Description
“If there are 10,000 creators in the world, there are 10,000 webtoons.” Hong Nan Ji
Are you an aspiring webtoon artist? Have you ever wondered if you have what it takes to make it in one of today’s most exciting fields of popular culture? Find out in Webtoon School.
Available in English for the first time.
With Korean culture capturing imaginations around the world, more people than ever are discovering webtoons, the groundbreaking fusion of manhwa with online platforms. Until now, there has been no ‘how-to’ book dedicated to webtoons, and aspiring creators have had to make do with accessing material from other industries, like comic books and movie-making. Webtoon School is changing all that.
Discover the secrets of creating Korean-style webtoon content from two of the industry’s leading experts. Lee Jong Beom, creator of the hit webtoon Doctor Frost, and Hong Nan Ji, author of Webtoon Performance and Reader’s Pleasure, guide the readers of Webtoon School through the entire process of becoming a successful webtoon artist.
Webtoon School is a complete guide to webtoon creation that not only helps readers devise storylines and hone their art, but even walks them through the process of getting paid to publish their work. There can be no more useful book for anyone hoping to become a professional webtoon artist, whether they are just starting out, or perhaps looking to make the move into webtoons from traditional comics, Japanese manga, or Korean manhwa.
This comprehensive guide includes practical advice on all aspects of webtoon creation, including:
- What is a webtoon? The essential basics
- What makes an interesting story?
- How to carry out effective research
- Writing engaging plots
- Creating characters that the readers will love—or love to hate!
- How a successful story is constructed
- What does it mean to ‘direct’ a webtoon?
- Making a story into a serial
- How to get published—where to take your work, how to submit it, and how to speak to the decision-makers
- And last but not least: how to make money out of webtoon creation
Intended to be a book that creators return to time and time again over the course of their careers for inspiration and motivation, Webtoon School has something to offer the webtoon artist no matter what stage of their journey they are on. It is the authors’ intention and great hope that the ‘graduates’ of Webtoon School will go on to be the greatest webtoon storytellers of the future.
Take the first step on the path to professional webtoon success with Webtoon School!
Foreword: A book that provides a place to return when lost (Yoon Tae-Ho)
Introduction I: To all those who are walking the hard road to make a living as an artist (Hong Nan Ji)
Introduction II: To artists who fear the story (Lee Jong Beom)
Part 1 Understanding Webtoons
- Introduction to Webtoons
1) The webtoon environment
2) Manhwa vs. webtoons: What’s the difference?
3) The different media of manhwa and webtoons
4) What is manhwa?
5) Why were webtoons serialized for free?
6) Distinguishing between manhwa and webtoons: A summary
TIP: Adapting webtoons into other content
Artist’s thought: Webtoons as original works and secondary works
Learn more: Webtoons inspiring dramas, movies, and video games
- The First Webtoon Artists and Webtoon Readers
1) Homepage-based webtoon artists
2) First-generation webtoon artists
3) Moving from traditional publishing
4) The artist as genre
5) Webtoons as entertainment
6) The emergence of active readers
TIP: Is webtoon a snack culture?
The artist’s thought: Webtoon as a sustainable culture
Part 2 Understanding Webtoon Storytelling
- What is a story?
1) Storytelling: Inspiration or perspiration?
2) Why do I write stories?
3) Keep thinking ‘Why?’
Current artists say why they draw webtoons
4) The evolution of motivation
TIP: Create your own continent
The artist’s thought: Why?
- What makes a story interesting?
1) Everyone likes stories
2) What is ‘fun’?
3) The value of the personal
4) Believing the lies
5) Stories to enrich life
6) The themes of great stories
7) What interesting stories have in common
8) The main character
9) Contemporaneous stories
TIP Story creation and the principles of storytelling
The artist’s thought: What do you think the story is?
Learn more: Traces of will—A study of Tower of God
- Plot
1) The facets of a story
2) More on plot
3) Redefining the plot for artists
4) New plots
5) How to distinguish between plot and incident
6) How to get the most out of books on writing
TIP Using clichés
The artist’s thought: Subverting clichés
- Theme
1) How the theme determines the ending
2) The theme as the artist’s point of view
3) Same material, different themes
4) Keep asking what the theme is
5) What is a temporary theme?
6) What matters to me matters to everyone
TIP If the theme is strong, it can become propaganda
The artist’s thought: Everyone has a story to tell
- Character
1) Understanding human beings and character creation
2) Turning reader into protagonist
3) Empathy vs. yearning
4) Attractive characters
5) Understanding humans through observation
6) Identify the character’s desires and fears
7) Character creation tool: Typical characters
8) Character creation tool: Understanding people around you
9) Character creation tool: Personality typology
TIP Knowing the character’s desires
The artist’s thought: As the times change, so do character expressions
The artist’s thought: Evil Characters—Can you feel the charm even if you can't empathize?
Part 3 Research, Construction, Treatment, and Directing
- Research
1) Where does research start?
2) What is research?
3) How a casual approach is beneficial
4) Start light, be ready to go deeper
5) How long should research take?
6) Interviewing an expert
TIP Dr. Frost research case
The artist’s thought: Research practice
- Construction
1) How to view the story
2) The difference between a reader and an artist
3) Basic story structure: What is an incident?
4) Organization and construction
5) Analyzing the three-act structure with a movie
6) Three-act structure vs. the twelve stages of the Hero's Journey
7) What is a plot point?
TIP The twelve stages of the Hero's Journey
The artist’s thought: Narrative arc
Practice: Harry Potter and the twelve stages of the Hero’s Journey
- Treatment
1) Treatment: A blueprint for story completion
2) Let’s make a story
The artist’s thought: Make a treatment according to the three-act structure
- Webtoon directing
1) What is directing?
2) What do you want to control?
3) Thinking: The beginning of directing
4) Cut!
5) Control the cut
6) Printed comics vs. webtoon directing
7) Obstacles to good directing
8) Speech balloons
9) Inviting readers to a dialog scene
10) Action scenes
TIP Storyboard work presupposes correction
The artist’s thought: Creating storyboards
Part 4 Preparing for Serialization
- Write a proposal
1) Artists also need a proposal
2) Things to prepare
3) What is planning?
4) Formatting a proposal
TIP The proposal form
The artist’s thought: Organize your ideas into a proposal
- Making your debut
1) Webtoon platform changes
2) Getting to know agencies
3) Working with an agency
4) How to debut
5) How do webtoon artists make money?
6) Meeting the person in charge
TIP Serialization FAQs
The artist's thought: The author’s responsibility
Epilogue
Do I have to think about so many things to become a webtoon artist?
Special Appendix 1
The working process of Dr. Frost by Lee Jong Beom
Special Appendix 2
A story that only webtoons can tell
