Dooly is a beloved cartoon character from my native Korea. He is a dinosaur from space that crash-landed on earth, forever on search for a way to get back to his mother. I was bored the other day and got on my WACOM, thinking about painting a scenery like I usually do. Once I started painting green, though, I ended up painting a serious-looking version of Dooly before I knew it.

I’ve always been obsessed with drawing samurais. It might have to do with the fact that I have a black belt in Kendo, the ancient art of swordplay, though I have not touched a wooden sword in 10 years or so (that’s what she said). I just colored in the sketch I had from my months in Korea. I probably could have done better with the shading, but…I’m just learning to use the WACOM.

It’s Friday! Not that it really matters to me.

The Viking is a metal band from Scotia, NY. I know the bassist from high school, so I happened to stop by their MySpace one day. The music they produce is highly refreshing, although I’ve never been a huge fan of screaming vocals. But their music sounds incredibly fun to play, and their videos testify to that. They’re starting to post guitar tabs for their songs online, for which I am delighted.

So I was bored today and fiddled around with some Viking-themed graphics, the above being a bit of a Frank Miller tribute. The Viking already seems to have a logo made out for them but… I felt like drawing something badass.

More WACOM tablet foolings-around…

I once bought my little sister a WACOM tablet for her birthday. Unlike me, she knew very well that she wanted to go into graphic design (she’s studying computational media at Georgia Tech), so I figured this would make a great present. Now that she has her school’s fabulous facilities, I was allowed to snag this baby back for myself.

Above is a quick doodle I whipped up to learn a little more of its capabilities. I drew it in Photoshop, from a photograph. I do realize the details toward the bottom of the painting could be much better, but by the time I got down there I just couldn’t care anymore. But a WACOM tablet is indeed a toy every art-inclined person should have (now only if they weren’t so darn expensive).

When my friend Russell started brewing his own beers, he decided to name his first batch after his Portuguese Waterdog, Stormy. If I remember correctly, I called the dog “Stormbringer” once when I was over and it stuck. The beer turned out a delicious, full-bodied batch of stout, and here’s the label I designed for it. Yet another old doodle.

So I went to the sketchbook and started drafting. It took us an hour or so to get the concept down, and another hour to draw the cuts on the left. I never was very good at drawing backgrounds, so I figured I’d use some photoshop magic.

Our hero is an experimental badger in a cancer research institute, where badgers are injected with human DNA for testing purposes. He spends most of his time in his cage (cell 1) and his captors only refer to him by his subject number. The badgers are given a daily radiation therapy, and we see our protagonist developing human-like cognitive capabilities even before his full-out mutation. He longs for freedom and builds up anger, until one day he grows into his humanoid form. The scientists are flabbergasted (cell 2) as the confused badger himself plots for his escape (cell 3). Once out of the institute, he finds that with his superhuman strength, there is no way to fit into the world. His solution? Revenge. Our badger declares a vendetta against the scientists that have turned him to a monster (cell 4) and starts brutally murdering everyone at the institute (cell 5).

Graphic novels were just starting to catch on at the time after Sin City came out in the theaters. We wanted to create something more up-to-date, pooling in my science background and Russell’s vast comic-book knowledge, yet maintaining that classic noir style of Frank Miller. It was also hilariously far-fetched.