Do you know any illustrators? We present to you Park Sung-min, a local illustrator; would you believe it if we told you his story started with only a pen?

● The Story of Becoming a Local Illustrator

Park Sung-min is an illustrator who draws the scenery of Jeonju, where he was born and raised. There is no word for ‘local illustrator’ originally, but it is the title that has been given to him because he has centered all of his drawings around one area, Jeonju. Intriguingly, what garners public interest in Park’s illustrations is that they are done entirely in pen. Park graduated from the Department of Cartoon animation at Jeonju University. However, he found that his major was not suitable for him. Park said, “I got a job in Seoul after graduating. One day, when I went to Insa-dong, I saw that people were selling photos taken of factories to foreign tourists as souvenirs. I thought it would be nice to draw the scenery myself.” Subsequently, soon after that he left and moved to Jeonju, and began to walk the path of a local illustrator by drawing the attractions in Jeonju Hanok Village. He has been active in Jeonju for several years. “I think Jeonju is a city where the past, present and future coexist well. There are a lot of things to depict about Jeonju. That’s why I continue to work here.” Then he added, “there are not many drawings that fully capture the region.

● Communicating with Others, SENSITIVE-MIN Drawing Studio

SENSITIVE-MIN Drawing Studio is located in the Chungnyun mall in Nambu Market. His drawing room opened in February 2018, and is used as a space to sell artwork and communicate with his customers. He explained that the purpose of this space is for communication, such as explaining his paintings to customers. Before COVID-19, Chungnyun mall was crowded; not only Jeonju citizens but also foreigners visited it because it is close to Hanok Village. In order to communicate with many people, Chungnyun mall is a good location for SENSITIVEMIN Drawing Studio. He is also working hard on advertising his artwork on social media for publicity and communication. During the pandemic, he chose to open an online shop for his art and for further communication, so be sure to take a look at it.

● Exhibition, Showing Paintings to Customers

Park has shown his works through various exhibitions in Jeonju. His first exhibition was in Cafe Behwasil. He said, "At first, I had no intention of doing an exhibition, but I changed my mind when I received a letter requesting an exhibition in Cafe Behwasil. Through this exhibition, he felt that his paintings were very appealing to the MZ generation because most of the visitors were in their twenties. He subsequently held an exhibition for his ensemble entitled “media facade installation art”. Media facade is a combination of “media” and “facade”, and it is presented on a large screen. In that exhibition, the paintings were represented as moving images in a panorama. Park commented that, “While looking at my exhibition, I thought the artwork looked like an entire village, and I added motion and music to my multimedia drawings to amplify my emotions.” He also held a pen drawing class at a different exhibition. He said that it was a very satisfying class. “The organizers provided all the space, pens, and papers for the class, and collected the applicant’s drawing goals so that I could pick one of them as the focus.” The participants were also highly motivated, so he enjoyed the class.

●Combining Digital and Analog Drawing

Park explained that his paintings are digital drawings with analog vibes such as a pen and paper drawing. Currently, he draws not only with pen and paper but also uses a tablet for digital drawings. He explained, "in the process of scanning and transferring the paintings to a digital device, it becomes cumbersome and the painting quality is sometimes poor." In addition, he thinks that there is no big difference between digital drawing and analog drawing. Park added “for example, digital devices are often used in the process of composing, but if the song has a retro style, you can imagine an analog feeling. Like that, it seems that the perception of the painting also depends on the person who sees it.”

● Collaboration with Jeonju City, Producing Various Artworks

Park continues to collaborate with Jeonju City. He reminisced about drawing New Year's cards for Kim Seung-su, former Jeonju Mayor, as the most memorable activity during his collaboration with Jeonju City. Recently, Jeonju City has contacted him about publishing calendars with several institutions and doing small to large activities with them. 

Finally, he concluded that he wants to publish a book containing his works of art. “In addition, I intend to move to a larger space than the current one to provide a place for drawing classes and communication.”

| Yang Seo-jung, Yoon Ye-rim Reporters