I Manhwa and i Webtoon are the protagonists of the first Masterclass presented at
Florence Korean Film Festival now in its 21st edition. Veronica Croce, as Curator of the Masterclass, presented the webtoonist to the audience present in the room Kim Woo Seop, creator of “Shark”, and the successful artist Jeong Kyu-ah, famous as the creator in his homeland of "The Great Battle of Cheoinseong” (2019); “50 episodes of History of the Three States” (2013);
“Cheongsan-ri: The War of Independence"(2020); the webtoon"A night of silence“
(2021-2022); Of "The Opium War” (2023) and in Europe because he published the
comic book "Noryang” in France.
"It is a very important masterclass not only for our guests but also because we have young 'future artists' from the Nemo Academy Florence and a high school present who can interact with the Korean artists present here today."
Veronica Croce
Shortly before starting the Masterclass work, a video was broadcast
by the manhwa illustrator Jeong Kyu-ah which portrays him at work while drawing the
character of the General Yi Sun-sin in a 2020 event promoting the arts
figurative. The artist himself states, on this occasion, that “this character does
has been engaged for about three years and that through this figure, important for Koreans,
given the complicated situation due to CoVid19, it is his intent to convey the
message of being able to overcome difficulties.”
Alongside Veronica Croce the Director of FKFF2023, Riccardo Gelli, and the Director
Artistic and Educational of Nemo Academy of Digital Arts Florence, Francis
Mariotti, for the start of the masterclass.
When asked by Curator Croce what they thought of the success of the
manhwa/webtoon transported into the cinematic world and production of
Very popular Kdramas, even in our country, replied the webtoonist Kim Woo
Seop:
"I really like the fact that, through these platforms, this phenomenon of making Kdramas or audiovisual films with the webtoon means that many people can see it, because those who love seeing audiovisual content then take it back to the webtoons which are the originals and also vice versa. I really like this phenomenon because the webtoon has the way of reaching more and more people."
“There is a lot of interaction in my opinion – he declared to the microphones Jeong Kyu-ah
also answering the question posed by the Curator Cross – Why
by creating webtoons there is a greater immediate reaction from the public.
The webtoon requires a smaller budget, however, than that of a film it is easier
experiment with different things. So movie and Kdrama directors are able to have
a storyboard, through the previous reactions of the public, ensure that it then exists
can have a film production. And it's this interaction – he concluded
Jeong Kyu-ah – which I find very interesting.”
“Webtoons are an incredible phenomenon and they are growing so much
Europe and also here, in Italy – he began Francesco Mariotti, placing in fact
his first question to the guests – I'm happy to be here sharing with two
masters of the genre what their experience is. There are schools in Korea that,
specifically, they make webtoons and if in other parts of the world they know
of the existence of these schools (I know that in Italy and France it is also growing a lot
this art form there) and if so what, in their opinion, are the best conditions for
teaching, what are the most important criteria for this type of sector?”
The character, the nature, of the standard Korean is that they are in a hurry and prefer efficiency. I can say that in all universities there is training dedicated solely to webtoons. It used to be called 'Animation Manhwa', now they are changing the direction a bit to 'Webtoon Animation'. Being here visiting Europe I can't help but notice all the artistic assets that you are lucky enough to find there and I think it's truly a beautiful thing. On the other hand, in Korea, favoring efficiency, a more immediate and direct approach is preferred, therefore a criterion, a condition that can be important for the education of webtoons. I believe it is a preference for creativity for a direct impact.
Jeong Kyu-ah
“I come from graphics and I really love comics, Comics – began the Director of
FKFF Gelli – and now the comic of the future, precisely the webtoon. I bring mine
experience of traveling to Korea and there I had the pleasure of finding various schools
sector, the Manhwa Museum and the International Fantastic Film Festival in Bucheon as well
such as the Busan Cultural Contents Complex. Why do this research on the webtoon?
Because I see little here in Italy about Korean comics, while the French have several
publishing houses and promotion. This allows them to publish webtoons thanks to
Korean collaborations like the 'Naver Webtoon', something that we lack.”
The webtoonist Kim Woo Seop, during the masterclass, had the opportunity to
confide to the public that it is “very surprised, pleasantly, by the success of the webtoon
because I am usually a person who works a lot at home and only when I go out
out and I am invited to these events I take note of the phenomenon” and came to
knowledge of the presence of many young future artists in the room shared the
technique he uses in preparing his works, thus starting the workshop.
The artist Jeong Kyu-ah instead he had the opportunity to tell how his own was born
collaboration and experience in France which led him to the signing of “Noryang”.
The public was able to interact directly with the guests, asking them questions
specifications on the methodology and timing to be respected in the phases
making a webtoon/manhwa. Questions to which the two generously
Korean illustrators responded by sharing their experiences in
detail the stages of the process and often the feelings they experience in the process
creation of the webtoon.
At the end of the workshop, the group photo marked the closure of the first Masterclass
of the 21st edition of Florence Korean Film Festival.
RoAnaSal
Photos taken from the masterclass