Kim Junghyun (Artist)

> Until my first and second grades in elementary school, I liked cartoons, but compared to my peers, I wasn’t particularly special. 'Derailment' started when I saw the anime 'Dragon Ball' around the 3rd grade of elementary school. The fictional world in which people fly in the sky and blow a long wind was a stimulus and shock that was difficult to handle. Other than sleeping and eating, there was no time in which the comic books left my hand. Even in class, I hid comic books under the desk and read them secretly. After I had read all the comic books, I started copying pictures. I felt great joy when I saw my friends having fun reading my poorly drawn comics.
>
> —Kim Junghyun

## Professional Status

### School

* Jingeon Elementary School
* Jingeon Middle School
* Korea Animation High School
* Kyoto Seika University

## Relationships

### Relatives

* Kim Seongwoo (father)
* Mother

**Kim Junghyun** (김정현, *gim jeong hyeon*) is a South Korean manhwa author and artist. He is the artist of the first part of *How to Fight/Viral Hit,* and the owner of the new *Kim Junghyun Studio*, which is set to collaborate with *Park Taejoon Comics Company* in charge of the art for the second part of the webtoon.

## Links

YouTube: 켄

Naver Blog: 김정현의 블로그

## Works

* *Tamakimuchi* (タマキムチ), a Japanese manga which was the first manga by a foreigner to receive the Chiba Tetsuya Award.

* *Muyung* (ムヨン, 2008—2011) A Japanese manga in collaboration with Takahashi Tsutomo(高橋 ツトム) as the writer.

* *Brave Citizen* (용감한 시민, 2014—2016) Kim Junghyun's first digital comic originally serialized in comico Korea and later posted to Naver Webtoon, which also received a live-action movie adaptation.
* *Find the Waves!* (파도를 찾아라!, 2017—2019), his debut work in Naver Webtoon.

* *RAID* (레이드, 2019) a collaboration work with Shin Wicheol(신의철) as the writer.

* *How to Fight/Viral Hit* (싸움독학, 2019—2022) a collaboration with Park Taejoon(박태준) as the writer. It is the only one which has an official English translation.

## Biography

Kim Junghyun's life as a manhwa artist was decided early on. Since he was in elementary school, he read at most 30 to 40 comic books a day. He hid them at the table, in bed, and under the desk during school hours. Then he started drawing cartoons on every white paper in the house. His parents, worried about his studies, stole and tore Junghyun's comic books dozens of times, but they could not break his stubbornness.
When he was in his third year of middle school, he declared that he would attend the Korean Animation High School, which was established that year.

His father, Kim Seongwoo, 51, who worked as a saxophonist and electronic music composer, thought it was difficult to have a cartoonist son. His father demanded a 'final negotiation'. After he showed his drawings to a professional manhwa artist, if he said there was a possibility, he would pursue the path of an artist, but if it was judged that he had no talent, he had to study. So, he went to the office of a mid-level manhwa artist 'P' in Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do. When P acknowledged his talent, saying that he would become a 'big shot', his parents actively supported him from then on. Junghyun's father strongly recommended him to go to the Korean animation high school or even study in Japan.

He entered animation high school the following year, and decided to study in Japan during the summer of his third year of high school. It was after he went to Japan for a short-term training for three months.

Upon returning home, Junghyun picked up a Japanese language book instead of a comic book. He learned Japanese for the first time while attending a Japanese language school in Osaka during the summer vacation of his third year of high school. As a result of his pre-test, he was assigned to the 'low' group among the beginner's upper, middle, and lower classes, but forced his way into the 'high' group. Even while riding his bicycle to and from the hostel and school, the dictionary never left his hand. When it rained, he memorized the words by writing them on the palm of his hand instead of a wet paper. To guard against being negligent, he ate only one meal a day. After three months he obtained a Japanese language proficiency level 2 certificate. He won scholarships in Japan and won large and small prizes in various manga competitions.

When he went to Japan, he brought 45,000 yen (about 360,000 won or 240 U.S. dollars) for living expenses, but when he returned three months later, he had 10,000 yen left (75 U.S. dollars).

After, he enrolled in the Fine Arts department at Kyoto Seika University. On December 1st, 2006, in his fourth year, he became the first foreigner and 50th person to win the honorable Chiba Tetsuya Award. The Chiba Tetsuya Award is an award created by 'Morning', a manga magazine of Kodansha, one of Japan's three largest publishers, to commemorate the achievements of the mangaka Tetsuya Chiba, and has served as a gateway to new Japanese manga artists.

The title of the manga for which Kim won the grand prize was 'Tamakimuchi'. Kim, a Korean student who fled to Japan after receiving strict training as a classical music prodigy from his parents in Korea, and Tamaki Jun, who restores his passion for music with her free spirit. Junghyun created this work in 20 days in his spare time during his short-term high school studies, and based it on his Japanese roommate who used to play guitar on the street.

This award also gained him attention from Japanese and mostly Korean media. In one of the interviews he mentioned that from July of 2007, he would publish a new manga under his own name on Kodansha's website, but there is no other information about it.

From 2008 to 2011 he worked as an artist for the manga 'Muyung' written by Takahashi Tsutomo, and in the following years from 2014 to 2016 he started working in comico korea with the full color manhwa "Brave Citizen" which also received a live-action movie adaptation that was announced to begin filming in 2021.

## References

1. ↑ Reporter Seon Jeongmin, Article on Kim Junghyun, 2006
2. ↑ Reporter Cheon Gwangam, Interview with Kim Junghyun, 2007