Korean webzines, art trades, and other SNS art terms

15 Sep, 2023

Although Korean and English-speaking audiences often overlap in online, there isn't any English info about the types of social media art trends in Korea. This post focuses on two terms in particular: hapjak (합작 collaboration) and yeonseong gyohwan (연성교환 flexible exchange), which are similar to the English webzine and art trade. I also list other phrases you may encounter when looking at Korean art accounts! Please note that since I don't speak Korean and these terms haven't been recorded in English before, there may be inaccuracies.

Collaborations (합작 hapjak)

Collaborations are plentiful in Korean fandoms and art circles. Similar to digital zines in English fandoms, they're a unified collection of artwork and writing by different creators. However unlike digital zines, they're often hosted on a website rather than presented a PDF. The process also tends to be more casual. Note that 합작 does just mean collaboration in general, but in this context it refers to the type of social media and website-based 'collaborative art event'.

As mentioned, collaborations are usually hosted on a website using a site builder such as Wix or Creatorlink. Compared to a PDF zine, there's less limitation for the artwork and writing. For example, there's usually no need for all of the artwork to be the same size or to all be complete drawings with full backgrounds. As well, there's often no word limit in writing since the text isn't being formatted manually into pages. Some collaborations are also hosted on blog sites such as Postype, where each piece is an individual post under a single account. Regardless of how the site is presented, these collaborations can basically be thought of as a webzine.

The more casual nature of these 'collaborative art events' also extend to their recruitment process. Promotion is often done on the host's personal Twitter account rather than creating a new account solely for the collab. However, it doesn't necessarily mean the collaboration is limited solely to friends and mutuals, just that they're smaller-scale and don't need their own Twitter page. It also seems that collaborations are usually based on open signups and don't judge entry by portfolios. In most cases, anyone can participate.

There doesn't appear to be an active account documenting all collaboration sites in existence, but newly released collabs can be found through searching "합작 공개" on Twitter. Here are a few random examples as well:

• Durarara!! Collaboration (2015)
• Final Fantasy 2 Collaboration (2018)
• Techwear Collaboration (2019)
• 2023 Black Rabbit Collaboration (2023)

One point to note is that depending on the fandom, the format of the collaboration site may differ. Collaborations for most fandoms (and original works) tend to feel more like typical 'digital zines', as they involve full illustrations and fanfic. On the other hand, collaborations for character-focused series (such as gacha games) can have a different structure. For example, THE iDOLM@STER SideM collaborations tend to involve each person simply drawing a single character or unit with a transparent background. Overall, however, the word collaboration isn't set in stone with a particular definition for how it should be run.

Flexible Exchanges (연성교환 yeonseong gyohwan)

Flexible exchanges are the Korean equivalent to art trades in English art circles. However, the structure is quite different from the start. To be precise, it's the exchange of commissions rather than the exchange of the art itself. This means that people aren't just trading illustrative art for illustrative art, but they can trade for any form of commissioned service, including handicraft, writing, translation, and tarot reading (if the other person is interested in that, of course).

You're not trading the artwork itself, but rather commissions with monetary value. Thus, instead of "let's swap colored half-body for colored half-body", you're saying "let's swap my commission for your commission of the same price".

It may be different for artists who are already close to each other, but from what I've seen, flexible exchanges often take place through forms. Artists will have an information page listing their commission types/prices and a corresponding form with a format like so:

1. Contact information
2. Type of commission you're interested in
3. Link to your own commission info

Because you aren't contacting the artist who created the form directly, there's no obligation for that artist to respond. It's basically an open application to swap art or services. The Twitter account Hongbo_T_C retweets flexible exchange promotions if you want to get an idea of what the forms look like.

Since the commissions have monetary value, artists want to try to match prices (though many are fine with a ₩10,000~ish difference). Therefore, artists might not do an equivalent exchange in terms of the art itself. For example, if Luke charges ₩30,000 for a full-body drawing, but Matthew charges ₩60,000 for the same type of art, it doesn't mean they'll swap 1:1. Instead, Luke will offer 2 full-body drawings in exchange for 1 by Matthew. Some artists also have low-cost commissions dedicated to 'filling in' the cost difference called difference type (차액용 타입 chaaegyong taib). These commissions aren't offered on their own, and are only used to add monetary value to match the other artist's total cost.

In English art communities, art trades are awkward. It's hard on both sides, to ask directly and be rejected or to be asked directly and have to reject someone. Because of that, art trades are almost exclusively between close friends. With the purely transactional method used in Korean art circles, the applicant isn't necessarily expecting a response. Likewise, the form creator doesn't have to reply. You can trade your artwork even with people you don't know well!

Other Terms

Here are some other terms and phrases I've encountered while looking through Korean accounts and sites:

• I'll leave it up to you (오마카세 omakase): This phrase originates from Japan. In the context of commissions, it means that you can leave the pose/scenario/etc. up to the artist. Some artists charge higher for omakase commissions because they require more time/effort to come up with the decisions themselves.
• LD/MD/SD or low deformation/medium deformation/super deformation: In English and Japanese, SD/super deformation is a less-common alternate name for what is known as chibi-proportion artwork. Korean art circles expand on this term, assigning LD to more realistic-proportion characters and MD to artwork that's between the two.
• R19 (19금 shipgu geum): It's well known that Korea counts ages differently to the rest of the world, so their local age is different to their internationally recognized age. This also means that instead of the usual R18 system, Korean adult-only content is often listed as R19.
• Personal goods production (개인굿즈 제작 gaeingusjeu jejag): Producing custom merch of original characters seems common enough that many artists will mention in their terms of service that you can make them with artwork you commission. There are many services that allow for low quantities of merch to be produced in Korea (listed here and here)
• Fixed template (고정틀 gojeongteul): Also known as YCH or 'your character here' in English. Compared to English circles, it seems that artists often offer YCH commissions with complex backgrounds.
• Magazine (회지 hoeji): This is the Korean word for dojinshi, as in a booklet which is published by an individual creator (often fanart).
• Anthology (앤솔 anso): The use is the same as anthology in Japanese, where it refers to a dojinshi booklet featuring multiple creators.

Overall, there's quite a variety of specific terms in Korean art circles (and there's likely even more— again, this is written by a non-Korean speaker who can only scratch the surface). It's fascinating to see how trends and norms both are alike and differ across language barriers!

#2023 #art #goods #internet #korea #reference #zine