Have you ever seen the Spiderman statue standing on top of the Art College? Seo Jun-bae, who amazes many people by making life-like figures, like the Spiderman, is a student majoring in sculpting. Now, he is working as a ‘figure artist’. People might be unfamiliar with this job because it doesn’t sound like an occupation, but he recently worked for ‘Netflix’. We met him to figure out what he does as a figure artist.




1. Introduce yourself
  I am using the nickname ‘JB Hand’, which combines my initials and the word ‘hand’, because all of my work is done by my own hands. As a figure artist, I choose a character that I want to make and build a body. Lastly, I dress it up with a proper costume. Most of my work is manual, so my work is mostly done in my house, except the coloring because it is not good for health to paint in an enclosed space.

2. What motivated you to do this job?
  When I was a kid, my parents didn’t allow me to buy toys. That’s why I was so jealous of my friends, especially when they played with their toys. That feeling still exists. I was especially interested in figures. In my 20s, I started making hyper realistic figures in earnest. There was an assignment to make a statue, and I wanted to make it really look like me, and people looked at my figure and said that it resembled me. I thought that my work looked exactly like me, so I started my current job to show people how I make my figures look like the original ones. As I continued to do this work, I enjoyed it, and it was making money. Eventually, I decided to be a figure artist.

3. When you do your job, you might get stuck with a mannerization or encounter a challenge. How do you feel?
  As for me, producing figures is like studying, so I get bored and tired when I look at figures all day long. Whenever that happens, I take a break. During the break, I get motivated by looking at figures that others made or find another character to make into a figure.

4. I heard that you worked with ‘Netflix’ to make the character ‘Iron Fist’ for a Marvel movie. How did you feel when Netflix contacted you?
  I felt like I was really flying across the sky when they contacted me. I thought my work was finally recognized in the world, and I would be happy if many more companies contacted me. I was proud of what I do. When I was young, I lived in Canada and had lots of chances to encounter Marvel comics, so I became interested in it naturally. I was pleased to work with Netflix, and I actually met Finn Jones, who stars in the drama ʻIron Fist’. As I took makeup, checked the script for the interview and talked to him, I felt like I was a celebrity. The most memorable moment was when I handed over the unique figure that I made for him.

5. Do you have any future plans as a figure artist?
  I have a mentor who gave me directions and gave me lots of advice to set up a career in making figures. After graduation, I am going to learn more about it from him. And every year at the beginning of May, I exhibit my works at COEX. Next year, I plan to exhibit my figures and art toys, so please come visit!

By Nam Min-woo
mw38@cbnu.ac.kr