fantasy

Hac Thi Long

Image | | Splendid River

Ms. Dark Dragon – female Vietnamese inspired pirate – Queen of the East Sea – one of my favourite assignments in the character design class I just took this last semester of Fall 2014. This design focuses on picking out iconic, recognizable, interesting details that contribute well to the overall design, giving it a fantasy vibe, and less about cultural or historical accuracy. Top left corner are some exploration thumbnail sketches I did that included a lot of research I did from various sources about Vietnamese attires.

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Buncha A-holes

Image | | Splendid River

Is anyone here obsessed with Guardians of the Galaxy like I am? I’ve seen the movie twice in theatre and listened to the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 thousands of time and still want more. So here’s a little tribute I did for one of/if not the best Marvel studios’ movie yet. This is what I imagine a cartoon version of the movie should look like.

King of the Sea

Image | | Splendid River

Vietnam has its own Aquaman – Long Vuong (The Dragon King) – he basically rules the Eastern Sea, King of all sea creatures and controls everything under water. This character was actually inspired a lot from a similar character in Chinese mythology after a thousand years that they colonized us in the past.

And for those who love merchandises, this drawing is available as a T-shirt on my zazzle store here www.zazzle.com/king_of_the_sea… . Thanks

Adult Mutant Samurai Turtles

Image | | Splendid River

Because these designs of mine are clearly not teenagers nor ninjas. These are my interpretation of the TMNT’s characters, in which I tried to incorporate a lot of elements from different species of real turtles, and Japanese attire, while still maintaining individual personalities of the turtles. I also tried to make the Shredder a bit more Japanese, and Krang a bit more like a modern android. I will continue doing other characters later.

You can see the sketches here https://www.facebook.com/hahuyhoang.art/photos/pb.471650312872103.-2207520000.1404894666./701157753254690/?type=3&theater

Saint Giong

Image | | Splendid River

Saint Giong riding his Metal horse into battle with a flaming bush of bamboos for a weapon.

Saint Giong – a legend from Vietnamese mythology. He didn’t speak a word until he was 3. When our country was invaded and called for volunteers into the army, he started talking and the first thing he asked for was lots of rice to eat. After meals after meals, he stood up and in a blink of an eye, turned into a gigantic and powerful adult man. The Emperor made him a metal armor, and a metal horse, with which he rode into the battle and defeated the enemy like a walk in the park. When his weapon was broken, he pulled a bush of bamboos out of the ground and used it to fight off the rest of the invaders. When the war ended and the country in peace, he rode his metal horse straight for heaven and never came back. People made shrines and temples in his tribute and worship him as a Saint.

See the sketch here: www.facebook.com/hahuyhoang.ar…

Click the following link to purchase a T-shirt with this drawing on it. There’s 2 versions, one with only the line art, and one with colors, it’s all up to you
Colored T-shirt: www.zazzle.com/saint_giong_col…
Line art T-shirt: www.zazzle.com/saint_giong_tsh…

The Cap’n

Image | | Splendid River

Cap’n from Popapocalypse – a comic book about a post apocalyptic world ruled by warlords who are pop culture mascots, created by my good friend and colleague – Matt Harding. This drawing was done to celebrate the success of his kickstarter project for Popapocalypse.

 

 

Sky Holder

Image | | Splendid River
Female Sky Holder (she’s a man in the mythology) – the original Vietnamese Goddess. There are a lot of Photoshop tools experiments in this one, and a lot of them are quite useful I must say.

Before there was even time, the universe was in chaos, sky and earth were mixed together, and no living thing could survive. That was when came the Sky Holder, she pushed the sky up with her hands, and stomped the earth down with her legs, thus, created the world as we know it, and allowed creatures of all kinds to grow and evolve underneath.

Click the link to see the sketch version of this, and follow me on facebook too https://www.facebook.com/hahuyhoang.art

Click to see big size

The God of Thunder

Image | | Splendid River

The Vietnamese equivalent to Thor. His name – Thien Loi, literally means “Sky lightning (or Sky Thunder)”, and he’s the God of Thunder in Vietnamese mythology. Usually he wields an axe and guards the gateway to the Kingdom of Heaven, and protects Ngoc Hoang (The King of Heaven). This was done for Sketch_dailies but I’d like to push it even further in the design, this one is still a work in progress inspired by some stage plays.