton, Aurélien Duhayon, Thibaud Clergue, Sébastien Iglesias
Compositing: Denis Bouyer, Jérémi Boutelet, Sébastien Iglesias, Camille Perrin
3D Modelling: Felipe Hansen, Florent Rousseau, Jérémi Boutelet, Olivier Pirard, Thibaud Clergue
Lighting: Olivier Pirard, Camille Perrin, Jérémi Boutelet, Denis Bodart
Matte Painting: Sébastien Iglesias, Jérémi Boutelet, Camille Perrin
Animatics: Thibaud Clergue, Aurélien Duhayon
Storyboard Artist: Sébastien Iglesias, Aurélien Duhayon, Gervais Merryweather