Character artist Park mirrors paranoiac outlook in his character

Character artist Park Se-jin’s watercolor work “Gravity” / Courtesy of the artist

• Published Jun 5, 2016 5:00 PM KST
• Updated Jun 5, 2016 5:00 PM KST

By Baek Byung-yeul

When thinking of a character artist, most people would imagine someone drawing characters for animated movies or video games. But things are different with character artist Park Se-jin.

Instead of meeting the specific needs of a client, Park does exactly the opposite ― using his signature character “PARAKID,” the artist, 30, shares his view of the world at art galleries and lets his character be featured in products such as paper toys, postcards and clothes.

The artist, whose pen name is 08AM, recently signed a contract with the United States-based clothing store 2Sable and is waiting for T-shirts featuring PARAKID to be released.

In sharing his thoughts about being a character artist, Park said “self-satisfaction” is a driving force that pushes him to keep drawing.

“My definition of a character artist is different from a character designer,” said Park at his colleague’s atelier in Seodaemun, Seoul, on May 24. “I would like to say a character artist is expressing his or her own view of the world using a specific character.

“I am self-satisfied when more people enjoy my work and this is why I am trying to make one thing and another with my characters on the product. I am hoping that these attempts will help more people get acquainted and take an interest in my works.”

When explaining the origin of PARAKID, an imaginary creature of himself, he confesses he suffered paranoia when in high school.

“Frankly, I was distrustful when I was a high school student. I don’t know why, but I didn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing at that time. Like the film The Truman Show, I thought everything looked like it could be some kind of huge movie set,” Park said, adding he got rid of the symptoms “right after I began learning painting,” when he was a high school sophomore.

He said he became absorbed in painting and that consequently made him study visual design at university.

“After graduating university, I decided to make drawings for a living and I began expressing myself as the smoke that can both vanish without trace or embody everything I’d expect to be,” he said. “That was the beginning of PARAKID.”

Since then, Park has expressed the pleasures and tribulations of his life through the versatile PARAKID. “When I first created it, PARAKID didn’t have arms and legs. It has evolved over time.”

Explaining his painting method, Park said he has tried every kind and prefers to choose the one that corresponds to the purpose of the painting.

“Though I mostly prefer to draw in watercolor, I don’t have any fear in choosing the method of painting,” Park said. “I can make drawings in watercolor, oil paints, acrylic paints, sculpture and digital.”

Park said he usually works in digital when collaborating with companies.

“Working in a digital environment is essential when I have to correspond with the needs of my clients,” he said.

Communicating via SNS

Park said he mostly communicates with his fans and gets inspired from his colleagues through social network services (SNS).

Through his SNS accounts, he shares his artworks, unveils his everyday life and even receives inquiries.

“For me, social media is a great tool to let more people know about me and my works,” he said. “I am also running my own webpage (www.08am.net) in order to display my artworks and introduce who I am and what I have done.

“I am like a one-person business. My head belongs to the business department, my arm is to make drawings and my foot is for sales. It may sound a bit lame to say this, but this is a survival strategy of a lesser-known artist.”

Park has been busy preparing for an exhibition in September.

“I will have an exhibition displaying my previous and new works around autumn,” he said. “I set up a goal to work on 20 paintings this year to present more of a developed world of PARAKID.”