Korean animator holds Paris show

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Korean animator holds Paris show

PARIS ― “Animation is a combination of different arts. In order to become a world famous hit, the story, pictures and music should all stand out in harmony. In my field, to make one animated movie, about 100 cartoonists draw for one full year,” said Jo Chang-rye, 55, a Korean-American cartoonist, who has worked for Walt Disney for 14 years.
Ms. Jo currently has an exhibition in Paris showing her drawings, including memorable Disney characters from “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” “Mulan,” “Tarzan,” “Atlantis,” “Hercules” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and also her sketches of everyday life.
“None of the cartoonists at Disney can claim those characters as their own works. As I said before, these characters are created through the cooperation of more than 100 people.”
Ms. Jo finished “The Three Musketeers,” a cartoon show on ABC Television, a subsidiary of Disney, last year.
In December she started a one-year vacation in Paris, the dream city for artists, to reflect on her life as a cartoonist.
Ms. Jo graduated from art school in Korea and taught the subject at high schools before moving to the United States with her family. She went to the Pratt Institute, a famous design school in New York.
While searching for a job after finishing school, a magazine article on animation caught her eye. The first company she worked for was Filmation Associates, the second largest animation production company after Disney.
After moving through several animation production companies following her stint at Filmation, she finally found a position at Disney, fulfilling a lifetime dream, in 1992.
When asked whether she was tired of drawing cartoons, she said, “It was tough to adjust to the field, but I realized it was a combination of various arts and I like the feeling of achievement.”
After her vacation is over, Ms. Jo is going to get back to work for five or six more years and try her hand at her own animation after that.


by Park Gyeong-deok
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