• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.87-99
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• 2024

This study aims to identify the competencies required for webtoon artists to survive in the future era of AI commercialization. It explores the current and future use of AI in webtoons, and predicts the role of artists in the future webtoon industry. The study finds that AI will replace human workers in some areas, but human empathy-related fields can be sustained. Artist roles like story projectors, Visual directors, and AI editors were identified as potential models for the changing role of artists. To address terminology ambiguity, a three-step AI categorization mechanical type AI, humanoid type AI, and transcendent type AI was proposed for a more realistic separation of AI capabilities. The researcher suggested these findings as guidelines for developing skills in emerging artists or re-skilling existing ones, emphasizing collaboration with AI for mutual growth rather than a negative acceptance of new technology.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.478-486
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• 2017

The development of webtoon accelerated with development of smart devices. It became a daily life to enjoy digital contents such as webtoon using smartphones on the streets and subways, not just for the novelty of the new generation. With the advent of smart devices, the webtoon market has grown rapidly and webtoons of various themes and genres are pouring out. The growth of webtoon market is a good opportunity for artists, but competition is getting worse and it is difficult to satisfy readers with low quality. In order to create webtoon that can satisfy the readers, the artists are considered as important homework that can show the interesting story and show it effectively. In this study, I tried to prove that the method of directing using shot among the elements of animation can be utilized for directing webtoon effectively. In order to explain this, I have tried to explain the characteristics of webtoon and its relation with animation, and I chose the most important example of webtoon, 'Ko Soo(Ryu Ki woon, Moon jeong hu, 2015)', which has been popularized with successful storytelling and directing, and described character shot and time transition shot.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.76-83
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• 2023

This study proposes a method to assist webtoon artists in the process of webtoon creation by utilizing a pretrained Text-to-Image model to generate webtoon images from text. The proposed approach involves fine-tuning a pretrained Stable Diffusion model using a webtoon dataset transformed into the desired webtoon style. The fine-tuning process, using LoRA technique, completes in a quick training time of approximately 4.5 hours with 30,000 steps. The generated images exhibit the representation of shapes and backgrounds based on the input text, resulting in the creation of webtoon-like images. Furthermore, the quantitative evaluation using the Inception score shows that the proposed method outperforms DCGAN-based Text-to-Image models. If webtoon artists adopt the proposed Text-to-Image model for webtoon creation, it is expected to significantly reduce the time required for the creative process.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.389-395
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• 2016

Korean cartoons, seeking an exit from economic distress, naturally entered the era of webtoons as the Internet arose in early 2,000s. Webtoons, a new concept of cartoon, are drawn mostly by oneself, whereas cartoons before were drawn with the help of many apprentices. This research demonstrates that webtoon artists are required to use many programs and fully understand the Internet environment in order to draw webtoons. This tough conditions pose many problems for an artist who should draw well and quickly under the circumstances. We are now at a stage where a simple webtoon program is needed and will go over alternatives. I have researched characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of webtoon's core programs such as Photoshop, Comicstudio, Cytool, and Clipstudio, and what would be the optimal functions for webtoons. I offer new programs that are optimized for story cartoons that can be utilized with webtoons.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.48
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• pp.217-247
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• 2017

A brand webtoon is the webtoon to be planned for advertising. It can be appealed like a webtoon, so recently it becomes popular as one of brand storytelling contents. This study looked at the fact that the webcomic artists have released webtoons having apparent style as a series for many years in the online portal site have published multiple brand webtoons. And it analyzed the expression, narrative structure, and character being shared between their webtoon and brand webtoons. Through this analysis, we can look a spin-off phenomenon between their webtoon and brand webtoons. The spin-off phenomenon means a making the other stories basis on character or situation of drama, movie, novel and etc that have already published, like a supplementary story. And we can recognize a spin-off phenomenon in these cases that have the same story style what make an emotion like the genre, concept, world concept, expression style, narrative structure or use the same characters. For this study, It analyzed Kwak baek soo's and 5 brand webtoons including on Naver, Kim yang soo's and 3 brand webtoons on Naver, Kim Jin's and 2 brand webtoons on Naver, and Petermon's and 1 brand webtoon on Daum. And It analyzed how the readers have accepted it through making a comparison between number of recommendations and reply of brand webtoon and the original webtoon in the same esason. This research will be helpful for study about brand webtoon storytelling and also webtoon storytelling through analyzing how the expression and narrative structure of webtoon are adapted to brand webtoon and get likability.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.67-88
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• 2019

