Can you imagine what he is doing for a living? He has yellow hair and has a sturdy build, so some people think he is a dancer or a rocker. However, that is certainly wrong. He is a cartoonist who communicates with characters in the world delicately. He has an innocent mind. With characters that he makes with his imagination, he can describe the world with brighter colors.

   Q1. Most people think a character designer just makes characters. Is there any difference between imagination and reality?
   Ha ha! The character designer is the same with common ideas that the character designer makes characters. As I say the differences, it’s about time. As time passes, the domain of character design is larger and larger. In the past, we could see characters only in school supplies. However, now, we can see characters in movies, web toons, and games as well as in school supplies.

   Q2. Your major was in Interior Decoration.
What made you work as a character designer unrelated to your major?
   At first, I just enter the university according to my grade. I had had no dream until my third year in the university. When I was in the third year, I met a friend who was good at making symbolic marks. I liked his capability in designing symbolic marks. So I believed that, if I worked with him, I could learn this ability and make my dream come true in the field of design. However, working with him, I found myself trying to chase a dream unrelated to my dream. So I stopped working with him. Also, I happened to know about game character design contest by chance. In that contest I made three characters within two months, and I was awarded due to the two characters I made. From this experience, I realized that designing a character fits me.

   Q3. You founded a company. Although you could just get a good position in a character company, what is the reason you founded your own company?
   When I was a university student, I taught some students in the private educational institute as a part-time job. While working there, I often saw conflicts between employer and employees. Employees worked harder than the employer. Many people take this situation for granted. However, I think this is as if, instead of the employer, employees suffered from the employer’s tough parts in his life. From these experiences, I decided, if I worked as a character designer, I would found my own company rather than worked as an employee of another company.

   Q4. Can you explain how to design a character?
   At the beginning, it starts with a description of an image. The clients give me documents describing what images they want. And from that document, I find some background information. Next, on the basis of information, I draw various kinds of imaginary characters. After, I show my clients the characters. They select characters that are close to what they want. By repeating this process, I fix the details of the character. Sometimes this process is boring. However, when I was a freshman, I took a design class for six months. In that class I had to draw only one object in many ways. While attending this class, I couldn’t understand why the professor let us draw the same object over and over again. However actually this experience helped me to draw various versions of characters. Now I understand why he asked me to draw the object repeatedly.

   Q5. You are passionate especially about clay art. Is there special reason you like clay art?
   Clay art helps me to make my own character different from others’ character. Clay art can deal with three-dimensional characters. Due to this feature, my characters are much more appealing to people than others’. Also, when I make a clay art character, it takes a short time to complete and I don’t have to color the clay. I think these features make me indulge in clay arts.

   Q6. In your opinion, what is the difference between past characters and present characters?
   It is a degree of facial expressions. I think, in the past, popular characters had no many facial expressions like “Pucca,” “Mashimaro,” and “Miffy.” At that time, people’s facial expressions were various and had individual distinctive features. As time passes, the competition in daily life gets tougher. The tough competition gets rid of people’s facial expressions. Because of absence in people’s facial expressions, many people are attracted by various expressions that can substitute the human facial expressions. So now, popular characters are “Lava,” “Kakao Friends,” and so on. They are rich in facial expressions and have their own individual features.

   Q7. These days, popular characters have various facial expressions. Do you have your special ways to practice drawing facial expression?
   I watched many animations made by Pixar and Disney. This is not an end. After I saw the whole animation, I watched it again to observe the facial expressions and body’s movement. I try to draw all the facial expressions in the movie. However, I don’t draw the whole appearance of character because the method doesn’t help upgrade skills in drawing. From this practice I can get my own expression style.

   Q8. When you draw various people, sometimes they can have the same faces. To avoid this situation, how do you give the individuality in the character?
   Even Disney, known for characters’ various facial expressions and natural body movement, uses their actors and actresses faces to make characters. It prevents each character’s face from being the same. This is not Disney’s unique difficulty, and all artists experience the same difficulties. So many painters and cartoonists try to change their character’s hair, clothing, and so on. So do I. I also record details of each character not to forget character’s personality.

   Q9. I think there are times when you are in a slump because you experience the lack of ideas. How do you overcome this hardship?
   In those times, I always get out of the home. I take a walk in my village. Walking down the street, I observe peoples’ expressions and movements, plants on the street, and so on. Also, I reorganize my thinking. As I observe whole things in the world without worrying about my work, I can come up with new ideas.

   Q10. Do you have something special that you want to do in the future?
   I want to make a fairy tale book by myself. I am confident in designing characters. However I am a little creative at making an interesting story. In order to overcome my weakness, in the last time of my life, I would read many books. From reading various books, I felt many emotions. If I do this sincerely, I think I can make a fairy tale book by myself someday.

   Q11. In these days, many young people have fears about their future. So, they are reluctant to do what they want. Can you advise for them?
   People are apt to do not what they want but what others want. Even while people are finding the job, they don’t know what they really love and what they are good at. Having a job that everybody likes makes you feel good, but it is just a temporary feeling. Do what you can do your best. You can find your true dreams in many activities easily. According to one critic, many people worried that they are late. However top people are temporary positions. Everyone has the opportunities to be a top person. So, if you try harder, you will be at the top without knowing it. So just do what you want to do!

Kim Min-su | By CP Cub Repoter