Interviste con Jinho Kang

I worked in the Korean animation industry for more than 20 years. My work includes mostly Warner Brothers TV series such as Tiny Toon series and Much Lucha. For the last 10 years, I’ve been working in the game industry.

Before I got into the animation field, I worked as a Sci-Fi illustrator for some time. A French cartoon artist, Moebius (Jean Giraud) was a huge inspiration for me. After that, I was fascinated by humorous animation styles of Warner Brothers, which made me want to borrow its styles and apply them to my work. That’s how my present arts were born.

First, I try to come up with ideas and sketch them, which helps me make a good layout. Second of all, I select most suitable characters. Third, I get to work using pictures and digital programs. I find digital programs very useful as they quickly visualize my ideas.

I feel elated when I manage to make or find perfect characters that match the sketched layout.

I spent lots of time on a variety of digital programs. Using those programs, I took things apart and put them back together. I tried to see things in different angles and viewpoints. I tried to expand my artistic perspectives appreciating various artists around the world.

I’d like to create more various and humorous cyber funk of my own styles, and go even further to express my work through figures and sculptures.

Most personal is most creative!

It’s important to find something you can enjoy doing and make it better gradually and constantly.

Artistic talents and abilities are important. But what’s more important is good communication skills.

Being able to communicate with people in the related field would be a key to a successful finish of your work

My routine is pretty much the same as most other people. One thing that’s peculiar to me is that I spend a lot of time watching movies and various illustration arts of other artists to keep myself updated on what’s happening.

It’s easy to keep up with latest trends as the Internet makes the world smaller and smaller. For me, latest trends are not really important because I could lose my own identity if I’m not very careful with them.

Every works have their own symbols and meanings. It's gonna be nothing but drawing or works without that meanings.

So the good design comes from something that well mixed together.

This is such a difficult task that I have made some rules. First, after I make a layout, I try to stick with it as far as the layout leads to. Second, if I come up with new ideas while doing my work, I make some changes and see how it looks.

Recent works, the Crazy Head series is my biggest one. It has all kinds of obstinacy that all humans have through their lives. However, it does not necessarily see them as bad. Instead, it sees them in positive viewpoints, which make me feel more attached to it.

Moebius is my all time favorite artist.

I’m presently living in Korea. But ironically, Korean cultures hardly affects my work. I don’t think about particular countries or religion. I try to create something that’s common and applicable to any part of the world.

I’m a fun-loving person. And I like to work in a fun-loving atmosphere. I believe we can be more creative and productive if we laugh more.

I’m involved in different artistic societies in Korea. I go to regular meetings and seminars where I get a lot of chances to share my ideas and experience with some of younger animators about jobs we do.

I learned to love myself more and take more pride in myself. It’s always to know that my work gets acknowledged and appreciated by other people.

I obtain inspirations from a variety of movie clips, and photographs or illustration artwork from many artists.

Then I try to find my ideas and themes with which I can communicate with other people, and put them all together to create a whole new design of mine.

We human beings are born with our own characters and we carry them over to our death. My design depicts those inseparable relations.

I hope to have my work exhibited as many places as possible.

It took me over four weeks.

I normally enjoy doing works of Sci-fi illustrations, and one day, an idea pops into my head.

I thought It’d be fun to pursue my idea.

It has not yet been published, and I have’t decided what to do with it.

It all started from one funny imagination. Something is stuck on your face and lives with you for the rest of your life.

I did the work all by myself.

People of all ages and gender.

It's the idea that a car is stuck on a person’s face.

We all have an innate trait that we want to hide something in ourselves.

I think it is kind of something crazy. And it is supposed to come from our head.

That’s how it’s got a name Crazy Head.

I mostly use paper for sketch and use digital programs.

The way the man gazes at the car.

His eyes say that he wonders what it is but he can’t take it off his face.

I worked alone.

It's easy way to move and erase some object for layout. So I can fix it in a short time to the way of what i want.

It’s not influenced by any data or analytical research.

It just took me a great amount of time to think about what kind of car I would use.

This type of artwork was pretty new to me.

So I worked on it without knowing for sure how people would respond to it.

I was invited to go in for the competition through an email.

I thought it was a scam at first but then I realized it would be a good opportunity to make myself known.

Now I wish to create more designs as a series using more various people and different object.

I’ve never gotten any education for designing. I got into illustrated images and started drawing. I’ve been in the animation business for over 20 years.

I like the fact that I can put many meanings into a single image.

I loved designing so I started doing it and before I realized it, I was in the world of design.

I’ve done many science-fictional pieces that deal with human’s anguish, and I want to continue working on them with cyberpunk elements.

At first you will probably need to mimic other people’s works but you need to find your own style, and develop it.

Good designers create something visually impressive.

Great designers create something that has profound messages relating to the lives of human beings that respect other human beings.

