Online webtoons plan to make an impact offline
Popular characters in webtoons have been developed into products. Provided by KT&G Sangsang Madang
But thanks to the recent surge in the popularity of webtoons, or comic strips published online, the government and related private sectors have begun to offer support so that those who love to draw whimsical characters can receive the opportunity to become commercially successful.
KT&G Sangsang Madang, together with Daum Kakao and the SBA Seoul Animation Center, have been working with web cartoonists and designers to develop and launch character-themed goods as products. The outcome is being exhibited at KT&G Sangsang Madang’s Design Square in Hongdae, western Seoul.
Six popular webtoons and four artists participated in the project, including famous cartoonist Kang Full’s “Timing,” Kim Kyung’s “Imagination Cat,” Baek Dubu’s “Yesterday Today and Tomorrow,” Lee Won-sik and Min Hong’s “Monsterlike Idol,” Maru’s “My Shining World” and Jeon Keuk-jin and Park Jin-hwan’s “Breaker.”
The goods produced using the popular characters from these webtoons range from cushions and fragrance diffusers to coin books and figurines.
There are also limited-edition figurines that will grab the attention of fans.
Artist Cool Rain collaborated with Kang to produce Detective Yang, a lead character in Kang’s “Timing,” into a special hand-made figurine. Only 100 were created.
The exhibition ends on March 11, but the products will still be available to purchase at the Design Square or through smartphones by using the gift option on the messenger app Kakao Talk afterwards.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also said it will continue to actively and systematically support the country’s animation, webtoon and character design industry.
The ministry said penetrating into different countries is easier with webtoons compared with other cultural products in the animation and character design industry.
It added that webtoons can be considered “killer content” for Korea’s cultural business in terms of the category’s potential.
Yoon Tae-yong, an official from the Culture Ministry, explained that the industry has been constantly growing over the years and now is fifth largest in the world with a 4.5 percent market share, according to research conducted by the Korea Creative Content Agency.
The ministry sees the opportunity for continuous growth but said Korea lacks professionals who can produce and write scripts that will appeal internationally. It added that it will establish centers to foster and educate cartoonists and allocated a budget of 202.2 billion won ($184.2) through 2019 for the industry.
BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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