It is within bounds to say that Koreans are falling in love with cartoons these days. People are in front of the computer reading with laughter or with tears through the cartoons which consist of various materials and developments. This month, the interviewee is a person who is affecting the Korea webtoon boom. Her work’s title is ‘OH, MY GOD!’ The cartoonist’s name is Kang Ji-young. CBT reporters talked with the cartoonist, who became a webtoon writer at 22 years of age. -Ed.
 
Self-achieving dream as a cartoonist
  When I was five, my dad gave me a comic book and after reading that, I started to dream of being a cartoonist. When I was an elementary student, the vacation homework was drawing a cartoon of around 100 pages so that I could practice a feature-length cartoon. However, my parents disagreed with me becoming a cartoonist. They didn’t even allow me to draw cartoons in front of them. On the other hand, I steadily did my best to achieve my dream. Finally, they allowed me to be a cartoonist. These days, they are very proud of my work as a webtoon writer. In fact, the reason I steadily kept my dream was their objection. If they had allowed my dream, I would probably have gotten bored of my dream and stopped. Viewing it differently, I think my parents helped me become a cartoonist.
  Although I entered the animation department, they didn’t give me as much information as I expected. There are big differences between the things which are taught in school and the things which are applied in real life. In other words, school didn’t help me improve my work skills. Before I went to school, I expected to study and experience a lot among the excellent professors and students, but I didn’t. In addition, I was embarrassed by the school’s free atmosphere which was conducive to academic pursuit. However, after I became a cartoonist, I felt that school was teaching me a lot. I think school teaches things like the mental attitude of a writer.
 
Cartoon-making with others
  I’m working with the cartoonist Han Yae-ji on a current webtoon called ‘OH, MY GOD!’ Cartoonist Han Yae-ji is in charge of the cartoons, and I’m in charge of the stories. We frequently give feedback to each other as we work. I usually make the story, draw the rough sketches and send them to her. Then, she will draw and sharpen them out. It will be much easier for her to draw if I give her the rough sketches. There won’t be any trouble along the way if the writer specifically knows how to express its design through the drawings and send the drawings to the cartoonist. Therefore, from my perspective, I think the person who writes the story at least needs to know how to draw. However, in our case, because the cartoonist has amazing concepts for the outline and I also have a personal view of my drawings, we have to adjust our opinions through communications. Thus, in the beginnings, we had a lot of conversation. We don’t communicate as much as we did before because we made an agreement about the story and made a promise about how to continue the story. For now, we believe in each other, and I leave it up to her. Furthermore, when I first teamed up with her for the 2012 University Cartoon Contest, I decided to work together because I believed in her skills. I think we made it through as she trusted my story’s contents and I trusted her drawing skills.
  I try to see what the readers say about my work through the comments. I read most of the comments before, but now I’ve gotten busy, so I try to read at least the top best comments if I don’t have the time to go through all the comments. If you see the comments, there are a lot of readers predicting how the story will go later on. As I see those comments, I know I’ve shown the readers what I wanted them to see through that episode, and it helps me prepare for the next episode. Moreover, I make reference to other webtoons, movies, or dramas. Some of the writers don’t watch others’ works because there’s a possibility that the materials and the lines might overlap with their work without noticing. For me on the other hand, it helps me a lot. As I read other webtoons, I see the part where it overlaps with my work, and when I do, I can differentiate it beforehand to prevent the coincidence. Additionally, the reactions are phenomenal when I quote a famous line from a movie or a drama.
 
The webtoon, ‘OH, MY GOD!'
  The webtoon ‘OH, MY GOD!’ is a work that won the first prize in the 2012 University Cartoon Contest, and it helped me become a cartoonist. The content of the story is unique, and the personalities of the characters are interesting. There is a girl in the story. She is the only human in the story, but she is most indifferent. What I wanted to show was the gods’ humanity, so I excluded humanity from the real human.
  There is no end to the story. New stories start right after the previous stories ended. The characters in the story live forever, so they have no end in their lives.
  I want readers to notice my intentions while they are reading the story. However, my notion is just that readers would find it funny. I think it is okay for readers to read just for fun.
 
Webtoons brought the cartoon market to life
  The cartoon market improved after webtoons emerged. It was too hard to be a cartoonist before then. I thought there was little chance of becoming a cartoonist. The narrower the area of the cartoon market, the less chance to become a cartoonist. Webtoons made new ways to become a cartoonist. It made more opportunities. The increase of opportunities was really good for people who were waiting for a chance. In that sense, I think the birth of webtoons helped the cartoon market very much.
  ‘Brand’ webtoons, which promote enterprise, have formed nowadays. It can be considered commercial, but I think it is all right. It is great for readers to access easily. If I have a chance, I want to draw brand webtoons. For a cartoonist, a brand webtoon is like an advertisement for entertainment. It is a bonus that cartoonists can make extra earnings.
  Webtoons have become pay-cartoons these days, but I see it as negative. One of the benefits that webtoons have is free marketing. If cartoonists give it up, they will get just a little benefit from giving it up. They would rather get benefits due to advertisements at the bottom of webtoons. Therefore, I think it is desirable to make cartoons free of charge and to be compensated after completion, or to make specific episodes that charge a fee so that webtoons can develop more easily.
 

By Kim Ji-won | jw34@cbnu.ac.kr

By Lee Da-yeon | dy34@cbnu.ac.kr

By Heo Jae-rin | jr34@cbnu.ac.kr