I think individualism should come from respecting the world of others and understanding them.

Good designs give more convenience and bring goods to many people. It brings good to everyone.

I want to satirize people’s agonies.

I want to work on things that make you reassess about yourself and give hope to you.

I wish I could actually build the giant robots from my designs and put them next to Eiffel Tower.

You need to keep discovering yourself and find your strengths.

The French cartoonist and artist, Moebius (Jean Giraud)

I have high respect for any other designers.

Scissors. It is so useful and well designed in our lives for so many things on a daily basis.

You need to study the works of other great designers.

I would’ve become a researcher of DNA at a plant related lab.

Designs are like women. Without them, there’s no purpose in life.

I might sound strange but I always get help from someone from my dreams.

Well, I'm not a great designer but I'm working on it.

When I have negative thoughts like thinking my works are not improving, and will not take me anywhere.

I think showing your works to the public through a competition like A design award is a good way to do that.

It could be cyberpunk works of satire style.

I want to create a work and make it happen in the real world so people will realize such a world exists.

They look forward to my next work as if a fan would from a movie director.

I think to make that happen, we will need a system that helps designs become part of the society.

I’m working on things where I attach many objects onto some famous people’s heads.

Crazy Head I submitted. I had lots of fun working on it because it deals with human nature.

I hope there will be more designs that are more practical and friendly towards real life.

But my guess is it’s heading towards something more environment-friendly.

It takes three to four weeks.

I need to find out first who the design is for, and I start collecting materials needed to make it.

Work on something that’s fun and joyful.

I think it’s like the relationship between husband and wife. Neither leads. Rather, they help and affect each other.

Using them allows me to experiment with my design in many different ways in a short time frame.

Mostly I use Photoshop but sometimes I also use animation programs.

I don’t think there’s any limit as to what materials to use since the world of design change the people’s hearts in a big way.

That my design expresses themselves. How I came up with the idea.

It blows my mind, and inspires me to create something.

Right now, I work alone, but I’m open to working with a partner depending on the project.

I mostly get influenced by designers from other countries, and they inspire me to work harder too.

The illustration book of Moebius (Jean Giraud)

Practice after practice with a work that I enjoy working on.

The one that designed blue jeans with jewels. I want to ask him/her where he/she gets ideas from.

Awards are a good way to let yourself be known to the world.

Blue, red, orange, stream side, bulgogi(Korean food), autumn, scissor, Levis

It’s not really a memoir or a funny incident but when I came up with the idea for the making animation of Crazy Head - Einstein and explained it to people, they all got excited telling me it was a very funny idea.

It gave me a lot of motivation and had lots of fun explaining to them.

So the idea was that if you touch his tongue and drag it down, an animation plays above his head.

I set the amount of work for one day and I spend all day working hard to get it done.

Never. I never thought about it. But I remember I had a lot of fun drawing stuff, really enjoyed doing it.

Maybe It will be either the world like the one from Mad World or the one from Star Wars.

I hope I will be known as an eccentric designer who shocks everyone with mind blowing ideas.

My major was physics but I was an animator for over 20 years in South Korea.

Animation and design is much similar like brothers and sisters.

When I saw the artwork of Moebius I was shocked. This is the new world I have to go into.

It was started in 1988. Since then my works going as animator, illustrator, character designer until now.

I was working many animation companies over 10 years since 1990.

After 2002 I work alone as freelance artist.

Sometimes I work for some animation and mobile game company.

It seems like creation of God.

Every object surround us have their own beautiful shapes to care.

Mechanic design of human related.

The recent works that is combined with human, cars and something else.

That was some illustrations for the SF short novel in 1993.

Digital program with photo of human and object of modern society/facebook, YouTube.

When I saw the many other artworks of different artist.

Every time I do I focus on the fun and satire with some cyberpunk.

Trying to keep happy smile with fun.

It feels like melt down every stress.

Something related to the human.

I always consider the good idea, layouts for human first.

Every design has born for the human society so It should goes back to them.

I think It goes to the more convenient for human as always it did.

In case of me Let's make new things which is you never seen before.

It was group exhibition with various artists at Seoul Korea in ten years ago. I have no plan the next one.

It comes out from all kinds of media. movies, games, music video, etc.

what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?

My design is like complexity of human especially their thinking, ego and natural born characters.

What are they thinking about now? What are they interested in most?

So I stick their interest to their head together which they can't take it away.

I was born and live in Seoul Korea now. My design was not affected by my country but different many artists of different country through the YouTube channel.

My main job is making animation with various different companies of animation and game.

There are two things to consider which is personality and work ability.

Good designer should have both 50:50.

1) sketching for the proper layouts 2) searching and drawing object for the character 3) makes detail for more goes with the concept.

1) scissors 2)home made shelf 3)I-phone 4) fruit knife 5)clothes hanger

Living a day with joyful mind. Negative mind doesn't help my creative artwork.