Webtoon is a Korean-style digital comics platform that distributes comics content produced using the characteristic elements of the Internet in a form that can be consumed online. With the recent rapid growth of the webtoon industry and the exponential increase in the supply of webtoon content, the need for effective webtoon content recommendation measures is growing. Webtoons are digital content products that combine pictorial, literary and digital elements. Therefore, webtoons stimulate consumer sentiment by making readers have fun and engaging and empathizing with the situations in which webtoons are produced. In this context, it can be expected that the sentiment that webtoons evoke to consumers will serve as an important criterion for consumers' choice of webtoons. However, there is a lack of research to improve webtoons' recommendation performance by utilizing consumer sentiment. This study is aimed at developing consumer sentiment pattern maps that can support effective recommendations of webtoon content, focusing on consumer sentiments that have not been fully discussed previously. Metadata and consumer sentiments data were collected for 200 works serviced on the Korean webtoon platform 'Naver Webtoon' to conduct this study. 488 sentiment terms were collected for 127 works, excluding those that did not meet the purpose of the analysis. Next, similar or duplicate terms were combined or abstracted in accordance with the bottom-up approach. As a result, we have built webtoons specialized sentiment-index, which are reduced to a total of 63 emotive adjectives. By performing exploratory factor analysis on the constructed sentiment-index, we have derived three important dimensions for classifying webtoon types. The exploratory factor analysis was performed through the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using varimax factor rotation. The three dimensions were named 'Immersion', 'Touch' and 'Irritant' respectively. Based on this, K-Means clustering was performed and the entire webtoons were classified into four types. Each type was named 'Snack', 'Drama', 'Irritant', and 'Romance'. For each type of webtoon, we wrote webtoon-sentiment 2-Mode network graphs and looked at the characteristics of the sentiment pattern appearing for each type. In addition, through profiling analysis, we were able to derive meaningful strategic implications for each type of webtoon. First, The 'Snack' cluster is a collection of webtoons that are fast-paced and highly entertaining. Many consumers are interested in these webtoons, but they don't rate them well. Also, consumers mostly use simple expressions of sentiment when talking about these webtoons. Webtoons belonging to 'Snack' are expected to appeal to modern people who want to consume content easily and quickly during short travel time, such as commuting time. Secondly, webtoons belonging to 'Drama' are expected to evoke realistic and everyday sentiments rather than exaggerated and light comic ones. When consumers talk about webtoons belonging to a 'Drama' cluster in online, they are found to express a variety of sentiments. It is appropriate to establish an OSMU(One source multi-use) strategy to extend these webtoons to other content such as movies and TV series. Third, the sentiment pattern map of 'Irritant' shows the sentiments that discourage customer interest by stimulating discomfort. Webtoons that evoke these sentiments are hard to get public attention. Artists should pay attention to these sentiments that cause inconvenience to consumers in creating webtoons. Finally, Webtoons belonging to 'Romance' do not evoke a variety of consumer sentiments, but they are interpreted as touching consumers. They are expected to be consumed as 'healing content' targeted at consumers with high levels of stress or mental fatigue in their lives. The results of this study are meaningful in that it identifies the applicability of consumer sentiment in the areas of recommendation and classification of webtoons, and provides guidelines to help members of webtoons' ecosystem better understand consumers and formulate strategies.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.108-119
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• 2023

