Kim Dong-sung (김동성; born 1970) is a South Korean illustrator. His landscapes and deftly drawn figures convey the unique beauty of Korea. His best-known work, Waiting for Mummy (2004), won the Baeksang Publishing Culture Award and was nominated for the German Youth Literature Prize in the picture books category. His talent for cinematic storytelling pervades his works. In You and I in Jeju (2015), Kim renders one of the best-known tourist attractions in Korea, Jeju Island, in realistic and three-dimensional detail. Apart from published works, he also illustrated the flashback sequence in the film Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead.

Life 
Kim Dong-sung was born in Busan in 1970 and entered the Department of Oriental Painting at Hongik University in 1988. While at university, he was profoundly influenced by the works of Ben Shahn, Käthe Kollwitz, David Stone Martin, and Oh Yoon. He pursued a career as an illustrator after graduating from college, attracted by the possibility of instantaneous interaction with the public on social themes. Kim discovered the field of picture books through illustrating for publications, and began creating picture books, starting with Echo in 2001. He is active as an illustrator in a wide variety of fields, such as textbooks, film, advertising, comics and animation, in addition to picture books. Kim lives in Seoul with his family.

Career 
Kim Dong-sung's best-known work, Waiting for Mummy, received the Baeksang Publishing Culture Award in 2004. The book was exported to seven countries, including the U.S., France, Germany, Japan, and Brazil, and was nominated for the German Youth Literature Prize in the picture books category in 2008. Waiting for Mummy received acclaim in the pages of the German newspaper FAZ and the Swiss daily NZZ. He has worked in a wide variety of fields other than picture books, such as newspapers, advertising, posters, and stamps. He contributed illustrations for Korean textbooks in 2008, and produced  illustrations for the film Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead in 2011. Kim attended the 14th Berlin International Literature Festival in 2014 as a guest of honor in the children's and young adult literature category, and read from his work. My Name is Today, Waiting for Mummy, and A House Full of Books have all been included in the White Ravens catalogue.

Style 
Kim Dong-sung employs cinematic techniques in his work. For example, close-ups, wide shots, low-angle shots, and title sequences are used to lay out scenes in The Nightingale, Wildflower Child, and Waiting for Mummy. His works evoke a sense of time and place. Waiting for Mummy has been praised for its scenes of life in Korea under Japanese colonial rule. The Country Mouse Travels to Seoul is set against a backdrop of 1920s Seoul, with detailed depictions of Namdaemun in the past, as well as ancient cars, stores, and streets. He is best known for his Korean-style landscapes rendered in ink wash, used in Wildflower Child, You and I in Jeju, and Springtime in My Hometown, among others.

Awards 

 2008 Nominated for the German Youth Literature Prize, picture books category – Waiting for Mummy
 2004 Baeksang Publishing Culture Award – Waiting for Mummy

Works as Illustrator 

2023 The Strawberries That May (Darim Books) 
2021 When Playing House is Over (Sagyejul) 
2021 The Archer (Munhakdongne) 
2019 The Country Mouse Travels to Seoul (Gilbut Kids) 
2015 You and I in Jeju (Flying Star Books) 
2013 Waiting for Mummy (Borim) 
2013 The Book Wrap (E*Public) 
2019 チェクボ (Fukuinkan, Japan) 
2013 Springtime in My Hometown (Bluebird) 
2011 The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl (Hyun Books) 
2010 Les Étoiles amoureuses (Flammarion, France)  
2009 A House Full of Books (Munhakdongne) 
2009 Jumong: The Hero Who Founded Goguryeo (Woongjin ThinkBig) 
2011 Jumong (Flammarion, France)  
2008 Wildflower Child (Gilbut Kids) 
2005 The Nightingale (Woongjin ThinkBig) 
2004 Waiting for Mummy (Hangilsa) 
2005 かあさんまだかな (Froebel-Kan, Japan)  
2006 En attendant Maman (Didier Jeunesse, France) 
2007 Wann kommt Mama? (Nord-Sud, Germany/Switzerland)  
2010 Esperando Mamãe (Comboio de Corda, Brazil)  
2019 等妈妈 (親子天下, Taiwan)
2003 My Name is Today (Woongjin.com) 
2007 Le Paradis d’Oneuli (Editions Chan-Ok, France) 
2002 Tansil, the Service Dog Who Became My Eyes (Daekyo) 
2001 Dari's House in Binari (Little Mountain Publishing) 
2001 Echo (Gilbut Kids) 
2006 Echo (Editions Paquet, Belgium)  
1998 Bicycle Ride with Uncle (Jaimimage)

External links 

 Kim Dong-sung’s blog
 Happy Mother's Day, Tae-Jun Lee & Dong-Sung Kim, waiting for mummy

References 

1970 births
Living people
South Korean illustrators
South Korean children's book illustrators