Hanbok illustrator to support ex-sex slaves

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Sun, September 24, 2023 | 02:41

Posted : 2013-05-01 17:31

Updated : 2013-05-01 17:31

Illustrator Wooh Na-young poses with one of her drawings.
/ Korea Times

By Nam Hyun-woo

Illustrator Wooh Na-young, better known by her nickname "Obsidian," is a celebrity among game fans in Korea, best-known for the characters she drew in the popular mobile application, "Million Arthur."

While characters in Western attire dominate the character illustration industry, Wooh's drawings of characters wearing hanbok, or traditional Korean attire, such as those in the mobile game, drew keen interest from viewers both in and out of the country.

Her fame as an illustrator has increased with her latest series of drawings, "Western Fairy Tales in Korea." She has made a splash with her unique interpretation of Western fairy tales including "Beauty and The Beast," "The Wild Swans" and "Alice in Wonderland," in which she draws the main characters as ethnic Koreans wearing hanbok.

"Drawing was a means of communication in the past, having its reason of existence only when there is a viewer to receive the message it holds," Wooh said. "It is with great luck that I live in the Internet era that enables me to show my drawings to many viewers."

Wooh worked at Nexon, one of the leading game companies in the world, as a game character designer until she turned 30.

"As an employed designer at Nexon, I couldn't draw what I really wanted. So I slept less and used my spare time to draw things that I really wanted ― Hanbok characters," she said.

She initially thought game illustrations and hanbok drawings contradicted each other and could never be merged.

"Since I'm slow with my hands, it took so much time for me to complete a single piece. And so I decided that I should focus on game drawing. But once I started to think that hanbok and game drawing could be converged, everything went smoothly."

Wooh will give her first exhibition in June through UCanFunding, a crowdfunding site. The 34-year-old said she decided to donate all the profits from the exhibition to former sex slaves of Japan's wartime military.

"I saw some paintings last year drawn by former sex slaves during their art therapy. Those paintings, such as a naked girl lying on the ground beneath a Japanese soldier holding rifles, made my heart ache. That is why I decided to donate all the revenue to help and support them because I hope my work can make people happy," said Wooh.

namhw@ktimes.co.kr