AT the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (MMM), webtoon artist Gwang Jin casually mentioned that he isn’t good at drawing. He was then live-sketching at the tail-end of Meet the Mentor: The Creator of Itaewon Class, Gwang Jin. No one believed he couldn’t draw.
Gwang Jin sketching at ‘Meet the Mentor’ at Metropoitan Museum
Still, no matter how talented Jin is, it wasn’t thrilling to watch him draw. A visual art, unlike performance art, is a solitary activity, with the monotony of the repetitive strokes burdened by the awkwardness of a horde of people silently observing.
The 37-year-old artist cottoned on to the subject and, grabbing the mic, encouraged those present to ask questions again as he drew. They were ready.
One asked Jin how he started drawing. It began in middle school, where he was known as one of the school’s best artists (there were two of them), he replied in Korean, which a translator, Daniel, recited in English.
Entering college, he was hit by the sobering realization that he was a big fish in a little pond, but he wasn’t discouraged. He held tight to the belief that comic artists don’t have to be brilliant—they just have to have something that distinguishes them, like originality, because, as he put it, “We’ve experienced different lives.”
Kakki Teodoro emceeing
Theater actress Kakki Teodoro, the event’s host, wanted to know what he snacked on at work. He loves cigarettes, Jin replied—everyone laughed—and iced Americano, the favorite K-drama beverage.
Meet the Mentor was a three-day event organized by the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) Philippines and held at De La Salle-College of St. Benilde on July 4 and July 5, and at the Philippine International Comics Festival 2025 at SM Megamall on July 6.
Kakki opened Meet the Mentor by reading Jin’s background: He’s a professional webtoon artist with 12 years of experience, and is also a scriptwriter and director.
The people around him were templates for his characters…. like his teachers, especially a bald one
Jin said his passion for drawing grew in the early days of reading comics, in high school, pushing him to express his feelings through drawing. Life was his biggest inspiration, as well as the lingering bad feelings of the previous day, he said. The people around him were templates for his characters; he referenced their hairstyles and facial expressions, like his teachers, especially a bald one.
“I’d make fun of my teacher. Yeah, I was a naughty kid,” quipped Jin, mumbling a belated apology to his teacher.
Gwang Jin and his family during a break of ‘Meet the Mentor’
Next, Kakki asked how his Manila visit was going. Jin said he found the rain a “stimulating inspiration” and jokingly referred to himself as a “weather fairy.” He and his family—his wife and daughter were with him—were briefly escaping Korea’s scorching heat and pesky lovebugs.
“A ‘weather fairy’ is a good idea for a webtoon! You can just credit me as a co-creator,” Kakki teased Jin, who gamely agreed to her suggestion. (The two apparently hit it off right from the get-go. Jin candidly declared he’d never met anyone like Kakki, who exuded such positive energy, and was happy and honored that she was doing the “talk show” with him.)
Kakki then had Jin describe his work routine. He said it wasn’t exciting— just sitting and drawing at his desk and only getting up to eat. To make his drawing schedule go swimmingly, he said he has music playing in the background to set the work mood.
Jin isn’t as lackadaisical as he casually projects himself to be. There’s method and meticulousness to his work routine, given his simultaneous involvement in multiple projects as comic artist, drama scriptwriter, web novel writer, and director.
He follows a strict timetable—right down to the hour—that he has drawn up on Excel, although he burns the midnight oil to meet deadlines, particularly when he feels “pressure from the company.”
“The key takeaway is compromise,” he explained. “You must have the mindset that you don’t have to be perfect, and it’s best to have someone evaluate your work, i.e., TV producers and professors.”
Realistically, it’s not good to work on three projects all at once, he said. Ideally, an artist must finish one project before embarking on the next.
Kakki was curious—which came first: scriptwriting or drawing? Jin said writers must know and have a script before drawing. He said this makes drawing and publishing the webtoon online smoother because details of “the big plot” have been threshed out. (According to Google, webtoons, a.k.a. digital comics, originated in South Korea in 1997, and were meant to be read on smartphones. They’ve now surpassed the popularity of printed comics.)
Having the script also makes tracking readers’ reactions easier, Jin continued. Readers’ comments are important to artists in making adjustments to the webtoon, which, he said, is acceptable as long as it doesn’t interfere with the story flow.
Working on a webtoon without considering readers’ comments generally takes years, said Jin, who normally takes a month to finish a cartoon while reading the reactions online. He emphasized that keeping the balance between the writer’s work and readers’ reactions is what’s really important.
‘Itaewon Class’ official poster
The Itaewon Class webtoon becoming a popular eponymous K-drama series in 2020 was icing on the cake for Jin, but it didn’t come easy. He said he submitted it to mainstream webtoon platforms and was rejected numerous times. But instead of wallowing in frustration, he took the rejections as “constructive criticism,” pushing him to reassess his moves.
He sent Itaewon Class to smaller platforms—a risky move
He sent the webtoon to smaller platforms (read: amateur sites) for readers’ feedback, which, he revealed, was a risky move for a professional artist like him.
Jin’s company viewed his uploaded materials as “bad for the firm,” and issued him a warning, he recalled. The warning fell on deaf ears, and left him with two options: He’d lose his job, or Itaewon Class would successfully be released on bigger sites. Luck was on his side.