Whoever you are what you have is most creative so always focus on yours first.

Being a designer It's cool job not only you make create something new but It help other people.

Negatives are you are becoming more sensitive person.

Find something in your head that makes you happy and just enjoy the rest of it while you're working.

Being able to design the layout that fully conveys your ideas behind the work.

I usually use Photoshop. And my tool box is usually filled with various photos, music videos and movies.

I chop it down into small tasks i can do every day and try to keep that schedule.

It takes about three to four weeks.

Where did you get this idea?

Working on the TV animations from Warner Brothers in 1990 and 2020 was the turning point of my career.

I'm just new beginner of this area so don't have yet.

Human related robots and mechanics. Because they make me feel like I am looking at a completely different world than ours.

I plan to experiment with cyber punk style pieces more.

Most of time I work alone for design area. Sometimes I work as team leader for animation.

There are no special works-in-progress but I always care about layouts for fun.

By email j2kkjino@gmail.com

Nope. I already had so many questions.

Animation, just like design, requires a lot of creative ideas. A significant amount of time is spent on creating smooth, continuous movements. However, during the planning phase, unexpected creative thinking is often required, especially when it comes to the visual elements. It's not just about the story, layout, or poses; the expressions on the characters' faces change with each situation and need to be depicted carefully. Naturally, animation must also flow smoothly. Moving into digital art, I believe it’s become an essential tool for me. It allows me to look at images and objects not just for what they are, but to deconstruct and combine various elements to create a composition that tells multiple stories in one frame. Even though the image is still, I create layouts with animation in mind.

The past decade has been the hardest time in my life, both professionally and personally. Going through a life that felt like hell, I came to understand how fragile humans are and how everything can be lost in an instant. My values and my perspective on humanity have completely changed. As a result, I created images that represent human thoughts and perceptions, comparing them to tangible objects that stick to us. The man in the artwork represents ourselves, while the car attached to his face can be seen as all the miscellaneous thoughts and clutter we cannot shake off.

Having worked on several Warner Brothers cartoons, I can see how you've grown fond of their quirky, unconventional style. Merging that comic cartoon style must bring a lot of creative freedom, similar to the distinctive, imaginative touch that Tim Burton brings to film. It’s a fantastic blend of humor and eccentricity!

When watching movies or commercials, there are moments when certain scenes instantly catch my eye. I visualize these scenes in various ways in my mind. From this point, I believe many creators start interpreting and expressing them in their own unique styles.After creating the first draft, I go through countless revisions until I’m satisfied. This process usually takes about one to two weeks. With digital work, there are no limitations in terms of location or budget, which allows for endless experimentation as long as time permits.

These days, the line between digital art and video art seems to be getting blurred. As an animator, I find myself planning the layout of my work with animation direction in mind. It seems to have encouraged imagining situations different from reality and inspired thinking beyond static expressions, leading to a focus on dynamic, living aspects. In the world of animation, we often deal with both reality and fantasy. In my digital work, I think it helped me express invisible, unreal worlds by using realistic elements and materials.

I believe each person has their own unique identity. Our personalities, ego, obsessions, and thoughts countless pieces of information pass through our minds every day, yet we can’t see them visually. It may not be perfect, but by bringing these inner aspects to the surface, I hope we can create a world where, instead of fighting over our differences, we live with mutual respect.

Actually, the first version of the piece was a GIF and wasn’t as large. It was simply an animation of the car moving on the face. As the project progressed, the neck became longer, and the image size grew bigger.The reason for elongating the neck was to give it a sense of openness and elegance while adding deeper meaning. Visually, I wanted it to feel refreshing, and perhaps I was also influenced by Modigliani.

As I mentioned in question 2, that time was the most difficult period in my life, filled with despair and depression. I was in a situation where I couldn’t live due to being deceived and betrayed in my work. I had lost all my energy for life. To find some comfort for myself, I think I should added some comic-elements to my artwork. I had to struggle for my life, and that struggle is represented in my work. The car represents something like trauma, panic disorder, and similar struggles for me.

It's simple. I believe we must fully acknowledge that while we may look similar on the outside, we are all different on the inside. Only then can we live with respect for each other. Anyway, that simple car attached to the face is different for every person. Everyone has different thoughts, ego, obsessions, personalities, favorite fruits, colors, shapes, everything is unique. These diverse thoughts can be expressed using various props. For example, a toy might be attached to a child's face, a bomb to a skull character, bundles of money to a scammer's face, or a self-driving car running across Elon Musk's face.

The human inner world is as complex as the faces we show, and each expression is different. There will be various props and different expressions, and I believe this can be applied to many art and advertising media. From children to elderly people, the expressions we have in life are diverse. If possible, I try to capture the stories that these expressions tell. It could be something painful scar in our mind. I’m also thinking about incorporating mechanical, robotic elements into the work.