Naver begins testing of 'Webtoon AI Painter'

Naver has started testing the "Webtoon AI Painter," an automated digital painting program for webtoon artists. It allows beginners to create their own webtoons and for experts to save time, the company said on Wednesday.

The AI Painter helps artists color their illustrations faster and more accurately, according to Naver.

The painter has been programmed to understand what the illustration is depicting and which part of it is being colored. For instance, if the artist is coloring hair, the painter automatically changes the tone and shade of the color that the artist chose to make it look like natural hair.

The same goes for different parts of the body, such as eyes and skin, clothes and props.

Naver said it spent three years developing the Webtoon AI Painter, using 300,000 sets of data from various webtoon works. It does not simply color the illustrations but captures the uniqueness of each artist and reflects that in the outcome, the company said.

The company will take feedback from artists during the beta testing period to upgrade the program.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]