‘You don’t have to starve’: Korean webtoonist shares life as artist
MANILA, Philippines — Among the many Korean dramas today, “The Red Sleeve” is among those that got adapted from a Korean webtoon of the same name.
Never in her wildest dreams, said “The Red Sleeve” artist Cho Hye-seung, did she think that her webtoon would be very big and successful – especially since she went through poverty and hunger just to finish it.
“It is my very first webtoon series that I have worked for. And to be honest, I actually had a hard time having my basic needs when I was working in an animation company, when I was in 20s, you know, that was my hardest era that I actually went through,” she confessed in a speech at the recent opening of “K-Comics World Tour” in The M (Metropolitan Museum) in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.
Adapted into a K-drama in 2021, “The Red Sleeve” received praise for its portrayal of traditional Korean beauty. Based on a historical background about Jeongjo, the 22nd king of the Joseon dynasty, and his concubine, Uibin Seong Deok-min, the story focuses on the sad love story between a king of a country and a palace maid who wanted to live the life of her choice.
According to Cho, how she wished that life is a fairytale, like the fictions she drew, but it is not always the case.
“Whenever you work in a medium-size company that has to draw once a week, you will feel like you're at war,” she said in Korean, translated into English by an interpreter.
“I like to actually do a metaphor, like when you're having a stomachache, you do not think about your stomach. But you just think about how to cure the stomachache first, right?”
But what makes her survive and overcome the challenges of being an artist is finding meaning in what she does.
“You don’t have to starve,” she affirmed.
“When you're having a hard time or having despair, the meaning that you have of what you're doing grabs you or holds you from this, from this depression that you have.”
From being strapped into her chair for many hours to finish the job, Cho is happy to finally reap the fruits of her labor by traveling the world.
“I would like to say since this is actually my very first time visiting Philippines and I actually had a hard time working, you know, spent all, all, all my time working. That's why I did not have this kind of opportunity to actually visit countries abroad. And I'm really happy to be able to visit here in the Philippines as well,” she said. — Video by Deni Rose M. Afinidad-Bernardo, video editing by Anjilica Andaya
