#not a hazing task foisted on the youngest artist on the team

[zoobus]

Totally just eating popcorn on the sidelines here but - re: your tags in the last post, is the comics scene really much more competitive in SK than Japan? That's kind of surprising (for me) in an interesting way.

I'm so sorry if that came across as an objective assertion rather than speculation 🙇

I have no idea if it's harder to get into comics in SK (I would *assume* it's harder to get into webcomics, since there are likely less publishing houses in comparison). My theory that the bar to webcomicking in SK is higher has much to do with coloring as a norm* rather than black and white and a general higher standard of anatomy the permeates their industry.

Like, take the stereotyped anime forehead. We all know it. We've all seen it.

Now to be clear, most people don't care. I don't really care. But the anime forehead is real and prolific. People learn to do "anime style" before anatomy. You'll see casts full of girls and every single one will have have thick, forehead covering bangs because you do NOT want to see how the designer draws skulls. It's definitely improving, but you'll still get smacked with something like this:

This looks bad. Awkward and bad.

There is a lot less of this in South Korean art! It threw me off how much more common Visible Forehead is - and they have more Visible Forehead because those artists are professionally trained. We see a variety of hairstyles because they're familiar with how the forehead blends into the skull.

It's just a pattern I've noticed. There are other signs of Actual Art Training, but they can basically be described as a tendency towards anatomical correctness regardless of style. It's superior in a technical, measurable kind of way that's unlikely to be self-taught. And if most comics have it, I have to assume it's at least semi-required. Thus why I'm assuming it's more difficult to break in as an artist.

*slight tangent but I'm starting to see more Japanese vertical webtoons, obviously influenced by Koreans and it's really obvious that professional colorists aren't a thing there yet, it looks soooo bad