Instatoon is a type of webtoons distributed through Instagram, but in the process of advancement of the webtoon industry, it shows the possibility of diversifying into a new genre that meets creativity, and diversity beyond uniform commercial webtoons. Since it does not go through a large platform, the content is freely composed. In addition, it is differentiated from other types of webtoons because in many cases artists create instatoon by adding entertaining elements into their real-life stories rather than drawing fictional ones. Furthermore, instatoons are free to enjoy, satisfaction level is high, but in most cases, even if there is a complaint, readers just enjoy webtoons without expressing it. We aimed to find out how the service quality characteristics of these instatoons affect behavioral intentions through the coexistence of satisfaction and dissatisfaction of readers, and meaninful results were found through empirical analysis. We discusses factors affecting the spread of Instatoons, including readers' satisfaction and dissatisfaction, the importance of relatability, good directing, and informativeness. The study emphasizes the need to approach maintaining existing readers and attracting new ones separately, and to manage readers effectively in the future.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.46
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• pp.107-128
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• 2017

Time is an indispensable element in creating a story. This makes comics artists use various time techniques such as prolepsis, summary, ellipsis and flashback to increase immersion in story when they create comics. This is intended to make a study on retrospective structure among various temporal structures. Retrospective structure means progress in different time sequence, and increases immersion by making readers become strained or relaxed. Besides, retrospective structure plays a role of increasing or decreasing the pace of story. The person who systematically put the retrospective structure into shape is $G\acute{e}rard$ Genette. He in his book "Narrative Discourse" classified retrospective structure into three types. These are made up of structure of analepse externes, analepse internes and analepse mixted. This makes a study on retrospective structure in narrative comics based on $G\acute{e}rard$ Genette's retrospective structure. To this end, Kang Full's webtoon was analyzed. The reason to analyze Kang Full's is that this work has storyline where things happening in parental generation is interwined with things in offspring generation, accordingly this is work suitable for studying the retrospective structure. This study is intended to examine whether three retrospective structures suggested by $G\acute{e}rard$ Genette are actually used through an analysis of , and as a result, it is intended to prove the fact that retrospective structure has an effect on immersion in work.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.45
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• pp.147-175
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• 2016

This thesis aims to research ways for the regional balanced development of cartoon creation & production environment being centered in metropolitan area in Korean cartoon industry which has rapidly changed since 2013. As a cartoon can not only be produced with relative lower production cost comparing to those of other cultural contents industries, but also can be produced only if the minimal requirements for cartoon production is prepared, so the cartoon is a field that the decentralization can be accomplished very easily. Currently, most cartoon-relevant companies and cartoon promotion institutions are located in Seoul an Bucheon, etc. However, cartoon artists live nationwide, and even cartoon artists producing their works abroad are reached to a significant number. In some regions like Daejeon, Busan, Suncheon and Gyeongbuk (Gyeongsangbuk-do), there have been appeared full-scale movement to construct regional cartoon creation & production centers since 2015. This thesis aimed to investigate each region's movement to construct cartoon creation & production center with oversea cases, and to check how such movement could be balanced and harmonized with each region's unique features. First of all, this thesis analyzed the status quo of government's policy nurturing the cartoon industry. Korean government's cartoon-promotion policy around the axis of the Cartoon Industry's Mid.Long-Term Development Plan has been developed around the Korea Creative Content Agency and the Korea Manwha(cartoon) Contents Agency in Bucheon, but as the webtoon industry has rapidly grown up, the necessity for building a cartoon promotion institution in each region has been raised since 2015. With the establishment of 4th Cartoon Industry Mid.Long-Term Development Plan to be executed from 2019, it seems that full-scaled support framework for cartoon regional balanced development should be occupied. For the case of foreign countries, cartoon promotion institutions and relevant events have been developed around regions from early times like San-Diego, USA(Comicon), Angouleme, France(National Image Center), Kyoto (Cartoon Museum), Sakaiminato(Misuki Sigeru Road), Japan gave a lot of implications. In the section of conclusion, this study aimed to suggest the importance of and necessity for establishing a cartoon creation & production center in each region appropriately for the region's identity and characteristics with specific plans. Based on that, this thesis aimed to suggest a vision for cartoon & webtoon industry that regional creation & production system can be settled almost only in the cultural contents industry.