Creating Whale and Baekro Characters... Dongseo University Webtoon Department Selected for Ulsan Content Korea Lab Prototype Support

Four teams of students from the Department of Webtoon at Dongseo University were selected for the ‘2023 Ulsan Contents Korea Lab Prototype Production Support Project.’

Ulsan Contents Korea Lab conducted the ‘2023 Ulsan Contents Korea Lab Prototype Production Support Project’ to support the commercialization of ideas from prospective content creators nationwide and to strengthen the self-sustaining competitiveness of local content companies.

A total of 21 teams were selected for this support project, including first-year Webtoon Department student teams Kim Yeon-woo & Kim Hwi-min, Kim Hye-bin & Jo Yoon-kyung, student Kang Han-na, and student team Park Jae-sang & Ok Dong-ho.

Students from the Department of Webtoon at Dongseo University, selected for the support project, are taking a group commemorative photo.

The team of Kim Yeon-woo & Kim Hwi-min proposed ‘Development of subculture-style characters and O2O content based on Ulsan whales’ for the support project, while the team of Kim Hye-bin & Jo Yoon-kyung suggested ‘Production of O2O moving toon and goods based on storytelling regional characters combining the egrets gathering at Ulsan Taehwa River and the Rose Festival.’

Student Kang Han-na was selected for ‘Producing content visualizing Ulsan’s folklore, Yeonasan Valley,’ and the team of Park Jae-sang & Ok Dong-ho for ‘Producing regional promotion and tourism products using symbols of the Ulsan area.’

Student Kim Yeon-woo said, “Ulsan is symbolized by whales, so it is already a red ocean, but during research, I noticed there were no anthropomorphized subculture whale characters, so I based the concept on that. I am happy to be selected and grateful to Professor Kwak Ju-young for the guidance.”

The selected students will produce prototypes by September with the support of Ulsan Contents Korea Lab.

Student Kim Hwi-min shared future plans, saying, “I want to create various goods and webtoons based on the concept and utilize them as virtual characters. Furthermore, I hope to collaborate with leading overseas media groups.”

All characters created by the students have completed copyright registration under their own names, and the Dongseo University LINC 3.0 Project Group promised generous support for the Webtoon Department students regarding copyright, trademark applications, and startup activities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.