In truth, Jin said, he didn’t regret listening to his gut, because it made him fully understand the rejections. But he admitted it was wrong of him to upload on amateur platforms. He explained: “I was five years into being a professional webtoon artist and yet my level was no different from an amateur artist. I was doomed! I was angry at myself. I was also lucky because my work was picked as a series to be released.”
The K-drama Itaewon Class wouldn’t have materialized had Jin went on thinking that drama scriptwriting was unworthy of his time. He ignored a DM that a director had sent him, but the director, who was persistent, got wind of his number and called to arrange a face-to-face meet. Jin agreed.
Jin recalled the meeting: “I am a straightforward person, so I asked him directly, ‘What do you want?’ The director said he wanted me to write a script for a drama, which was ridiculous for me because my pride as a comic artist was high.”
Later, after telling his wife about the meeting and that he wouldn’t accept the job offer, she quickly pulled him back to earth, telling him he had completely missed an important point: that in the hierarchy of writing, scriptwriting is more prestigious than making a webtoon.
Realizing his folly, Jin immersed himself in the drama project. He began looking for the motivations of his main characters, believing that all main characters have a purpose, such as Luffy from the Japanese manga/anime series One Piece, who wanted badly to be a pirate king. Likewise, they worked hard to achieve their goals, and the process in doing it was “fun,” he said.
The original Itaewon Class script was a humdrum story of twentysomething characters
The original Itaewon Class script was a humdrum story of twentysomething characters working in a bar-restaurant. Jin injected excitement by adding a domineering CEO (Chair Jang Dae-hee) of the food company Jangga Group and locked him in a fatal feud with Park Saeroyi, an ex-convict-turned-entrepreneur. Jang’s motivation to persecute Saeroyi stemmed from a perceived affront to his stature, with Saeroyi’s refusal to genuflect to him. Saeroyi’s motivation, on the other hand, arose from wanting to avenge his father, who died at the hands of Jang’s egotistical son.
Explained Jin: “The fury and feeling of revenge are motivations that everyone can relate to. Justice has to be discussed together with motivation. How can a character go up against an influential person? The plot must be balanced.”
In rewriting Itaewon Class, Jin focused on three aspects: Korea’s prevalent drinking culture, young people’s experiences in looking for a job, and the efforts of young local entrepreneurs. Jin himself had several part-time jobs and, although a teetotaler, he said he enjoyed watching the changes when people imbibe alcohol. Noting the scores of young entrepreneurs was a eureka moment: There hadn’t been any story about them.
Rewriting ‘Itaewon Class,’ Jin focused on Korea’s prevalent drinking culture, young people looking for a job, and the efforts of young entrepreneurs
He originally chose Hongdae as setting, but changed it to Itaewon after visiting the district, and being fascinated by its “freedom and cultural diversity.”
He transferred his sense of wonderment onto Park Saeroyi’s personality, blending it with Saeroyi’s stoical perseverance. (Itaewon is known as the place to soak in Seoul’s vibrant nightlife and enjoy a spell of shopping and enjoying Korean and international cuisine.)
With the world agog with Park Seo Joon playing Saeroyi, including Kakki, who couldn’t hide her excitement in talking about the actor, Jin was nonchalant.
“How amazing was having Itaewon Class turned into a drama series? I mean, it’s Park Seo Joon!” gushed Kakki, making Jin laugh.
In fact, the actor wasn’t foremost on Jin’s mind because he was “happy earning money.” Besides, he had no hand in selecting which actor would play Saeroyi, because the script was sent to several actors for consideration. That said, he wants Park Seo Joon to play a younger Chair Jang in a future spin-off of Itaewon Class that will tell the backstory of Jang, a war survivor, interspersed with Korea’s history.
“I showed the script to my wife and she said Saeroyi was nothing compared to the Chair,” Jin said, adding that Park Seo Joon suits the role of young Jang because they’re two peas in a pod. Apparently, their similarities were hinted at by Chair Jang himself in a scene where he tells Saeroyi, “We’re the same.”
Jin’s visit to Manila, one surmises, provided him with insight into people’s psyches and created more opportunities for collaborative projects. Interestingly, he disclosed that he’s in discussions about having a Filipino version of Itaewon Class.
Meanwhile, Jin’s drawing board is full. Apart from the Itaewon Class prequel, he’s busy with the script for Long legged Devil, which is inspired by the 2005 Korean film Daddy-Long-Legs (Kidari Ajeossii) that starred Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won.
For another film project, he’s writing about the legacy of “the grandfathers and fathers of the 1950s who sacrificed a lot for Korea.”
“Being a scriptwriter is my most fun occupation, except that nowadays I find it hard to write and draw at the same time,” confessed Jin.
Gwang Jin doing an ear sketch
Despite the challenges he faces, he remains passionate about webtoons, and remains grounded. He’s aware of the myriad writers around him and whose ideas readers will find good and be curious about. Nonetheless, whichever hat he wears—comic artist, writer, or director—he’s certain to be writing (and drawing) the next webtoon.
“Writing is finding that connection and communicating with your team,” Jin declared.
